Anything Political

[Brew 5,409]

Huh?

 

[philmayfield 6,115]

Some people just seem to look for offence and take it where none is intended. I now consider a day when I don’t offend someone as a day wasted! I was offended today when the checkout girl in Morrisons called me ‘sweetheart’ as I didn’t fancy her!

[benjamin1945 16,139]

On 11/12/2021 at 3:43 PM, benjamin1945 said:

Just seen the latest news.......this time Essex chairman has resigned....supposedly made Racist comments in 2017,,,,,,just had a quick look at the Essex playing staff........full of non Englishmen....WHO'S NEXT.........

Northants.......just been on the news.......thats 3 counties now...

[Beekay 5,134]

Why oh why do these people always have bring up so-called racist remarks from years back. Heard one on the news this morning referring to some alleged comment made in 2009.

Who gives a toss when it's history. They all come out the woodwork.

When I worked on the screens at Bestwood pit, our foreman called us lads "A lazy lot of buggers", back in 1958. Think I'll put in a claim for stress etc.

[DJ360 6,721]

On 11/11/2021 at 6:26 PM, Brew said:

Any state can fire up the presses and print money, anyone can generate digital coins, the big question is where does the value come from?

 

In theory the state ends up with an increase in tax revenues from the new assets without incurring deb -  but…

The most glaring fault I can see is that an unfettered increase in the money supply without sufficient economic growth leads to inflation, even hyperinflation

Were the state to print money to finance projects there will be a risk of a huge surge demand and  when demand outstrips supply we have another known cause of inflation.

 

Jim, I just threw in this stuff because I knew it would intererst you, and I hoped it would elicit a response... which it certainly did!  It's quite instructive that you insist on viewing MMT from your 'conventional' perspective, which is kind of the point of me raising it.

 

Of course you identify the true 'root' of all economies..to whit, 'value'.  But, IMHO, the 'value' of money is all psychology. It is all in the mind. The only value is in goods, or from a Marxist perspective. the Labour which produces goods. If you really push that to its conclusion, a glass of water in a desert, is worth more than a gold bar.

 

So, money and monetary value, are illusions, which only work for as long as everyone believes in them.  There have been so many examples of this over the years..including the last major crash in 2008, of what happens when that belief crumbles.  Let's be absolutely crystal here.. what collapses, is wealthy people's 'belief', in what their money, which in itself has no value ..can actually buy them.  It is wealthy people who make the 'market' decisions.. which support, or collapse, World Economics.  And yet it is always the poorest who are told that they must change their behaviour and circumstances to 'fix' the broken illusion, so that the wealthy can continue their dominance, and their exploitation.

 

What I believe MMT has the potential to do, is to shift the 'psychology' of money..and with it.. the 'responsibility' for money.  This has possibilities for ending the centuries old 'assumption', that real wealth is 'earned', rather than simply 'acquired', or even 'appropriated', whilst poverty is somehow only ever the fault of the poor. It's a longshot.. but worth a try...

[DJ360 6,721]

On 11/14/2021 at 6:17 PM, woody said:

Political correctness gone berserk. What the purists conveniently forget is that a lot of these expressions were never intended to be derogatory in the first place. It is simply their twisted mentality that finds offence. Given a chance they will destroy the English language and we will simply grunt at each other.

 

Quote

 Robin Di Angelo: "White people have historically been insulated from racial discomfort because they believe their race to be natural and a default setting. Other people belong to a racial grouping, white people don’t; they are allowed to view themselves as the standard measure by which all other races deviate."

 

Think about it.

[benjamin1945 16,139]

Yorkshire Cricket have apologised to Azeem Rafiq with £200.OOO..........

[Brew 5,409]

On 11/16/2021 at 1:51 AM, DJ360 said:

Robin Di Angelo: "White people have historically been insulated from racial discomfort because they believe their race to be natural and a default setting. Other people belong to a racial grouping, white people don’t; they are allowed to view themselves as the standard measure by which all other races deviate."

 

It sounds like a typical American viewpoint.  She argues, along with Col's quote, that "racism is embedded throughout America's political systems and culture".  Note she's writing on the social structure of the US, something I can't can't comment on but In Europe that sort of superiority complex disappeared after WW1.

 

I don't say there is not racism here but the more we poke it the longer it will be a problem and compensation will not buy ourselves out of the issue.

 

I would also point out to the terminally righteous that racism is a two way street and the longer we only beat up and blame Caucasians the more likely we are to promote resentment.

 

 

 

 

[Brew 5,409]

Elsewhere CF mentioned privatisation of the NHS. I have mentioned before that I think the the health service is no longer sustainable and likely to collapse under the weight of it's own bureaucracy. Now there is a vote next week in parliament where  MP's will be voting on a health bill that’s  allowing private companies more of a voice in deciding how health and care cash is spent.

 

Among the recent furore Marcus Fysh has managed to slide an amendment for consideration into the health and care levy. He's suggesting the cash raised from the new levy is used as an  incentive to create an Australian style health and life insurance scheme. He also managed to forget to mention he has a financial interest in a company (AIA- a major player in the health insurance market) that sells just such policies.

 

Despite the BMA saying it puts the NHS at 'significant risk' the Blessed Boris thought it a 'Brilliant idea'

 

The amendment has been withdrawn - at the moment, but it serves to demonstrate the pressure for privatisation is growing and gaining traction.

[Oztalgian 3,271]

On 11/12/2021 at 6:36 AM, Jill Sparrow said:

That is my opinion of politics and the scum it attracts

That reminds me of the comment that the only man to enter politics with honorable intentions was Guy Fawkes.

It is pretty much the same here in OZ. Our glorious leader Scott Morrison nicknamed "The Liar From the Shire" when asked in an interview "Have you ever told a lie in public life" answered "I don't believe I have, no. No.

