Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts

Sunday, 6 May 2012

Mid Term Blues La La La



Music is perhaps the only art form that can touch my soul .There are artists who always seem to articulate a message that resonates. You can place me firmly in the camp of I care what you sing , not how you sing it. Blues music arose out of oppression and a failure of representation.

Flashman and Calamity have fessed up to being sorry but their message was directly aimed at their activists. No message to the ordinary ?

The professional ( well they earn their living professing, if that makes them professional is another debate) pundits have exercised their intellectual might to draw conclusions as to the political state of the country, their predictions for the future activity of the elected and of course the fate of the country in 2015. Did you hear anything that surprised you ? Did you hear insight ?

Are local elections so worthless and meaningless to the political powers that the results are can be dismissed in a 3 minute interview containing nothing more that the usual, lazy platitudes ?

If you are an elected representative and have dismissed these election results as mid term blues then you are a patronising, ignorant fuckwit and you should resign immediately.

If your unemployed, in poverty, ill or just surviveing you belong to the voter demographic that is growing the fastest, the desperate. What message did you hear coming to you today ?

It astonishes the writer that the analysis does not extend to what message the electorate is sending ?

Your not worth voting for is the resounding message sent to our politicians. Not a message coming across on the news ?

The Tories say they need to communicate better, the Lib Dems that their support has not eroded further and labour we need to continue our good work winning your trust.

If your in opposition then our election system encourages you to sit on the sidelines snipping. Thats not your job , your job is to hold the government to account. Concentrate on this , be honest and offer alternatives.

If your a Lib Dem, wake up the fact that you have lost the trust of people who have voted for you previously. Stop telling us that your in a difficult position, who cares ? The only way back is to win peoples trust, try that.

And if you are Tory when are you going to start listening to ordinary people instead of pandering to an aging demographic that ultimately will destroy you. As a pro European I would welcome a referendum on Europe , have it and then shut up about it. Gay marriage ? FFS who cares ? Let people do what they want. Online porn ? Adults like porn shock horror, ( cannot admit that can you ) protect kids fine but start with page 3 ? Laws to let prayers at council meetings ? Is this the best you can really do ? Oiky appeared on the Andrew Marr show this morning, despite Marr's flaccid questioning our chancellor was more humble than normal. The message was its the economy stupid. I hope he means it.

Mid term blues are real. they are misery, apathy and despair. Mid term blues are not a voting pattern.

Thursday, 26 April 2012

Economic Burdens Not Fairly Shared

Globespan has released details of a survey that the have conducted on behalf of the BBC World Service.

61% of 11,740 people interviewed across 22 countries ( including the UK ) believe that economic burdens are being unfairly distributed among populations.

The percentage of dissatisfaction has increased from previous surveys.

Not surprising, but a further indication of strains between citizens and their masters. 

The UK is now officially in recession which ( using the Spanish data within the survey ) is only going to result in an increase of anger and pain in the UK electorate.

However, would an economic miracle and a dramatic increase in wealth across the board persuade everybody that the current economic model is perfect ?

Put another way, would a unregulated free market resulting in the magic " silver bullet " convince the British that there should be no regulation of banks, big business etc ?

I genuinely think not. There are generations that will never forget the current economic downturn and the behaviour of the City and the banks,

Therefore some sort of regulation of business and markets is a prerequisite to a citizens perception of well being. If this principal is accepted then the only questions that remain are :-

What types of regulation ?

How much regulation ?

Who regulates the regulator ?

Small government does not sit easily with this ethos nor does " light touch regulation ".

Nor does the mantra " keep the markets happy " because the markets will scream blue murder at any controls on their behaviour.

The moral of the story is that whenever you hear a politician, economist or worst of all, a " City expert " saying that the government must bow to market forces  and deregulate, what you really hearing is that person saying " screw you ! I/we don’t care as to your well being "

Good to remember this next time you vote.