You forgot to mention who is going to lead us into this brave new world! The quality of politicians of any party in any country is well below the level needed to make any difference at all. I can see no capable, competent and courageous politician striding confidently forward to take control and fight off the dragons. The church of England is full of chinless namby pambys staring at their navels. The political parties are full of venal self-serving narcissists. The mega corporations aren't going to help (although my husband thinks Jamie Dimon might be an interesting choice for US president!) and the lobbyists are just working to their own narrow agenda. So where do we look?
Well, quite. That is indisputably the case. Yet, I still maintain some faith that there are enough people lurking in the shadows with their heads screwed on to make a go of things. They will probably only get a chance to do so once the current bunch have led us to utter ruination, however, which is a bit of a shame.
A free market economy is one thing. But looking at the context of the current budget, my take is that Truss (because let’s face it, this is her budget) is actively seeking to achieve something very different- high inflation & high interest rates. (Since this is the virtually inevitable consequence of her economic policy in our current context, I think we should give her the credit of assuming it is intended.)
This would be a great policy for capital asset holders, and a disaster for the middle classes. In fact, it’s a vast transfer of assets from the middle classes to monopolistic crony capitalists.
This looks to me like cynical exploitation & corruption. Which isn’t the same as a free market by any means.
It strikes me that the path we are already on will already lead to the ruination of the middle class and that capital asset holders have been the main beneficiaries of economic policy for decades. I don't think there is a painless way out of the malaise we are in; we should have taken our economic medicine 14 years ago.
Surely the "capital asset holders" are the middle classes? I assume what is meant by the term are financial investment organisations like Vanguard and Blackrock rather than actual houses and physical items? If so then high interest rates don't benefit these companies as people move money from them to bonds etc which offer a better return.
The middle classes are being destroyed possibly because they have got as far as is possible for improving their lives - nowhere else to go because the next leap would be to the super rich so the middle classes can only fall back down the ladder if they can't maintain what they've got.
Absolutely. Unless an outlet for frustrations is found, the pressure will only continue to rise. Then, at some point, a flashpoint will occur, and a lot of doo-da will hit the fans. I believe we are in post-Brexit, post-Covid a lull regarding the issue (the former giving the illusion that the electorate was listened to, the latter as it suppressed numbers for a while).
I had a similar experience recently to yours but in Cologne. I was being seen off by a friend when a young homeless bloke of indeterminate origin came up to me. I gave him a preemptory 'Nein!', and he looked at me with no small degree of scorn.
You forgot to mention who is going to lead us into this brave new world! The quality of politicians of any party in any country is well below the level needed to make any difference at all. I can see no capable, competent and courageous politician striding confidently forward to take control and fight off the dragons. The church of England is full of chinless namby pambys staring at their navels. The political parties are full of venal self-serving narcissists. The mega corporations aren't going to help (although my husband thinks Jamie Dimon might be an interesting choice for US president!) and the lobbyists are just working to their own narrow agenda. So where do we look?
Well, quite. That is indisputably the case. Yet, I still maintain some faith that there are enough people lurking in the shadows with their heads screwed on to make a go of things. They will probably only get a chance to do so once the current bunch have led us to utter ruination, however, which is a bit of a shame.
A free market economy is one thing. But looking at the context of the current budget, my take is that Truss (because let’s face it, this is her budget) is actively seeking to achieve something very different- high inflation & high interest rates. (Since this is the virtually inevitable consequence of her economic policy in our current context, I think we should give her the credit of assuming it is intended.)
This would be a great policy for capital asset holders, and a disaster for the middle classes. In fact, it’s a vast transfer of assets from the middle classes to monopolistic crony capitalists.
This looks to me like cynical exploitation & corruption. Which isn’t the same as a free market by any means.
It strikes me that the path we are already on will already lead to the ruination of the middle class and that capital asset holders have been the main beneficiaries of economic policy for decades. I don't think there is a painless way out of the malaise we are in; we should have taken our economic medicine 14 years ago.
Surely the "capital asset holders" are the middle classes? I assume what is meant by the term are financial investment organisations like Vanguard and Blackrock rather than actual houses and physical items? If so then high interest rates don't benefit these companies as people move money from them to bonds etc which offer a better return.
The middle classes are being destroyed possibly because they have got as far as is possible for improving their lives - nowhere else to go because the next leap would be to the super rich so the middle classes can only fall back down the ladder if they can't maintain what they've got.
Absolutely. Unless an outlet for frustrations is found, the pressure will only continue to rise. Then, at some point, a flashpoint will occur, and a lot of doo-da will hit the fans. I believe we are in post-Brexit, post-Covid a lull regarding the issue (the former giving the illusion that the electorate was listened to, the latter as it suppressed numbers for a while).
I had a similar experience recently to yours but in Cologne. I was being seen off by a friend when a young homeless bloke of indeterminate origin came up to me. I gave him a preemptory 'Nein!', and he looked at me with no small degree of scorn.