Category Archives: economy

How the Lord Mayor of London undermines Liberalism!

 

What the Lord Mayor of London teaches us about Liberal theory! 

OR

How the Lord Mayor of London undermines Liberalism!


Liberal theory, from John Stuart Mill onwards (and especially in the modern era of ‘Neo-Liberalism’) is based upon the idea that all people are fundamentally the same.  In particular, that everyone’s fundamental nature is to maximise their position in the market-place, as economists put it.  This is the theory that human-beings are “rational economic actors” whose only motivation is to improve their personal position in economic terms – like good economic worker ants!  

I believe this theory to be fundamentally wrong and to be a fundamental misunderstanding of human nature.  

I also believe that this error is important in explaining many of the problems of our country today because it is an error that permeates the thinking of the elite in our society. That is not only the rich elite, but also the political elite, the media elite and the decision-making elite in universities and in most of the key positions of power and influence in our State and in our country. 

This error has led the key policy decision-makers in our society to disregard and disrespect the natural urges of most of our people. 

I started this with headings relating to the Lord Mayor of London.  Above there is a picture of him in all his refinery!  You might ask what is the link?  I think it is this. The Lord Mayoralty of the City of London is the supreme English example of what rich people will do and how far they will go for Status and for Respect within our traditional communities..

In order to be Lord Mayor you have to give up many hours to unpaid work and activity within the City of London Corporation as an Alderman and as a Sherriff.  There is also a three year stretch, in the run-up to and in the year of being Lord Mayor, in which you have no time for any paid work.  During this time you would have to be fully focussed on your ceremonial roles in the City of London hierarchy.  Also even when in office as Lord Mayor, you will have virtually no real power, nor will any of it will gain you any economic advantage.  Indeed a generally held estimate for the cost of being Lord Mayor is that it costs at least £500,000!

In “Liberal” theory of course all this activity is completely irrational.  In fact, so irrational as to be almost utterly inexplicable.

This of course vividly demonstrates that ‘Liberal’ theory is wildly adrift from the reality of human nature because in fact rich people getting involved in such activities are perfectly rationally focussed on the acquisition of status and respect within our traditional communities.

Across the Nation many other people chose other ways of getting such communal status and respect. For example in most English counties there is an equivalent office of High Sherriff.  Also there is the whole “Honours System” in which many people struggle to get OBEs or Knighthoods, etc. 

The oddity is that rich people do not understand that their own urges for status and respect and community are perfectly normal not only for them, but also for everybody else as well!  

Therefore the same rich people are very often perfectly happy to justify low paid, low status and insecure jobs for “ordinary people” and they try to justify this hypocracy using ‘Liberal’ economic arguments.  Such people really should not be as surprised as they apparently are when most of our people don’t like the outcome! 

We need a new politics with a new economic model which does give proper status and respect to our own people in our own most natural and very traditional community, namely our Nation, I mean those people who do all the “ordinary” jobs which are nevertheless, of course, so very necessary to the proper functioning of our society and to our collective English culture and prosperity.  

My New Year message therefore is that we English Nationalists need to focus more on reforms that give English People a justified pride and self-respect as citizens, and as fellow members of our Nation, as well as a fair reward for fair labour.  Also we should focus on attacking the dogma on “economic efficiency” which currently excessively rewards big business and bankers and ‘Liberal’ British Establishment politicians!

Despite the headlines – Per capita GDP is down from 2008 because the population has grown by 1-2 million through immigration and consequent high birth rates

So beware of the agenda when you see headlines like these:-

Telegraph
UK economy finally returns to pre-crisis level

Second quarter GDP growth of 0.8pc means total economic output was 0.2pc points bigger than in the first quarter of 2008, its previous peak

