The opening paragraphs of my column in The National yesterday said:
EVERY time an idiot appears on the world stage, my experience tells me that someone will come along who wants, at the very least, to match them in terms of stupidity.
Elon Musk is an idiot and a dangerous one at that. He is creating mayhem in the US government at present, with massive and harmful consequences for the people of that country, and millions, if not billions, of people outside it. That's because of his utterly reckless behaviour in trying to slash the size of the US government without any consideration of the consequences.
James Watt, the founder and former chief executive of Brewdog, is the fool who is now trying to match him in terms of stupidity.
James Watt was co-founder of the Brewdog brewery. He once appeared to be a champion of corporate responsibility. Now he has swung to the far right, and what he is proposing is that he set up a 'Shadow DOGE' to copy Musk and slash what he calls waste in UK government spending.
As I point out in my column, others - like the so-called Taxpayer's Alliance - have been here before and despite their claims, Tories when they got into office never found any of the waste the TPA claimed existed prior to 2010.
But, more than that, his weapon of preference to find this waste is to bombard the government with Freedom of Information requests - wasting vast amounts of government money in the process unless they rumble him and refuse to reply.
A person should really do a little research before issuing a press release like James Watt's. He very clearly did not.
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Isn’t he the guy who was accused by 300 emolyees of being an absolutely horrible human being and created a culture of fear at brewdog?
Yeah, let’s give these eejits a soap box and a place in the park.
Thank you and well said, John.
One could add the acquisition of the Kinrara estate, so that subsidies can be accessed.
Quite right, Colonel. Brewdog was quick off the mark to cash in on public money (which Watt calls taxpayers’ money) for planting trees on the Kinrara estate near Aviemore. Nearly all the trees died; the wrong trees in the wrong place. Watt complains about the shameful waste of public money. This is a good example of that, but was done by the recipient.
there is no wasteful spending in government
except you’ve just given an example of it – FOI requests
Accountability is not waste – it is fundamental to good governance.
Your trolling here is a real definition of waste – almost entirely of your time.
You never did tell us what you’d pay for Thames Water…
From my own experience using FOI, mostly with the Home Office a decade or so ago, they have the term “vexatious” available to refuse such requests. They used it against me on my very first request (& I eventually got my information) but it sounds just right for Mr Brewdog’s campaign.
He’s an interesting person, who knows about controversy. https://www.itv.com/news/2024-05-08/brewdog-a-timeline-of-controversies-as-james-watt-calls-time-as-boss
I found myself for some reason, thinking about Michelle Mone while reading about Mr Watt. They seem to me to share a similar approach to marketing and business.
🙂
I leave it to the late great Mr Bowie (poet or prophet?) to express in verse the nature of Musk and mini-Musk beasts.
Fame makes a man take things over
Fame lets him loose, hard to swallow
Fame puts you there where things are hollow
Fame, not your brain, it’s just the flame
That burns your change to keep you insane (‘Sane)
Fame what you like is in the limo
Fame what you get is no tomorrow
Fame what you need, you have to borrow
Good stuff…
I would image there is massive waste in any heavy bureaucratic organisation. One would only know if you had worked within it for a decent length of time to be fair.
I have only ever witnessed such waste in private sector organisations where waste is phenomenal – hence the massive failure rates.
Very true. When we launched a start up as young pups we spent thousands on office we didn’t need because we hadn’t even got the business going yet. We’d done because it felt good to have our bit of (temporary) real estate. But it was a total waste of money
The cult of the entrepreneur will not die. It’s all ego-driven boosterism.
I have only ever worked in the private sector and there has always been a huge amount of “waste”. Is there more “waste” in the public sector? I doubt it.
There is, however, a fundamental difference between private sector and public sector administration – the cost of failure at most private sector organisations is not a big deal (except for the company involved)… in the public realm it can be existential.
Buying insurance is “wasteful” (if it was not, insurance companies would not be profitable)…. but I still buy it to protect my house. In short, public administration needs to be far more robust than most in the private sphere.
Agreed
A video is on its way on that issue….
From a Macro economic perspective what exactly is waste anyway?
To take Keynes facile example – if the government pays a person to dig a hole one day, then pays them to go and fill it in the next – is that waste? I (and Keynes) would argue no – not if that person would otherwise be unemployed. The money they are paid will put food on their table and a roof over their head. It will flow through the economy, supporting the employment of others and also being taxed at every link in the spending chain until eventually almost all (90% on long run average since the 1700s) is returned (revenued) to the state.
Of course if the person being employed to dig the hole could have been gainfully employed elsewhere then that is waste – the waste is in the use of the resource and not the spending. Same thing with the FOI requests. I deal with them sometimes in my job – fortunately for the most part relevant (often requests for information for academic research). They are only a waste to the extent it takes time to gather the info and formulate a response and that time takes me away from my core role (which is under resourced to start with). Which is why Watts FOI requests are waste.
The true waste, again as Keynes pointed out, comes from the waste of resources by government not spending enough to maintain full employment. The waste of talent, the waste of opportunity, the waste of production, the waste of lives. This is the waste people should be truly angrly about, not numbers typed into a spreadsheet at the Bank of England and the Treasury.
Thanks
Appreciated, and much to agree with
MSNBC and the New York Times International Edition report that Republicans in Congress are proclaiming we agree with the cuts to the Federal budget but please be more targeted and do not hit my district because a huge number of jobs are going as a result of Musk’s cuts.
Plus the cuts to consumer protection agencies put Musk’s business empire “in a decidedly better position to benefit”.
Who would have thought that this would happen?
🙂
If you think that’s bad have a watch of these two segments, one from Rachel Maddow, and one from Chris Hayes on MSNBC last night.
