I admit that I liked this comment from someone called Adrian posted here earlier today in response to my thread on inflation and the need for wage increases:
Watching the TV news reports on the economy just now, is painful when you know how it all really works.
It's like being a tenant in a large building where various fires are breaking out, and the whole building is in danger of going up. The building management company are in complete denial about the causes of the fires, and refusing to activate the sprinkler system or replace defective fire doors and extinguishers, because it would hit the profits of their shareholders. They're claiming, with crocodile tears, that the only solution is for the tenants to pay more rent, and stop demanding repairs and maintenance.
The tenants are getting uncomfortably hot and a bit frightened, but most of them know very little about the causes and control of fire, so they tend to believe the managers. Made worse by the local news outlets (which are controlled or influenced by the managers or shareholders) repeating what the managers say, without question. They even feature so-called experts “explaining” all this nonsense, who are either equally ignorant or toe-ing the line in order to keep their jobs. (This includes you, Robert Peston, on ITN last night, shameful).
I've tried shouting at the TV, but they take no notice of me.
I thought that very well put.
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Nice.
“Watching the TV news reports on the economy just now, is painful when you know how it all really works.”
Indeed! How can you have much hope for the future when all the political parties in the UK are monetary system illiterate? I couldn’t believe the Green Party for example nailing its manifesto to the mast with a belief in Positive Money ideology. This is straight out of Milton Friedman’s play book. Surely there was some recognition that the state needs to create a very substantial sum of money to tackle climate change?
As I said in an early post today on this website I really don’t see how you can change all this without building a new political party from the base upwards and that involves providing teaching in the first instance on how monetary systems really work.
Ouch.
That actually happened didn’t it….
“This includes you, Robert Peston, on ITN last night, shameful”.
Peston ain’t stupid – & probably has a good understanding of how it all works – so why doe he persist with his line of questioning that supports the status quo?, The Andrew Marr-Chomsky interview supplies the answer. Peston would not be there if he asked hard questions.
I see the same in other institutions, the European Commission and the penumbra of think tanks etc that surround it. Privately they agree with me on hot topics such as energy, publicly they toe the party line.
Which then leaves the open question: how to force change in a system that does not want to change? – without a revolution.
To what extent is that driven by current leadership? Where it is career threatening to really challenge the dominant narrative.
Good question: how to change the dominant narrative. I don’t have an answer but I do have a true story which throws some light on things.
From time to time, the Commissioners have “get-together” weekends, them plus select people. Candid talk.
On a recent one, some Commissioners admitted to the person relating the story that much of the time they have a poor grasp of what is going on.
(Which is why some of them read prepared scripts in a “speak your weight machine” fashion).
Their cabinets are, mostly, permanent EC people – who will tend to follow “the party line” = Commissioner follows the party line (obvs with some nuances).
At the meeting, there was also one or two people who headed electricity transmission operators (TSOs). One of them said he had sleepless nights worrying about keeping the lights on (not Nat Grid, I hasten to add – but doubtless the troops in Nat grid have similar concerns).
The UK?. A cursory consideration of Reeves and her grooming @ the BoE all those years ago – is now paying dividends. Starmer whilst good at absorbing a brief, will only absorb what is presented to him, etc. Thus is the dominant narrative preserved.
Correct
It is because Mike, the REAL revolution is being orchestrated and foisted by capital on labour – the debasement of the NHS and other public services, yet more privatisation, loss of price controls and a passive state.
The Right, the Neo-libs are doing the revolution – not the Left. Their revolution is taking us back to the golden age of unfettered capitalism pre WW1.
All of this is being done in plain sight and with great cunning. The Left is portrayed as the bogeyman but it is the Right who are tearing everything up and causing chaos. They’ve been very clever and have used their dead cats effectively.
And we have been too slow to cotton on to the fact that we have been duped and set up to be exploited.
Woe be to us.
Apologies but answering my own last question: how about this instead of the trivia on the 9 o clock news.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFXqJBldno8
Some MPs for once holding the feet of those culpable to the fire. It was good up to 8mins.30secs, then the fireworks really started. Excellent questioning & a fine example of total regulatory capture.
& yes PSR we have been duped – & prime time broadcasting of this vid (& perhaps others) would be a useful first step in educating voters on how they have been taken to the cleaners. I admit to shouting at the monitor “lock ’em all up, they are thieves’s accomplices”………which is true but in fairness they facilitated a theft of £7bn? which puts them in a different class – wouldn’t you say?
This is Committee work at its very best and full marks to Barry Gardiner and Darren Jones for their questioning. Ross’s roles as Head of the Water Regulator and then jumping to be CEO of Thames Water is beyond believe in its rottenness. Then exposing their continuing links to McQuarry, the Australian bank who did the most to load Thames with debt whilst making off with the loot.
I’ve mentioned before that Thames were a client of mine some years ago, when I found myself in effect mediating between them and a major supplier. They were an utterly untrustworthy and dishonest organisation back then.
