Miliband Has Another Crazy Idea!
After his idea of freezing energy prices, which I think, anybody with any knowledge of how the energy markets work, will think is a non-starter, he’s now had another idea, which although on the face of it looks good, will have far reaching negative consequences if it is implemented. It’s all reported here on the BBC and it is well summed up by the first paragraphs.
Firms would not be able to undercut wages by paying agency staff less than permanent staff under a Labour government, Ed Miliband has said.
Writing in the Independent on Sunday, the Labour leader said the party would close a loophole in the law that allowed for differing rates of pay.
Mr Miliband said he wanted to tighten the rules to “stop a race to the bottom with workers coming here from abroad”.
If you take an industry like farming, which relies heavily on bringing in agency workers to harvest fruit and vegetables, the resulting increase in price of the food, would probably mean we’d import more food from places like Kenya. Farmers would probably only grow food that could be harvested totally by machine.
Other industries would probably be similarly affected and their costs would go up, meaning more higher prices for consumers.
One point that he seems to ignore, is what happens in a company if agency workers and permanent staff are paid the same. A company would adjust the workforce to have the best one to meet its needs. So permanent staff might come under other pressures to perform as well as agency staff, be they from the UK or abroad.
It’ll be interesting to see how this argument develops. I’d love to see a breakdown of where these agency workers are employed by industry and region. I suspect that we’ll find some important public services wouldn’t run without them.
You can’t bring in these sort of policies immediately. You have to phase them in gradually over a period of time. It’s like trying to ride a bicycle slowly, by only turning hard left and hard right, instead of by small movements on the handlebars.
My only worry about these unworkable pronouncements from Ed Miliband, is that enough people might believe him and vote for him in 2010. His deputy may be called Balls, but Miliband talks it in spades!
Is Mark Carney A Lucky Governor?
Napoleon is reputed to have said.
I know he’s a good general, but is he lucky?
Mark Carney may or may not be a good central banker, but he certainly seems to have arrived in his new job, just as the recovery in the economy seems to be starting. It’s reported here in the Independent.
So it would seem that Cameron and Osborne, might have been influenced by Napoleon’s words, as Mark Carney does appear to have the luck to inherit good figures. Perhaps tough, Mervyn King should be given more credit, as it would seem that things got going under his stewardship of the Bank!
But we’ve seen this economy inheritance before. Tony Blair inherited a good economy and then proceeded to waste it all, so that his successor left us in the mess we are today.
It’s not that we have boom and bust, we have had a succession of governments in this country of generally a pretty good one followed by one that isn’t that good at all. I’m not going to play party politics here, as you can find bad governments of both left and right. And good and bad periods of governments that were in power for a long time. Find me a man or woman, who says that everything Margaret Thatcher or Tony Blair did was good, and I’ll show you a liar.
Perhaps we need to have more of the country run by independent organisations like the Bank of England and the BBC. Why for instance, isn’t the NHS, totally removed from the meddling of politicians? After all, how many politicians could successfully run a whelk stall?
To return to the economy, Mark Carney has said that interest rates could possibly rise next year.
They already are!
My Zopa figures are showing that their five ear loans, which were about 4.5% earlier in the year, have been rising slightly in recent weeks and now sit at 4.8%. I haven’t had a major bad debt for six months and the only blot is that my true returns are still stuck between 4 and 4.5% before tax, and are marginally down on last year.
As I believe Zopa is a stable system, where the sensible, savvy lenders, provide loans for canny borrowers of good credit, it could be a good marker as to the way the market is going.
Hollande In Cloud-Cuckoo Land
This story from the BBC is entitled, “Euro crisis is over, says France’s Francois Hollande”
I can hear Bud Flanagan singing a new version of the Dad’s Army theme song call “Who do you think you are kidding Mr. Hollande?”
It might be true to say that the crisis with the Euro is over, But the crisis with some of the countries in the Euro-zone certainly isn’t!
The Circular Argument Over The Falklands
Whatever the Pope thinks about the Falklands is all fairly irrelevant, despite what was said in the my post about the Daily Mirror, as he has other more pressing problems.
In the end though, economic arguments will win through, so consider these facts.
