Interest, debt & housing prices

I came across the video from the i linked to below and wondered how much the assertion that the UK has never had such a malign nexus, oh high inflation, high interest rates and high consumer debt. I was shocked at the Schroders report that the price to income ratio is now nine i.e. a…

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Germany and debt fetishism

The stability and growth pact (SGP) is the EU’s public debt management rules and embedded in a separate treaty to the T[F]EU treaties. I have commented on these treaties elsewhere on this wiki. Elsewhere in several articles, on the blog, I criticise the SGP on my blog, including here, here, and here. My main criticism…

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What about the Euro?

Should we campaign to rejoin the Euro? In my blog article, Say no to extrawürst, I look at Niall Ò Conghaile’s arguments on EU re-entry terms and dovetail them with my realisation that the UK’s previous unique deal and its opt-outs are gone. I have felt there is room for a deal on the Euro…

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World Economic Power

I was thinking about UK defence policy and considering the role of the domestic economy. I was doing this in the light of the GMB’s internal debates on defence manufacturing. These charts are dated 2017 and I believe that Italy and France have both overtaken the UK since then and the measurement in USD will…

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Marini and superexploitation

I was sent this, an essay/review of Marini’s “Dialectics of Dependency”  by Andy Higgenbottom. I find it a tough read and one that requires a solid understanding of Capital, the Labour Theory of Value and surplus value, which I don’t have. Frankly this needs a reread, but I highlighted these, see below, notes for my…

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Central Bank Digital Currency

The Govt have issued a consultation on how to implement a Central Bank Digital Currency. I say, that it seems to make as much difference to what we do today as a fart in a hurricane. Have I got it wrong? Consumers, that’s you and me will still pay using a card or a phone…

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A living wage

It’s conference time for the GMB, and prompted by some members I looked at the state of policy development on low pay and the living wage. The GMB Policy is stated in its policy guide albeit dated 2021. I look at Labour’s “A new deal for working people” and note that the GMB’s minimum wage…

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The OBR

The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) was founded by George Osborne as part of his shredding of George Brown’s reputation. He wanted and independence badge to put on the economic forecasts on which fiscal policy was based. He accused Brown of making it up. Anyway now we have the OBR, here are my notes and…

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Port of London

I was looking up some stats on the Port of London, the UK’s biggest port beating Grimsby & Hull, but only just. This was to help me write some stuff on the FTCA and London. Here are my links and notes …

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Freeports 2022

There’s a lot of noise on the left about Freeport/Charter Cities. What are they and how dangerous to democracy and workers’ rights are they? Here are my notes.

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Wages, rents and profit

Much of the campaigning in favour of the current wave of strikes poses them as defensive, and quotes the excess in profits being made. I wonder what the stats say, the National Income consists of wages, rents and profits. Here are my notes …

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