Mike
I appreciate you sharing this and it is truly shocking – I have had it in for civil servants for some time because it is a well known fact that more than enough end up in the private sector as ‘advisors’ or worse.
I have however become very cynical about parliament – Gardiner puts on a good show as ‘outraged from Tunbridge Wells’ but it’s all just theatre to me. It’s just an attempt to satiate the public and make us think bollockings have been given and all is good.
Thames Water and the others should be renationalised. That’s all that will settle this for me because I can’t wait to see next year’s water bills – can you?
A different class? Yes – but it was one that is based on the way in which the privatisation was set up no doubt with help from the ‘investment (divestment?) banking sector in the first place. Basically, it is a system of ‘legalised plunder’ isn’t it, as one notable French classical economist called it.
So what we are seeing is legally enabled thievery getting a ticking off – nothing more. After all, the people ‘holding them to account’ are no better are they? It’s like a group of lepers judging a beauty contest. They’ll all go back to their nice houses and lifestyles very soon afterwards and what changes?
Nothing. But our water bills of course.
You know Mike, I look at all the people in that committee room, and wonder how good life would be without them?
Now that is a frightening thought isn’t it?
There wa a report earlier today on what Bailey said this morning. The only report I can now find is:
“That is part of the transmission of monetary policy, no question about that. And I’m going to come back to the point we’ve made a number of times … we are trying to balance having the transmission function of monetary policy with two things … one is the resilience of the banking system, and two, its ability to support customers and manage the consequences of this. But there still will be consequences of increased interest rates.”
In the earlier report it was clearer that he expected and intended people to suffer.
Can anyone explain ‘the transmission function of monetary policy, please.
Clearly he is only concerned with the ability of the banks to cope, and has no interest in the lives he is destroying.
I read that in the Guardian online. Screaming at the computer screen is equally as useless as shouting at the television.
What he means is that monetary policy seeks to reduce demand in the economy
In the past the pain of this was spread very evenly as everyone was on variable rate mortgages. Now it is horribly targeted on this with the misfortune to have to remortgage. The transmission mechanism is as a result callously 8n different to the random excessive suffering it causes
Like the Roman practice of decimation -executing a tenth to ‘encourage the others’.
The poor people , who largely by chance, find themselves in this situation are being sacrificed on the altar of erroneous economic doctrine. The suffering it will cause will not be restricted to them. And they have friends and family. At some point something will snap-surely?
It will
But too late to save a great many
“(T)he resilience of the banking system” is a clue to the narrowness of a central bankers focus. Solely commercial Banks, dealers, reserves; nobody in this inner charmed circle is focused on the ordinary public’s access to, or use of money, as their first priority. ‘Sauve qui peut’ is the first principle; then, protect the bonuses. Then, serve the shareholders. Everybody else can shift for themselves. It is a market economy, after all. Well, actually it isn’t; its a centrally channelled monetary policy, but forget the anomalies, a mere detail.
In a system of faux banking “independence” the effects of monetary polcy cuts a swathe through people’s lives. They aren’t really taking decisions, they are operating a protocol which doesn’t have you at the centre of its concerns. You are collateral damage; but hey, the banks are doing okay. Bailey’s position effectively is ‘nuthin’ to do with me, Guv’; ‘take it up with the politicians’. Ask the politicians, and they will say; ‘The Central Bank tells us this is the only way to defeat inflation. We can’t do anything, the Central Bank is independent, but we feel your pain’.
Seems daft? It is daft. Shout at the TV. It is all you have left.
William Pitt the Younger said, “Roll up that map; it will not be wanted these ten years” after Napoleon won at Austerlitz in 1805. He was right; almost to the day.
Brexit was Britain’s Austerlitz. England has reverted to historic type. Ten years would require a suspended sentence, or an unforeseeable escape from the Alacatraz of endless failure we have created for ourselves in Brexit’s wake (and disguised by the Pandemic and the Ukraine war). Oops, don’t mention Brexit (even the craven economists scarcely mention Brexit, in spite of its impact on the economy).
Shouting at the TV will have no effect; but I am afraid it is all you have left, because it isn’t going to change. You will need to improve the way you do it; it will not change anything, of course but at least it will animate the grim passage of time on the helpless road to disaster.
What is Scotland doing here, anchored to an anachronism? I no longer have any idea.
Indeed, it must sooner or later dawn on Scotland that they’ve hitched their wagon to the Titanic.
John S Warren’s closing statement “What is Scotland doing here, anchored to an anachronism? I no longer have any idea” chimes precisely with my recent thoughts. Richard’s posting this morning (“There’s Got to be a Better Economic Song to Sing”) summarises my thinking concisely.
