Malcolm Blair-Robinson's Blog, page 116

Post Brexit 2: Money

Because no work on an action plan was done by either side before the referendum and because so much of our national daily life is interwoven with the EU, there is no clear way forward now that the country has voted to draw stumps and go. There are what one might call foraging expeditions going on with various secretaries of state visiting potential trading partners overseas, but even they do not speak with one voice, as a new Cabinet Committee meets to discuss how to fire up the economy. To bring life back to a weak fire  you need fresh fuel. To fire up an economy in the doldrums you need fresh money.

And this is where it all goes wrong. Economists today, as well as businesses and politicians are far too ready to fall back on borrowing as a means of generating new wealth. But as I have been writing exhaustively in every format for some long time, borrowing inflates assets, saps wealth from the base and shrinks the new wealth generating capacity of what is one of the most advanced economies in the world. The rich get every richer and everyone else sees their standard and quality of life gradually sink lower. If a benefit is to be gained from Brexit, this dreadful cycle of debt needs to end.

This requires quantitative easing, not in the financial sector, as has been the case thus far, but in the manufacturing and construction sectors. Here it must be Dynamic Quantitative Easing  which comes direct from the Treasury as cash to fund a reboot, not as loans. Without this it will not be possible for our economy to benefit fully from the falling pound, because the increase in competitiveness of our pricing of exports, will be offset by the rise in the costs  of imported raw materials and of components made overseas and used in final assembly. Too many of our component manufacturers have moved their plants overseas. To get them back and to fund new start ups we need an increase in the money supply at the base of the economy. At the same time we have to increase demand through the creation of new activity in infrastructure renewal and social housing construction. DQE is the only sound way to do this.

Honours Dishonoured

The Honours system is not just falling into disrepute;  it has become disreputable and should be scrapped in its present form.

Only one Honour should exist; the Order of Merit. This is in the  gift of the sovereign and has nothing to do with politicians. It should be awarded to people who have sacrificed their potential to help others before themselves in order to better the lives of those in need. It should be rare, nominated by the public and awarded after careful scrutiny. It should not be available for celebrity, succeeding in one’s job or profession or becoming rich, all of which bring reward enough; or prowess in sport or giving big money to charity. All these things are worthy but bring their own reward. Honours should demand real sacrifice, not just generosity of time or money which can be afforded. And never, ever, given to politicians.

And the House Of Lords? That should be scrapped and replaced with an elected Senate. The title Lord could be used instead of Senator, but only while in office, which should end automatically after two six year terms, whether consecutive or not.

Trump Muslim Row

If Donald Trump is serious about getting himself elected US president, he has to upgrade his untenable position on Muslims. He has rightly found himself in hot water over extraordinary remarks he made about the mother of a fallen American hero. These have upset a lot of Americans and almost all Europeans. His ridiculous position of blaming all Muslims for IS is like blaming all Christians for the Nazis.  Or does he calculate that Americans will vote for this stuff. Surely not?

Hinkley Point: Get A Grip

It is impossible to fathom how on earth this project has got as far as it has. It does not matter which foreign government is involved in our power generation industry because none are welcome, whether they be French, Chinese or whoever. If a government is to be involved, and this Blog believes it should be, it must be our own. We do have our own government and and have just had a referendum which talked a lot about sovereignty. Well let us be plain, if your strategic services and industries are in the hands of foreign governments you can kiss goodbye to rational interpretations of sovereignty.

The way ahead is clear. The UK government has to fund the project, nobody else; it has to own the power station, nobody else; it has to change to a tested design known to work (why do we even have to specify this?) and it can then employ whatever expertise it needs form across the world to do the hard lifting, including French, Chines, American or whoever has something to offer which we need, which because of past negligence is most of it. But we retain control of the computer systems and GCHQ superintends their capacity to withstand any hacking attack.

We can only hope that Prime Minister May will get a grip of this. No wonder the Cameron/Osborne gang was fired.

Financing Government Investment Without Borrowing.

     QE in various forms is now very much part of the economic conversation, especially in following Brexit and the fall in the value of the £. Dynamic Quantitative Easing (also called Peoples Quantitative Easing) remains under government, not bank, control and targets specific investment projects without borrowing, interest or repayments. It can reboot the economy, boost manufacturing and exports and enable sustained growth of real national wealth shared by all, rather than just asset inflation which is the downside of ordinary QE. It is ideal for financing mega projects like Hinkley Point without the need to involve foreign governments in strategic infrastructure.  If you want to find out more you can enjoy a lucid explanation of the original idea from the link below.

Download .99p  Paperback £2.99   

Hinkley Point : A Mad Hatter Project

It is clear from the headline that I have some nasty things to say about this, but first I should lay out my stall.

