4 Comments
Feb 11Liked by Justin

I wonder if the markets will decide the UK is basket case at some point resulting in a large devaluation of the pound, which will likely raise inflation and the cost of borrowing. John Gray thinks we could be heading to an Argentina situation.

https://youtu.be/yCG1-30auFc?si=Va7FJJJHjbC4UMIi

I think it was this video he talks about it.

It does appear even with the shortage of housing and rising population prices are coming down quite quickly.

The economic shock required to make the UK grow again is outside the Overton window for MSM to contemplate. Will it be forced on us?

Expand full comment
author

Firstly, John Gray is very good and l will be exploring some of this work in some upcoming articles l have in the works about Thatcher and neoliberalism. As to your last question, Thatcher's neoliberal revolution was imposed from within, without the consent of the electorate (a fait accompli, if you will) so we could very well witness another one in the future. That said, Cameron did something similar with austerity.

Expand full comment

You say that Britain suffers from a strong £ that favours the City over exporters, but also that the fall in the £ has led to higher import prices which go on to reduce exports. Which is it?

Of course the right answer is to define the £ in terms of a commodity like gold or silver, reducing both financialisation and inflation.

Expand full comment
author

Well I meant historically speaking the pound has remained strong, for the benefit of the City but to the detriment of British industry. But yes, in modern times as the years have rolled on the pound has lost some value, especially against currencies from other OECD / industrialised nations. Significantly, it still remains strong against currencies from emerging economies and the developing world. I hope that clarifies this point.

I totally agree with your second sentence and I will be getting round to this issue in the new year. If you scroll down to my article titled 'The Nixon Shock : part two' I cover some of these ideas there. It is quite a complex and nuanced topic however, beyond the purview of most casual readers so I am taking my time with it. I will say this much; coming off the gold standard, the broader financialisation of the British (world?) economy, along with implementation of neoliberal policies, has destroyed most aspects of the traditional goods and services-based economy and put traditional life under enormous strain.

Thanks for stopping by!

Expand full comment