The Economy is Stupid – Martyn Lowe

False Inflationary Markers

I’ve just been looking at the list of items which make up the Brexitland inflation statistics.None of it makes any sense to me, and I certainly do not find it useful.

First of all it is based on a carnivore and not a vegan diet.

E.g. it includes dairy items such as cows milk, but not oat milk. Etc.

Then it does not include the high increase of private landlord rents.It also presumes that everyone uses extreme energy petrol and diesel personal vehicles.

Not so !

Thus there is a real need for a ecologically sound and vegan based inflation statistical table to be produced.

Economic Analysis Without Other Factors

I have just been reading, or rather trying to road, a book by Peter Kropotkin. It is Anarchist Communism.

The problem about it is fourfold.

1. That it is full of mid nineteenth century examples and analysis.

2. That while it is very useful in terms of describing the development and practice of capitalism up to that era, it does need to be updated.

3. That any perspective about economic developments does really need to factor in ecological issues.

4. That much of the analysis does remind me of what is to be found in the pamphlet Wage Labour and Capital by Karl Marx.

Away From A Socialist Perspective

One of the greatest problems with both a socialist and Anarcho Syndicalist economic analysis is that both are very good at pointing out the problems, but not so good in giving any ecologically sound solutions.

Rail and Power

One of the most simplistic arguments which I keep hearing from Socialists is that all the problems of both the railways and energy generators can all be solved by re-nationalising them.

That takes no account of how we need to create energy sources at the point of use. i.e. by the use of many more vertical wind turbines and solar panels in our city centres, together with buildings which are properly insulated.

While none of them refer to the need to create local manufacturing workshops which use recycled materials, or returning all goods movements back to both canals and railways.

Or how we can produce better solutions by the use of energy cooperatives.

While all of these solutions will help us to close down the Drax power plant and nukiller power plants.

Dole Not Coal !

There there is the issue of what are and are not socially useful jobs.

Which goes back to the concept that saving jobs is more important than saving the environment.

Historically supporting striking miners was a blow against improving our environment.

While a lot of current political campaigning is focused upon saving totally socially useless work, such as using cash rather than debit cards, or not using self checkouts within supermarkets.

Yet there are still lots of jobs which need many more people working on them.

Here are a few example : –

– More people to build and operate more trains and trams.

– Many more Traffic Wardens.

– More people to building and operate many more sustainable recycling centres.

– People to plant and maintain more urban fruit orchards.

– Creating more wetlands to prevent major floods.

– Building and maintaining vertical wind turbines and solar panels at the point of use. That is within the inner cities.

In the Fields

Now contrast the above with the Following

work of Peter Kropotkin.

Fields Factories and Workshops

Industry combined with is agriculture

and Brain work with manual work.

The chapters on agriculture being of special interest.

Although first published in 1898, while not taken from a Vegan perspective, and pre-dating the effects of climate change, there is still a lot in it which is worth considering.

Colin Ward

Of those political thinkers which I like the best is Colin Ward, as he looked at issues from a practical perspective. The issues which he wrote about were very wide ranging indeed.

The first series of the Freedom Press periodical Anarchy which he edited is well worth reading, as is his book Anarchy in Action.

Social Needs & Financial Reforms

Here is the Highest Educational Problem

The figure I keep quoting is 1in 7 of the population in Brexitland are functionally illiterate.

Yet while millions of pounds are pouring in to the universities, next to no money is being spent to solve this problem.

It is possible to find books in public libraries to solve the adult literacy issue, but there is no one to do the teaching.

I’ve always thought that university students should do such teaching as part payment for their education loans.

Though given the concerns which exist about the literary skills of some students, such a scheme should be set up with a formal teaching course to go with it.

Here is the Financial Problem

There’s talk right now of raising council tax by 5%.

Yet that is double what any individual that is part of a couple would have to pay.

Thus single individuals would pay 100% more than any two people in the same place.

Even with the 25% single person reduction it is still a much higher amount than individuals in a shared property pay.

That is not social justice or making an equitable contribution to local services.

It is also an unfair fiscal load upon all single pensioners.

Meanwhile all students are exempt from paying council tax. Yet keep in mind many pensioners left school at either 15 or 16, and never got the chance to go to university.

Thus the council tax system needs to be abolished, and a modified version of a local poll tax introduced in order to lift the present inequitable system.

I don’t expect a lot of people who campaigned against the poll tax to like this idea, but we do need to abolish the totally inequitable and unjust council tax system.