Do you want a list? There are at least 5 major topics on which he has told blatant porkies.

[DJ360 6,721]

On 11/18/2021 at 12:00 PM, Brew said:

It sounds like a typical American viewpoint.  She argues, along with Col's quote, that "racism is embedded throughout America's political systems and culture".  Note she's writing on the social structure of the US, something I can't can't comment on but In Europe that sort of superiority complex disappeared after WW1.

 

 

Seriously Jim?  As far as I'm concerned, racism is alive and well in the UK.  It most certainly did not disappear after WW1.  It is true that social structures of the US are different..but that is clearly a matter of degree, not of principle.

On 11/18/2021 at 12:00 PM, Brew said:

I would also point out to the terminally righteous that racism is a two way street and the longer we only beat up and blame Caucasians the more likely we are to promote resentment.

 

There's something in that.. but the bottom line remains that all non whites suffer an automatic disadvantage in a white dominated society.

 

 

 

[Brew 5,409]

11 hours ago, DJ360 said:

As far as I'm concerned, racism is alive and well in the UK.  It most certainly did not disappear after WW1. 

 

I could have said it better.

I did not say racism doesn't exist here.   (I don't say there is not racism here)

I acknowledge discrimination and bigotry are  here but throwing money at a hypocrite like Rafiq won't make it go away, it simply serves to emphasise that in the pursuit of equality we have inequality.

 

I was talking of the  superiority complex when she wrote :

 

"White people have historically been insulated from racial discomfort because they believe their race to be natural and a default setting".

 

Her implication is that it is still the norm, in America where the roots are in slavery maybe,  but here it's not.  It's an attitude prevalent  pre- First World War in the Victorian era when Africa was the dark continent populated by 'fuzzy wuzzies' viewed as being  primitive and not as advanced as the bwanas. That arrogance led to  religious zealots being sent to change thousand year old cultures while industrialists took advantage of the natural resources, often by force.

It died long ago.

 

 

11 hours ago, DJ360 said:

the bottom line remains that all non whites suffer an automatic disadvantage in a white dominated society.

 

How can it be different? Any group, Social, Ethnic, Religious, Political etc that are in the minority will be at a disadvantage that's how majority rule works.  Changing it would mean minorities are given  preferential treatment which in itself would be discrimination...

 

People are not born with inbuilt prejudice, it's learnt. The world is not perfect and continually pointing out the flaws in people will not make it better. Apportioning and laying blame for injustices from decades ago serves little useful purpose, all it will do is start a round of 'whataboutery' that's self perpetuating and gathers momentum until it's unstoppable.

 

Forcing legislation on the population to the point where telling a joke can be viewed as a hate crime is not the answer, then again I don't know what is...

 

[philmayfield 6,115]

Is it still OK to make jokes about the Scots or Yorkshire people? Not the Jews obviously.

[Brew 5,409]

No, it was the Scots that suggested Englishmen, Scotsmen and an Irishman jokes were hate crimes

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

Nae sense o' haemor!

 

What moves faster than the speed of light?

 

A Scotsman with a money-off coupon!

[Brew 5,409]

And did you know a Yorkshireman is a Scotsman with the generosity chip removed

[Alpha 176]

10 minutes ago, Jill Sparrow said:

Nae sense o' haemor!

 

What moves faster than the speed of light?

 

A Scotsman with a money-off coupon!

Which he dropped, apparently, into a crevice somewhere near the Grand Canyon,

[Alpha 176]

On 11/15/2021 at 6:31 PM, benjamin1945 said:

Northants.......just been on the news.......thats 3 counties now...

I would like to see what these comments are in black and white.

[katyjay 5,090]

My frugal hubby, when he's saved a money on a bargain, will always say, there's nothing tighter than a Scottish Jew. One of these days someone will take exception and clock him!

[Beekay 5,134]

I were allus told "He's tighter than a ducks a**e".

Like the Yorkshire man who found a pair of crutches, so he broke is leg !

[philmayfield 6,115]

I knew a Scottish Jew. He came from Poland during the war but he settled in Scotland, took an accountancy qualification and became a naturalised Scot. He renamed himself Henry Gordon and wore a kilt. He used to steam off the unfranked postage stamps from the office mail!

[Beekay 5,134]

And I once knew a Radford bloke who used to split matches with a razor blade.

[DJ360 6,721]

I did that when I was especially poor and all but homeless for a while in the late 1960s.  I also carried a tinder box, which saved me a few pennies in matches for my roll ups.

[Bing 78]

If you really want to know racism try being a non-asian living in an asian country.  the Chinese call us 'white ghosts', the Japanese, if being polite, call us 'foreign person' and if not being polite call us 'iteki' or 'barbarian'. 

 

In Thailand I cannot own land or work in a large number of professions which are reserved for Thais.  The price for a foreigner to go in a national park is 300 baht (about GBP 6.80p)  for a Thai it's 30 baht.  As a foreigner I could not adopt my wife's daughters when we married and as a foreigner I have to report to the immigration department every 90 days to tell them where I live, despite living in the same house for 20 years.  Once a year I must go and show them I have transferred  about 1,500 pounds a month into Thailand for the past year, with a copy of every page of my bankbook plus a letter from my bank giving my account details as of this morning, plus  copy of a dozen other documents. No free health treatment of course.

 

So why?  because I'm happily married to a wonderful woman here.  Both her daughters have got a good degree and both are working.  And the local people are wonderful.  But the beaurocracy hates us being non-asian. Oh, and I was once physically pulled out of a queue for a theme park because I was queuing with my wife and the girls but the foreigner's queue, with it's ten-fold entry fee was elsewhere.

[benjamin1945 16,139]

Talking about living/working abroad......from tonight i will have sons on 4 continents.......