The first concerns the Department of Justice trying to force prosecutors to drop corruption charges against the Mayor of New York – in exchange for becoming a Trump stooge. This resulted in the resignation of six (6) senior prosecutors at DoJ. (It’s much worse than I can summarise). Utterly corrupt. https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
The second concerns Musk taking 80 million dollars back from New York City claiming it was given for activities with migrants that are counter to a Trump executive order – despite the city having a contract to deliver these studies. (Hayes also has a segment on the same topic as Maddow). Utterly illegal and corrupt. https://www.msnbc.com/all
Thanks, as usual, Ivan.
This behaviour is part of a coup. There is no other word for it.
“Now he has swung to the far right”
People like Musk, people like Watt, they haven’t suddenly “swung” to a different political position. I hear people say this all the time about famous individuals. How could such-and-such an entrepreneur suddenly turn fascist? How could such-and-such an author start saying bad things? I think they always held these views privately (indeed that might be a prerequisite of their success), it’s just that continued attrition of what is acceptable in public politics in the anglosphere has shifted, so now they can be open about it.
I know nothing about USA other than what I read and one American-domiciled relative tells me.
But – it seems that Trusk may have gone too far, too fast with their coup?
Hitler chose minorities for attack as he acquired the levers of power during the 1930’s.
Trusk has done the same but also, within days, has attacked his own support base, by causing inflation, federal collapse, attacking health and consumer protection, and alienating millions of public servants, as well as his erstwhile allies abroad, including NATO and his own armed forces.
Consumers seem to be abandoning Tesla outside USA.
And then there is China. They are smart operators, and economically powerful (not least in EVs, battery storage, and AI. They have their feet well under the table in several parts of the world, not least Africa. I think Xi JinPing can outsmart Trusk.
Maybe just wishful thinking on my part?
There is a video planned on this theme for Monday….
I worked for James for a while, years ago.
If there is one man you do not want to have any power over government finances it’s this man. The waste and laissez-faire lack of any scruples I and my colleagues witnessed daily were shocking – his hypocrasy is limitless. My name’s on the open letter that was doing the rounds on social media a few years ago.
Thanks
Ivan,
The New York Times International Edition has an article headed “Trump seeks to bend New York to his will”.
The reason for the Democratic Mayor of New York’s, Mr Adams, federal corruption charges being dropped according to the Justice Department is to allow Mr Adams to help King Donald achieve his “immigration objectives”.
Expect Mr Adams to face a tough fight to retain his office in the Mayoral election later this year.
I hope so….
So you think all government departments are slick, super efficient and don’t waste money but private enterprise by comparison does? You really are away with the fairies..
I have made a video on this, coming soon
It is you who is very wrong
Oh dear. I refer you to my post above. Please define waste and the parameters you are using.
And as an aside Bally is something of a cult hero around these parts, a (long retired) proper no-nonsense old school midfielder and a man who would make a dark alley afraid were he to walk down it. Unlike those chinless wonders who shill for the Tufton Street mob and would most likely soil their overpriced chinos were they to have to visit his adopted city
Well it does depend on what you call waste. I worked in the NHS and in planning a new/ replacement hospital a) had to do a lot of public consultation about what it would consist of, where it would be located etc and ensure the public were on board b) had to devise an entire scheme with architect/ quantity survey / solicitor to devise a scheme that PFI bidders could be compared to. Yes, it was incredibly wasteful as my team of experts all agreed we could have built the hospital by the time the PFI choice of partners had been achieved- but we were working within the rules / obligations of Government PFI – another expense that doesn’t get allocated to the private sector option,. When a private sector elective care centre was built there was zero consultation with the public about design/ location/ staffing etc. So yes, you could say more efficient. They also benefitted from the NHS giving them the plot of land.
Thanks
Interestingly one of Mr Watt’s initial business loans was gained under fraudulent circumstances.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30376484
He’s got competition in the form of the Spectator SPAFF effort. https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/introducing-spaff-the-spectator-project-against-frivolous-funding/
I’m assuming they’ll both be putting some of Johnson’s COVID era chumocracy contracts eg Michelle Mone front and centre.
I have worked in both public and private sectors and the greatest waste I’ve known in public sector is when they’re required to contract out services, resulting in poor return and a lot of waste, plus a lot of frustration and dissatisfaction for staff and public. I work now with big private sector ‘contractors’ and prove that point from the opposite end with spades as they waste both public money and their own!
Thanks
“The UK government will spend £1.276 trillion this year. If we save just 1%, we could fix our budget deficit. If we save 10%, we could build the strongest economy in the world.”
The guy has not got a clue. Painfully oblivious to the paradox of thrift.
Steve Keen is urgently writing a book to re-educate these fools: https://substack.com/home/post/p-157135917
Thanks
I must read what Steve is up to.
Steph Kelton is v good on consequences of budget surpluses, in USA, esp Bill Clinton’s. (Film, Finding the Money)
I’m reminded of those Morecambe & Wise TV clips of famous actors/artists dressed as tramps, saying “I appeared on Eric & Ernie’s show and look what happened to me”.
So… “I ran a budget surplus and look what happened to me..” (Snowden, 1931; Lawson 1988/89; Brown 2000)
Waste as some have pointed out depends on your perspective. Austrians/Monetarists an intriguing group have taken waste & inefficiency to new levels. Much of the media seems to share their outlook especially in the public sphere. Rarely is the private sector given a drubbing. I have worked in public and private sectors. Waste & inefficiency are alive and well
in both. I sincerely hope they continue to thrive. They have their own value but we struggle to see it.
Thanks