The Disastrous History of Brexitland.

The Final Ongoing Chapter

The middle and last part of 2022 was a time of uncertainties, economic mess, and major political swings. Yet none of the major ecological, educational, or social issues where being addressed.

Much of this uncertainty was caused by an unstable Rabid Right Wing government which was economically illiterate. While those were in it had no understanding of science, and technologically.

Thus they had no concept of the major social, ecological, and economic damage which they were causing.

All they were concerned with was helping to make the rich much richer, and ways in which they might keep themselves in power.

Still the Rabid Right Wingers managed to stay in power, even when they kept changing their policies by the day.

As one well known commentator said at the time: –

‘ They make it all up as they go along.’

While another one stated that there was no point in reporting, or ever reading, any government policy announcements, as they all changed by the hour.

Then the Expected Unexpected happened, and the Dance of Death changed in to a continual internal battle and debate about just who might command Brexitland.

Thus the economic decline, social poverty, and environmental mess was ignored.

Only when the environmental damage had reached way beyond crisis point did the rabid right wing Brexitland government start to notice it, even though activists had been predicting these problems for many decades.

Recent Observation, Notes, Stats, & Observations

Numbers

Many of my political and social observations come from a lot of background reading, and looking at statistics.

Farming

There are a couple of things which farmers have been complaining a lot about of late. They are the rising prices of fuel and nitrates.

While a lot of them are also moaning about the prices they are getting for what they are selling to the supermarkets.

All of which leaves me thinking that we might soon be finding organic crops becoming much cheaper to grow than that which is produced by intensive chemical spraying.

Statistical Pointers To Better Understanding.

Of course some problems which prevent our better understanding of the world come from other factors.

Take for example the main form of colour blindness which is Red / Green.

While 1 in 12 men suffer from colour blindness, only 1 in 200 women do so.

Then there are the 1 in 7 of the adult population which are to a greater of lesser extent functionally illiterate.

So a lot more thought needs to be given as to how to improve public signs and how they are written.

Not understanding the numbers

It is also no use complaining about falling standards of scientific understanding, while the lever of adult numeracy is so very high.

Just take a look at the following reports-

Almost half of the UK lacks basic financial literacy

and

One-in-three adults in England and Northern Ireland cannot work out the correct change from a shopping trip, according to new research from UCL Institute of Education (IOE) and University of Cambridge.

No Receipt – No Record – No Ability to keep an eye on financial issues

Of course it does not help individuals to budget their spending, if they throw away or never pick up their receipts for their purchases, ( a trend which seems to be increasing ). This means they can not see their pattern of spending over the year.

Then comes the question of inflation, low wages, low salary increases, and pensions which are so low that many older individuals are living in dire poverty.

Thus aside from the number of food banks increasing, we also have a situation in which many individuals are asking whether they should turn on their heating during winter, or eat that day.

The same can be said of politicians and planners who are incapable of looking at any long term effects of current public spending or the effects it will have.

Eat or Freeze

While the Rabid Right Wing Tory Government of Brexitland has just no idea of what this means, as many of them are millionaires.

Is it any wonder that many of us think that living in Brexitland equates to living within a shambolic and dystopian version of a Neo-fascist Kafkaland.

Future Finance For Future [Radioactive] Waste

The issue of Nukiller Waste is one which the industry does not want to face up to, or finance.

As it stands the tax payer will be for paying for dealing with this waste many many years in to the future. That is before any more is added to it.

Aside from the need to sort out the mess at Drigg and Sellafield / Windscale, we have an issue of rising tides which will affect all the coastal plants.

Thus we do need to focus out campaigning attention upon these issues.

While showing just how much CO2 the nukiller industry produces.

Thus this is what we urgently need: –

Immediate Campaigning Finance For To Stop All Future Radioactive Waste.

Recent Thinking

Recent Observations

Much of my time is spent reading various reports, news items, and analytical pieces, which in turn I may share or comment upon with others.

In between all of that I will produce various short analytical observations which are just too short to turn in to articles, but which you might find of interest.

Here are a few of the most recent ones.

The St Francis Cafe

Now how is this for a fine example of why many religionists just don’t think logically.

There is a Christian bookshop just around the corner from where I live. Outside of it is a oversized A board, which in passing I should mention is both an obstruction and unlicensed. Upon it there is a list of what a cafe in the shop sells. This includes dead pig corpses, which are otherwise known as bacon.

