Coronavirus

[Wheeze]

Thanks Steph and Jack for calm and reasoned responses to Oracles invective. I've often switched off to left sided responses in the past because they got nasty and personal.
Whatever your political leaning, we are in a pretty pickle now. Coronavirus has stripped our strategies bare. The ideological struggle between left and right seems pretty redundant in the light of the current situation. And that's before we consider the impact of AI and other technological advances that will render the concept of "the worker" irrelevant.
I don't have any bright suggestions but just wanted to post appreciation for calm debate in the face of provocation.

[Witton Park]

The ideological struggle between left and right seems pretty redundant in the light of the current situation.

I think it largely became irrelevant for a couple of decades after the Europhile Cabinet moved Maggie on.

Major, Blair, Brown, Cameron - all centrist mush with only slight nuances in policy. It became more about personality with Cool Tony beating the Slaphead Mekon with the Yorshire drawl - policy didn't come in to it much.

The political choice we had was minimal, nuanced. Varying levels of the nanny state where increasingly things were done for us, and not done by us.

You see what happened when we had a clear choice for the first time? Brexit.

Corbyn introduced a brief choice between the parties but I sense that gap is going to close again and we'll end up with arguing the toss over the level of minimum wage again.

In my opinion, the biggest problem we face is over reliance on the state. The state projects itself as the solution, but often it is the problem and steps in to areas it shouldn't.

[Wheeze]

I see the problem as the Welfare State. I prefer the concept of the universal citizens wage.

[JohnK]

I am just glad I chose life over materialism

[molehill]

I do feel there is now too much reliance on "the state" to provide and sort problems. There is a difference between need and expect help, we should help those that genuinely need help but there seems to be a generation that expect help as a first resource. Frequently for self inflicted life problems.

[Oracle]

I see the problem as the Welfare State. I prefer the concept of the universal citizens wage.

Surely not.

There are only two possibilities, either the universal wage is high enough to live, in which case very few people would then choose to work. The system would collapse under the weight of paid idleness. We have a productivity problem as it is, and a deficit showing we spend more than we make.

Or if the wage was not be enough to live and the clamour of idle people “forced into food banks” by insufficient universal wage would dominate media instead. It is predicated on the falsehood the economy generates wealth without labour.

It is a dreadful idea.
The time it becomes practical is if cheap nuclear fusion provides sufficient energy and food to live.
Ie it is all about creating more wealth, not moving deckchairs round the titanic.

As for invective, I just tell it how it is wheeze.
If that is uncomfortable , so be it.

Eg Teachers unions behaviour is scandalous.
The idea they don’t have to mark homework because of COVID?
Do you not share my Opinion of that?

I certainly despair of the pretence in public sector that they are the only “ key workers” all morally upstanding, when the truth is far from it.


When you speak of universal wage there are many of societies ills, that needs addressing.
Look at any poverty report eg “ feeding Britain “ and you see children if single parent families high in the stats. But who ever said it should be financially possible to support a family of one wage?

In almost all cases - Kids have two surviving parents not one. It should not be acceptable for the easy break ups that force the taxpayer as a surrogate parent.
It was labour in Wilson’s time decided to open the flood gates of easy divorce, and the destruction of marriage. With it labour created endless misery, the single parent tax credits are not an answer. Parental responsibilities only stop when the child becomes self supporting.

Society has become too much about rights not responsibilities.
It cannot end well.

[anthonykay]

When you speak of universal wage there are many of societies ills, that needs addressing.
Look at any poverty report eg “ feeding Britain “ and you see children if single parent families high in the stats. But who ever said it should be financially possible to support a family of one wage?

Interesting that such a forthright rejection of the idea, prevalent from Victorian times up to at least the 1960's, that the husband should go out to work while the wife looks after the children at home, should come from you, Oracle. Not sure how that fits in with your views (which I support) about parental responsibilities.

In almost all cases - Kids have two surviving parents not one. It should not be acceptable for the easy break ups that force the taxpayer as a surrogate parent.
It was labour in Wilson’s time decided to open the flood gates of easy divorce, and the destruction of marriage. With it labour created endless misery, the single parent tax credits are not an answer. Parental responsibilities only stop when the child becomes self supporting.

[Witton Park]

Figures for East Lancs new cases yesterday.

Burnley 0
Pendle 0
Ribble Valley 0
Hyndburn 0
Blackburn with Darwen 2
Rossendale 1

That "R" Value sounds a bit dodgy, although I suppose that the 0 people in Burnley are passing it on at the rate of 1 each

[CL]

QE is a foolhardy response to problems caused by money at too low cost.
It is prescribing more heroin to an addict, more of the poison that made the economy sick pre 2008.

Even bernanke admitted eventually that fed monetary policy lately copied by Blair and brown caused the bubble and the crash, also destroying savings. It destroyed return and so pensions for all but public sector.

But ALL QE is , is more capacity to lend. It is not “ free money”, there is still a counter party to expiring bonds that have to be paid eventually.

The idea of QE is demand or stimulus to economy is encouraged by lending cheaply.

The practical fact is there is a limit to how much an individual can borrow and pay back, in lifetime. So stimulus is a one hit now exhausted, and with very low economic return there is little motivation for massive industrial investment either. It is now trying to push on the end of a rope.

So the prime beneficiary of QE was the government able to borrow more cheaply once central banks bought up existing bonds from financial institutions at market rate , thereby giving banks the opportunity to buy more of the same. It funded primarily government debt at market value by putting buyers into the system for existing debt, But thereby is the problem. It hands debt and interest on to kids. It is this generation stealing from its grandchildren.