By Alan Tovey
9:52AM BST 25 Jul 2014
Britain’s economy is now bigger than it was at its pre-financial crisis peak, after official data showed gross domestic product increased by 0.8pc in the second quarter of the year.
The growth was driven by the dominant services sector – which accounts for almost four-fifths of the British economy – and was 1pc larger in the quarter compared with the same period last year, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Output in the production sector, which accounts for about 15pc of the economy, rose by 0.4pc. However, output in construction – 6pc of the British economy – contracted by 0.5pc over the period, and agriculture – less than 1pc of the economy, fell 0.2pc.
The overall growth – which was widely predicted – means the UK economy is now 0.2pc bigger than its previous peak, which was hit in the first three months of 2008. On an annual basis, GDP rose by 3.1pc in the quarter, the fastest pace of growth since late 2007.
The size of the contraction from peak to the trough in 2009 was 7.2pc.
Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said: “Given that it has taken more than six years for the economy to get ahead of where it was in 2008 and the economy is still only 0.2pc larger, any celebrations should be qualified… but at least we can finally celebrate this fact.”
He added that there was some concern that the growth was driven by the services sector, despite the Government’s drive to “rebalance” the economy towards manufacturing.
Britain’s dominant services sector powers more than three-quarters of the UK economy.
However, Britain’s economy could well have grown past its previous peak several months ago, according to Peter Spencer, chief economic adviser to the EY ITEM Club. He pointed out that revisions to the methodology by which GDP is measured that are due out in September – such as taking items from the “black economy” such as prostitution and drug dealing – could show “we sailed past the previous peak long before”.
Joe Grice, chief economic adviser at the ONS, said: “The economy has now shown significant growth in six consecutive quarters and the long climb back to the pre-crisis peak of 2008 has at last been completed. It is worth noting, however, that changes this autumn to the way countries measure their GDPs may yet modify our view of how slow the UK’s recovery has been.”
Although Britain’s economy is now powering ahead – on Thursday the International Monetary Fund upgraded its forecast for the UK, predicting growth in 2014 will 3.2pc this year, an increase of 0.4 points that takes Britain ahead of all other developed nations – it has taken a long time to reach this point.
“It has been a long slog, with the UK the second to last member of the G7 group of economies to reach the milestone and taking much longer to rebound than in past recessions,” said Guy Ellision, of head of UK equities at Investec Wealth & Investment.
Germany passed its pre-crisis peak in 2010 and France and the US followed the next year. The slow pace of Britain’s recovery from the crisis is partly because of the size of its banking sector, which took a huge hit in the financial crisis. But critics of the government say it is also because finance minister George Osborne opted for sharp curbs on public spending to rein in the country’s large budget deficit.
The British Chambers of Commerce also sounded a cautious note, warning that growth cannot be taken for granted.
“The fact that Britain’s economy is now bigger than it was in 2008 is great news, and will provide a shot in the arm for businesses and consumers alike,” said John Longworth, the organisation’s director-general. “Yet even though we’re one of the fastest-growing developed economies, there’s no room for complacency.
“Without sustained action, these growth figures could be ‘as good as it gets’ for the UK. The Government and the Bank of England must pull out all the stops to encourage business investment, help exporters and get finance flowing to growing firms who still aren’t seen as a safe bet by the banks.”
He added that he wanted to see interest rates stay low for as long as possible and when they do go up to rise “slowly and predictably” to avoid “undermining the solid business confidence that’s driving growth”.
However, some economics commentators warned that the consumer and business spending that is driving the growth could cause rates to rise.
“The GDP figures mark a concrete expansion of the UK economy to surpass pre-crisis levels and we expect upwards revisions to the data in the coming months,” said Gautam Batra, investment strategist at Signia Wealth. “A pick up in investment spending combined with strong consumer spending will no doubt put further pressure on the MPC to consider rate increases sooner rather than later.”
GDP per person is only expected to return to pre-crisis levels in 2017, reflecting growth in the population and the country’s stubbornly weak productivity since 2008, according to Britain’s independent budget forecasters.

The ONS’s preliminary estimates of GDP do not include a breakdown of spending. They are the first released in the European Union, and are based partly on estimated data.