What I don’t understand is how they can do such a thing if they have read or heard about St Francis.

If they had done so then it would be known as the St Francis cafe, and only have vegan food for sale.

Then this on Budget Day

Today’s budget has cut taxes on climate damaging petrol and diesel which fuel extreme energy personal vehicles.

What should of been done is make boots and shoes VAT ( sale tax ) zero rated. That would of encouraged more people to walk more and thus save our environment. has cut taxes on climate damaging petrol and diesel which fuel extreme energy personal vehicles.

The Current and Future wars

Over the last couple of weeks I have been doing a lot is reading about the weapon systems now being used in the Ukraine, and which in turn will have a major effect upon the arms trade.

The main points being that there will be a lot more small drone weapons in use, with more missile launchers used, while tanks have become much more vulnerable to attacks.

Some NATO countries such as the Netherlands have already started to move away from the use of tanks.

Longer term I think there will be a lot more 3D printers in use nearer to the fighting.

All of which we do need to keep in mind for future arms trade campaigning.

The Brexitland Song.

To the tune of Who Wants to be a Millionaire ?

—-

Who wants to live in Brexitland ?

I Don’t !

Who wants to live in Brexitland ?

We Don’t !

WE Don’t !

Who wants to live in the EU ?

We do !

WE DO !

Who wants to live in a repressive state ?

A repressive state, is something we hate!

Who wants to live in the EU ?

E Do !

WE DO !

For that’s all E just want to do.

——-

Now keep singing this until Brexitland becomes a part of the EU once again.

Crisis & Solution[s]

Old Thinking – New Thinking

I’ve been thinking a lot of late about the kind of dystopian solutions which various politicians have been coming up with, and about finding solutions to the current multiple messes we are all in.

Of course it’s very easy to see how fiscally and scientifically illiterate most of them are, but there is much more to it than that.

Most policy makers look at the world from within their own social class, or political party perspective.

Yet it goes way beyond that, as the majority of them are neither lateral thinkers or possessed of much imagination.

As a friend of mine said to me recently about both society and the economy is going: “ We are in to new territory”.

Thus a lot of new imaginative thinking needs to be delivered, and in a very short amount of time.

We have to do that thinking.

We have to be pragmatic.

We have to be the ones to sort out our global mess, as none of our lords and masters, or any of the policy makers are capable of doing so.

A Multi Faceted Crisis

Just the ecological crisis includes the housing, transport, energy, land use and farming, but that in turn impacts upon many different social and economic issues.

Yet we still think about solving them all in isolation, or as separate campaigns.

While many of the radical political groups or organisations view what can be done in terms separate solutions., such as dealing with unemployment first, rather than question just what kind of employment that might be.

As I keep on saying.

We need both Joined-up-thinking, and joined-up-campainging.

In Times Gone By And In Times Present

In Times Past

Much of the current social and political debate is about how society is changing for the worst, while others might argue how some things are much better now than in decades or centuries ago.

Yet nothing is said about how this really compares to the past.

Here are two examples how things have changed for the better over the last 100 to 150 years: –

The School leaving age

and

Life Expenctency

Henry Mayhew

I wonder just how many of the younger generation realise just what the reality of life was like in an earlier age as described by Henry Mayhew.

How many of the younger generation would know about, of ever come upon a Tosher or Mud Lark did?

Now that might seem like ancient history many people, but some of the descriptions within the Road to Wigan Pier are still within the living memory of many of the older generation.

Housing

It’s not so long ago that a very high percentage of the population lived in bedsits or HMOs as they are now classed as being.

Remember the expression ‘A shilling for the gas’ ?

How it was normal to sleep in the same room as a gas cooker before that become illegal.

Yes things have improved a lot over the years.

Yet they have not.

– We now have a lot more rough sleepers than in many decades.

– Adult education in terms of evening classes is now almost a thing of the past.

– While one in seven of UK adults are functionally illiterate to a greater or lesser extent.

In Times Now

Margaret Thatcher said that:- “there is no such thing as society”.

While many of her supporters said “Greed is Good!”.

To which there was a response which went:-

The family is dead! Long live the family !

All of which are totally wrong, but they are attitudes which still prevail to this day.

In times to come

Social Change or Social Revolution ?

If history and all the recent events have taught us anything, then we must care for both society and the individual.

That’s something which compliments the concept of: –

Think Global Act Local.