AT UK level we are “governed” by a demonstrably incompetent Government which does not act on behalf of the populace: viz Brexit, bank rate hikes, the water scandals, weak to non-existent regulatory functions, failure to support essential state services, the irrational pricing systems for energy etc etc. A glance at the Cabinet shows a shocking lack of experience and talent. Another glance at the UK’s political structures (antiquated & modern) shows them to be unfit for a real modern-day democracy. From a Scottish perspective, we are now seeing our parliament being undermined by Westminster, with laws legitimately passed by our elected representatives in Holyrood being overturned, and we have to ask ourselves: could we make a bigger hash of running our own affairs than we are experiencing under UK governance? My view is that an inventive, well-educated nation like the Scots who have been at the forefront of the Enlightenment and innovation for centuries could only do better than under Westminster, where we are permanently outnumbered and have little or no voice.
Given the endless blocking by Westminster of discussion about Scottish Independence, perhaps we should apply to be classed as a colony, then apply to join the Commonwealth and exercise our right therein to secede if we so choose? It is utterly insulting and unacceptable that, in this day and age, there appears to be no means for Scotland to secede from the UK if the Scottish people wish it.
Faced by unbeatable competition from the internet, the media en masse have realised that govt patronage, bought by toeing the line even when that involves talking complete twaddle, is their only hope for a future. Expect more of the same till collapse is upon us (a few years maybe).
So here you have it straight from the Guardian’s mouth – all you MMT’ers may as well pack up and go home and wait for the planet to fry along with everybody else because you won’t break the orthodox thinking in the UK about how the country’s monetary system works! Disgusting!
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/12/economic-tories-labour-general-election-britain-keir-starmer
https://twitter.com/richardjmurphy/status/1679170508376489985?s=61&t=fQEnD35XLiGihXLT1M1wyA
I didn’t even bother to read that one – I knew I’d just be getting angry for no good reason. Going off at a bit of a tangent, I use a Sensate device a lot lately, it stimulates the vagus nerve and calms me down a lot. I’m using it more and more these days…
If money is debt and debt is a promise who in this monetary system illiterate country is going to provide the bulk of the promises to stop the country frying? That is the question the Larry Elliot article irresponsibly avoids answering. He is obviously not alone in this irresponsibility practically the whole nation is!
It’s TINATA all the way down for the UK.
There Is No Alternative To Austerity!
Well except for the “illustrious” few!
David Byrne says:
No need to worry about our economic future because the Chancellor has has a great idea. “Britain is banking on this £2.5T cash cow to revive its economy” (CNN Business, 11/7/2023).
Not guessed yet? Well it’s something to do our occupational pension funds.
Not much coverage in the news media as yet, but it will gain traction.
This immoral government and their friends in the city have no scruples, they should be ashamed of themselves.
Unfortunately, they have no shame either…
It’s a good analogy and even if Preston could have heard, this is a good reminder of how “responding is a reward” and the role anger plays in attracting attention and helping spread false or fake news and/or a troll’s message (if Preston were a troll).
As George Lakoff suggests, never respond to the trolls directly. That’s what they want. That draws you and other people to them.
Instead, use your energy to spread your own message, framed with facts and underpinned with the morals you believe in. Do that from your own channels and profiles, to your audience.
E.g. fact followed by value:
“I believe people should receive a pay rise, or other financial help from the government, to help them pay for the things their lives depend on, like the electricity that now costs a huge amount more because Putin invaded Ukraine. I believe in giving people a payrise is a good thing because I value helping people overcome hardship and difficult situations that were unfairly forced upon them. When the government chooses not to help, or the Bank of England deliberately chooses to make interest rates even higher, it makes life even harder for a lot of people, driving them closer to the brink and maybe over the edge.”
See George’s article for more info:
https://framelab.substack.com/p/response-in-reward-why-you-cant-win
I saw an interesting meme the other day:
“Propaganda doesn’t have to make sense; it only has to achieve its objective”
What we’re getting right now, from TV and most media, is Tory/Labour propaganda—designed to seriously mislead voters as to what’s happening and what needs to be done. No wonder some of us are wadding up newspapers, while shouting at the TV and online news sources.
A great tale of how they treat us.
I used to read the headlines of The Herald newspaper every morning on my paper round in the 1960s. I was, perhaps, a well informed teen.
I can’t watch MSM News now as it is too great a mental struggle to deconstruct what and why they’re ‘reporting’ on (or not).
Local and regional news is digestible, for me.
That’s why this and other favourite blogs, vlogs and pod casts are essential to deconstruct my daily news into manageable bite size portions. Thanks for the effort RM.
Thanks Tony
I will keep tryng
Throwing stuff at the TV set doesn’t work, either. I lost my rag with the sociopath Osborne lying in a news interview a decade ago. I had a cup in my hand…….I was in Richer Sounds the next day buying a new TV.
🙂
Coincidentally this piece just out from one of the genuine gurus of management. As he says, until directors and senior executives are held personally and financially responsible their behaviour will not change. People like Ross of Ofwat and then Thames are not fit to hold any position of responsibility, public or private. And should be penalised for their failures, for which they have been richly rewarded.
https://mintzberg.org/blog/prosecuting-criminals-instead-of-corporations