The most important principles are that we should have abundant and cheap electricity especially for business and industry, there should be ample reserves in generating capacity guaranteeing the lights never go out and all of this should be achieved in the most environmentally friendly way, but with the red line at reliable and affordable power supplies. Thus it is that I hold the power generation should be a nationalized industry and power stations of whatever type should be built and owned by the government as a vital strategic investment. The idea must be to phase out coal and later gas, make best use possible of solar, tide and wind power, as well as hydro electric where feasible, but to have as a key component nuclear generation of the core supply, using modern and tested technology. A new idea worth exploring is using mini reactors of the type used in nuclear submarines to generate power from underground installations in disused coal mines. More of them could be deployed quickly than the big set piece coastal mega sites and greater flexibility would result. However regular nuclear power stations should still be built in timely fashion to a manageable scale.

Having privatized the industry, governments both Tory and New Labour, walked away from their responsibilities to maintain and upgrade our world leading generating assets, during parliament after parliament until a crisis with the lights is almost at hand. Finally the proposal is that rather than our own government owning the new developments of capacity, they should instead be owned by foreign governments, one of which is a dictatorship by a single party, the new power station should be the most expensive thing ever built on this planet, using untested designs which so far have not worked and may never do so, demanding from consumers a surcharge on their bills ensuring extortionate energy costs for thirty five years.

We can only rejoice that the launch of this lunacy has been held back during the final countdown. We must hope that the prime minister, having halted this madness at the eleventh hour, can replace it with something less insane. That should not be difficult.

Transatlantic Thriller: Purple Killing

Dr. Rachael Benedict is an American historian and a best-selling author. Through the death of her estranged father she sets out to expose secrets from World War Two, which are so sensitive they have been subject to an extensive cover-up lasting seventy years.  This provokes a killing spree as parts of the security services of both Britain and the United States become engaged in the drama, with one side determined to get the secrets out and the other determined to keep them hidden.

Rachael battles forward to unearth the truth both from intrigues of the Nazi era, but also within her own family, surviving three attempts on her life, before finally achieving her goal. Not only does she expose the truth from history and from her own roots, she has to delve deep into her own emotions to find the truth about hers elf.

Click on image for uk.          Click here for US

US Election Goes Critical

The US election now moves to the critical phase. It is no longer two contests to determine who are to be the candidates.  It is one fight to decide on who gets to be President.

On the one hand we have the first woman so nominated in American history who is also said to be the most qualified and experienced ever to stand; a Deep South lawyer who has been First Lady, a New York Senator, Secretary of State and in her spare time a Mum. She will be a safe pair of hands, compassionate and committed. She should walk it to Washington. Yet there is in the way her mirror opposite.

A man without any experience of politics, a rank outsider who fuels anger then rides on the energy it creates, a billionaire loudmouth who says what the crowd want to hear, who says terrible things about minorities and Muslims, who does unspeakable stuff like talk to Russians, yet who  bulldozes obstacles arrayed before him, turns disaster into triumph and mobilizes millions of voters nobody else seems to inspire.

So the voters of America have a clear and distinct choice. Which they will chose even they cannot yet tell. The fight will be furious, dirty and distracting. But for those watching from across the pond, it will never be dull.

Labour: A Better Way Forward

Turn Left To Power is an explosive dissertation in book form offering a fundamental redirection for Labour’s return to power, with bold ideas for a new economic and social settlement, including economic and taxation reform, restoration of responsibility in government and a renewal of democracy. Full of detailed information, hard facts and the results of thorough research and deep thinking, the narrative will grip you like a thriller and open your eyes to a brighter, fairer future in a mere 25000 words. The ideas are relevant whether Brexit goes In or Out. Frank and at a times brutal, Turn Left To Power offers a collection of fundamental reforms which amount to a political revolution which can propel Labour back to government in 2020.

Check it out now. Paperback £4.99   Kindle £1.99     AMAZON UK

New Labour Dead and Gone

The saga of the Labour leadership continues to play out and there may or may not be a drama in store later when the court decision on Jeremy Corbyn’s eligibility is to be announced.

However yesterday was very important. Owen Smith, who is supported by almost all the parliamentary Labour party, laid out a manifesto which couched in detail a programme far to the left of anything heard from the party for nearly twenty-five years. This was not centre ground stuff at all and had it been Milliband’s offer in 2015 he would have won. But New Labour was still living then and tied his hands.

This blog’s criticism would be that Smith’s offer did not sufficiently address in a modern way the challenge of restoring the UK’s industrial strength and create new wealth in depth fairly shared by all. Maybe he needs to read my book  Turn Left For Power.