Argentina’s economy is pretty much a basket case and with policies like nationalising oil companies as reported here, they are annoying possible supporters like Spain.
Spain too, would like to get rid of that irritant Gibraltar, but with their economic problems, they are not going to do anything rash in the area. Although, they do block various EU measures because of it. I think the Spanish are sensible enough to realise that British visitors are an important part of their economy.
The UK, is also a big destination for Spanish unemployed, where they are one of the bigger groups of immigrants.
And then there’s the Spanish enclaves on the coast of North Africa, which to Morocco are probably the same sort of irritant as Gibraltar is to Spain and the Falklands are to Argentina.
So the economy and the politics go round and round.
Throw in possible Scottish independence, which would be an encouragement to some parts of Spain, that yearn for independence and you have a big, interconnected mix.
You probably have two sensible players and one that has a reputation as a bit of an opportunist.
In some ways it’s rather sad what has happened to Argentina. Before the Second World War, it was much higher up the league of prosperity, than it is now. It just shows how bad government can ruin a country.
The Spanish Fall In Love With Britain
The Times has an article, where it describes how the Spanish are falling in love with Britain, its culture and the English lanuguage. This is the introduction to the article.
A passion for cupcakes, Jamie Oliver and all things red, white and blue is sweeping Spain — Britannia, it seems, is suddenly very cool.
From Madrid to Barcelona, Málaga to Bilbao, the Union Jack is visible everywhere as Spaniards seek to soak up the spirit of the London Olympics.
They are buying T-shirts, cushions, plates, towels, pencil cases — anything that bears the British flag. They are also flocking to learn the language in increasing numbers.
So amongst all the gloom of the economy yesterday, perhaps we are doing something right!
The Times puts it all down to the Olympics.
I must say though, that you come across a large number of Spanish people in London these days. but then we have the jobs and because of Spain’s unemployment, they have the people to fill them.
Were Economic Forecasters Invented To Make Weather Forecasters Look Good At Their Job?
This question was posed on Drive on BBC Radio 5 Live.
I like it!
George Osborne Hands His Successor A Poison Pill
I think that the appointment of Mark Carney to the Governorship of the Bank of England is a good one. I think he’s got the right experience and of course Canada has a much better-sorted banking industry than the United States, the United Kingdom and most of Europe.
So a good helping of Canadian experience can’t but help.
But say in 2016 or whenever the election is held, Labour should win, he would be a difficult thorn in the side of any Labour Chancellor.
Has Sir John Got It Right Again?
It must be sometime in the mid-1990s, when I saw John Major give a speech and take questions in the Cambridge Chief Executives Club. He gave his views on Black Wednesday, Kosovo and the Euro amongst other topics. To say it was impressive at the time, would be an understatement, as most of the things he said would happen did.
So the fact that Sir John is now saying the worst might be over, may in itself be indicative of the fact that it is! He spoke on the Andrew Marr show this morning and this is an extract.
Recovery begins from the darkest moment. I’m not certain, but I think we have passed the darkest moment.
There are some oddities in the figures at the moment: Why in the depths of this recession is employment growing? Why is industrial production going up? Why has the stock market risen?
“There are things happening out there that will become apparent and we don’t quite know why or how. My guess – and this is something a minister can’t say but I can – is that in due course we will find that we passed the bottom.
The first time was twenty years ago and no-one believed him. Let’s hope this time, that the voters do! But then voters always vote for those who promises them the most.
I think, I’ll form the Pie-In-The-Sky Party!
No-one will pay any Income tax but companies will may 70% Corporation Tax. There will be absolutely no immigration and the NHS will be free, with no prescription charges to all those living here. Oh! And there will be no more subsidies for trains, but we’ll build motorways everywhere, where we can drive cars, that will not have any Road Tax and severely reduced fuel taxes.
At least with all the cars, we’ll be able to drive ourselves to Hell in comfort.
The Weather Hasn’t Helped the Recession
I can only look at the London weather, but I don’t think that the first three months of the year have been very good. How has this effected the recession, especially, as figures show the construction industry hasn’t performed well?
I predict that the figures for the next quarter will be much better, if the weather pulls its socks up.
The Anonymous Widower 