The\u00a0European Union is built on the basis of the idea that the free flow of capital between nation states without impediment placed in its way is a good thing. It is assumed that this will increase\u00a0wealth. And it is assumed that\u00a0anything\u00a0that gets in the way of\u00a0competition\u00a0is a bad thing, and so is illegal.<\/p>\n
Those assumptions are wrong. Unbridled competition is not a good thing. Whilst I am a fan of\u00a0competition\u00a0in many areas of life in some it is just\u00a0straightforwardly\u00a0wasteful. Take the NHS as an example. Given the\u00a0objective\u00a0of the NHS is to\u00a0provide\u00a0first class healthcare to\u00a0everyone\u00a0involving\u00a0competition\u00a0in the process is just folly. Competition requires choice - so every resource would have to be\u00a0duplicated\u00a0and then, to\u00a0ensure\u00a0the capacity for people to make choice was available, would have to work at way less than full capacity. That would impose an enormous cost, and is likely to\u00a0seriously\u00a0undermine excellence as resources were\u00a0diverted\u00a0into\u00a0advertising, marketing, media, and contracting that\u00a0would\u00a0destroy\u00a0investment\u00a0in healthcare\u00a0excellence. So unless we\u00a0substantially\u00a0increase resources available to the NHS (I suspect by as much as 50%, which we do\u00a0not\u00a0have) we can have\u00a0competition\u00a0in the NHS or we can have\u00a0excellence. I know which I want.<\/p>\n
And laws that\u00a0supposedly\u00a0support\u00a0competition\u00a0and that actually support\u00a0monopolistic\u00a0power are a\u00a0decidedly\u00a0bad thing. That could happen in banking right now. We need nationalised banks in Europe at present. If \u00e2\u201a\u00ac2 trillion or more of taxpayer funds are going into banks then they need to be stated owned. but it will be argued by other banks that this will create unfair competition when in fact they are part of the problem that is being cured and will already benefit massively from it. The result is that instead of those funds being used for social good to reform banking forever they will be used to support he status quo. In other words, competition law\u00a0is being used to impede progress, development and the creation of new opportunity which is the exact opposite\u00a0of what they should be doing.<\/p>\n
There is an answer right\u00a0now. With the EU in crisis two things are needed. First of all the assumption that the free flow of capital is beneficial has to be questioned. There is very clear\u00a0evidence\u00a0that as the\u00a0markets\u00a0continue to circle it is not. Ans second\u00a0competition\u00a0laws that\u00a0preserve\u00a0the status quo of\u00a0privilege\u00a0and abuse most people have to be suspended.<\/p>\n
Now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"