So who is left to borrow more? Speculators, ( who are in large proportion joe public ) which is why housing bubbles happened. Gordon brown was so fixated on spending the illusory income, from a fake housing boom, he turned a blind eye to the bubble. Even in early 2008 he said there would be no boom and bust.
QE is also the reason for the longest Dow bull run in history.

Be careful who you read with their politically motivated tripe.
The list of those who missed the 2008 bubble visible easily in 2006 include Gordon brown of course, stiglitz , IMF, OECD, FT, spectator, mervyn king, need I go on? I read all sorts of tripe in the FT.
Most of the same said we should join the euro or die.

My criterion for Listening to economists is those who saw 2008 in 2005. The list is short.

You - personally - are responsible for wage levels. Every time you buy cheapest or when that isn’t cheap enough you buy from abroad.
Employers can only pay what their customers will pay. If you think business can pay more - try starting one.

Public sector pensions are not “ better value” they are an uneconomic greedy scam in present economic climate.
Even worse when the system is gamed.

I expect employees to retire on a pension based Broadly on what they have saved. Topped up by a small amount from universal NI.
Public sector are getting double or triple that, and since the economy is a zero sum game, they are stealing it from private sector.

This attack on so called billionaires will put tens more thousands onto the unemployed queues. And far more into food banks.

Socialists do not have a monopoly on caring.Indeed, they don’t care at all: they are like a parent who buys all the toys in a shop on a credit card then can’t pay the electricity bill at the end of the month. Ask James Callahan, or the Greeks. The caring parent limits spend to income. If someone wants to spend more, they need to find NEW revenue, not more deadweights on enterprise killing the golden goose.


Latest crazy statement from NUE.
Teachers won’t mark homework in the list of 100 demands.

They could act responsibly instead: leave it unopened for 72 hours. Mark it then.

Mike-T was telling us on an earlier post that electronically created money doesn't necessarily cause inflation. He went on to argue that it was a myth young people would end up paying the consequences of such action.

The truth as you pointed out on an earlier post is all technological improvements have a deflationary action on prices. So the important fact is if the government creates extra money in a technological society the prices people pay are HIGHER than they would otherwise be. And that also means young people pay higher prices for more years and save less as a consequence.

This is an important point because by creating extra money the government is in effect confiscating wealth. Oh and the victims don't realise that is how government debt is paid back.

[CL]

My Mother in Law has metastatic breast cancer. She has received excellent private care from the Yorkshire Clinic over the last 7 years. Due to to SARS Cov2 policies and a recent deterioration she has been admitted to Bradford Royal Infirmary this week. Yorkshire Clinic has been given over to COVID apparently, although I’m not sure they have seen any cases. Her care has been nothing short of shite at BRI. She is not the sort of woman to complain, but she was left sat on a chair for 12 hours with abdominal pain and difficulty breathing whilst FOUR nurses sat there talking about their holidays and fannying about on their phones despite her constantly asking when she could have a bed to get some rest. She was told it was because they had to wait for a COVID test result and that the person who runs the tests had gone home! wouldn’t you think someone would be running these tests 24/7? I have furloughed vet nurses who could be trained to run these tests and would be willing to do so on a voluntary basis. This is the problem with the NHS, management is poor and there is no joined up thinking. She had a chest scan today to check for blood clots ( why they are focusing on blood clots is beyond me and I have plenty of medical knowledge) and they didn’t include her liver in the scan despite her having metastatic cancer here and pain in this area. I appreciate it may not change the outcome, but patients need to have a plan and after four days this is not forthcoming. I guarantee you that my canine patients receive better care than this ( and have done even in ‘normal times’). It’s time we realised private medicine is the way forward to save the wastage and poor management in the NHS and hold people accountable for their work. SARS CoV2 is becoming an excuse for poor care and demands for wage increases. It is not acceptable.

And yes, it will be the private sector that pays for the country to get back on its feet and it will be the private sector that takes the biggest hit in having to pay off the debts. Public sector pay will be protected whilst the wages of private sector workers are not guaranteed.

My five year old son has a benign bone tumour in his humerus. He needed an MRI last year under general anaesthesia. I had the foresight to take medical insurance out for the family some time ago, but as he needed a GA he had to go to Sheffield children’s hospital. It led to some issues regarding costs with our insurer. The Private Liaison manager at Sheffield admitted that the NHS have no idea what an MRI and GA actually costs and that they just plucked it out of thin air! I nearly fell over when he said this. If I didn’t know what it cost me to anaesthetise a dog and perform an MRI scan on it I’d be a) out of business and b) in trouble with most pet insurance companies. The whole thing is utterly ridiculous. And so is the case with schools. The evidence from many countries and studies suggests that children are low risk for catching the virus and spreading it. It’s time schools started the process of getting back to work properly. My Mum is a primary school teacher and thinks children should be going back now. They’ve had plenty of time to risk assess. I had to risk assess my workplace in a night after lockdown was announced. I was expected to be open to provide emergency treatment for animal welfare reasons and to ensure food chain supply. I’d rather have shut for a bit to be honest to take stock of the situation. There was no room for a ‘consultative process’ that plagues public sector industries. We just had to bloody well get on with it and use our common sense.

I'm with you on that BV. Private medicine is the way forward and I find your attitude to the problem of state monopolised health care refreshing. Push your views forward beyond the forum.