If we were all to reflect on 2011 using our accounts books, we can simply sit and grieve. But how could we look back and see what we've achieved when something so momentous overshadows our lifestyle and hinders our plans for family members. We used to sit in the driver's seat of the economy, and as the West falls down a landslide, we must all reflect on the quote "If we want to succeed, we have to be more like China." True. But at what cost? Strip all of our human rights, being forced to work 42 hours worth of overtime and keep 50% of our savings buried with lock and key in hope for a rainy day; which on hindsight actually sounds very savvy! I digress. We must however and reminisce on the boom and bust we've recently powered through and tighten our wallets a little bit more, because this rollercoaster ride's going to get a bit wilder.
This year has experienced some incredible falls and rises, what with the travesty that's happened in Japan. The lady who was publicly decapitated in Tenerife. The phone hacking scandal, that worked at advantage in respects in knocking Murdoch down a notch. The riots in London. Gaddaffi's fall. Egypt's liberation and of course Bieber getting a girl pregnant.
Now as an insight to Twitter's trending topic "#bestalbumof2011" caught my eye, I was able to look through the public's opinion. And I have to say; you guys have shit taste! this year has produced some serious copious crap that all sounds the same as computers are producing them quicker and making it easier. My next blog entry will be analysing some serious music produced this year - Foo Fighters "Wasting light".
And so, 2012 is just around the corner and according to self acclaimed genius' on the internet, we're all going to die. So everything we've toward is obviously in vain. Don't worry guys, if we're making ludicrous predictions such as these - let me have a shot. I think that human rights will be placed in North Korea when Silvio Berlusconi introduces it through pictionary in 2013. But then again, there's a slight spanner in the works what with the world ending before then.
Wednesday, 14 December 2011
Monday, 5 December 2011
Accepted Ignorance
It's funny how it happens. Someone asserts something as fact, no matter how unbased, and it becomes the established wisdom.
- Did you know that all Polar Bears are left handed?
No they're not. Extended studies have been made and there's no evidence to back the idea that left-handed occurances are any higher than in humans.
- Goldfish have a 6 second memory.
The University of Plymouth have run experiments involving little levers that dispense food and found they have memories distinctly longer.
- Gordon Brown is an awesome economical genius.
No, he's a lucky, opportunistic, irresponsible boom-and-bust merchant
Let me make it plain here. I am not peddling any other party or politics. I am just getting annoyed by this perceived common wisdom. It is trotted out like a tired show pony everytime Nu-Labour get criticised.
Gordon Brown came to power at the best possible moment. The world economy was recovering from the recession that had gutted the world throughout the early nineties. China was burgeoning as a production centre and opening up its economy. Most importantly, the bull-run on property that had occured during the 80's was about to be dwarfed. None of these factors were down to Mr. Brown, any more than he can claim responsibility for a day of good weather. So why are these things so important?
There's nothing quite like the optimism, growth and reckless good feeling that comes from a recovering economy. After all - what better returns are there to be had than those from getting in at the bottom of a bull run? The investment from such financial environments spark growth even further. A great time to be in business.
China's emergence, along with all of the other "BRIC" economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China), is hard to over-estimate. Improving productivity and investment in these economies has driven down the price of goods dramatically. Normally, huge growth is accompanied by rampant inflation. The BRIC economies have stopped this from happening for the past decade. Lucky wasn't it?
Lastly, the house prices. I have a mate from Poland who cannot grasp the obsession with house prices in this country. It occured to me that we are among a small group of developed countries who rely on property prices to underpin growth. Only New Zealand and Ireland have more than us to lose by falling house prices. There have been small global recessions in both 1999 and 2002 that we should have had. But we didn't. Luquidity was maintained by people withdrawing moving against their equity.
Gordon Brown has milked these phenomena. We have gorged ourselves on credit and grown FAST as a result. But we have put nothing back. It's now time to start the repayments. We now owe more than our GDP - £1.44 tn, an incomprehensible amount of money. It has been irresponsible behaviour from a man who proclaimed "no more boom-and-bust" These 3 pillars are now starting to look shaky or have now crumbled altogether:
It's safe to say the whole country is sliding into recession as it the US, Russia, the Eurozone and the UK. The run of the last 10 years is completely over. Buckle up for a long deep recession. If the rule of thumb is "the bigger the boom, the worse the bust" we're all in a lot of trouble. To make things worse, all indications are pointing to a pending bubble burst in China and India. Russia's run in with Georgia has slimmed their stock market by a third. When these economies tank, all hope will be lost for even the most pig-headed of bulls.
Lastly, the housing market is buggered. I mean stuffed. Unless it's a home, buying houses now is toxic waste. Everything has been done by this government to stop it. Pushing all kinds of theories like increasing yields for landlords will underpin the BTL (Buy-to-let) market as more people rent. It's true that there are 25% more renters, the shitter is that there are 35% more landlords as people who hold out for unrealistic sales prices are renting out to cover costs.
The house of cards is falling and people should be turning around hand crucifying Crash Gordon. Instead, we are tutting at the weird eyebrow patsy that has been brought in to replace him. It's either impeccably timed or extremely lucky again.
The question we all need to ask ourselves is this:
Is he criminally and wilfully negligent or just moronically fortunate?
- Did you know that all Polar Bears are left handed?
No they're not. Extended studies have been made and there's no evidence to back the idea that left-handed occurances are any higher than in humans.
- Goldfish have a 6 second memory.
The University of Plymouth have run experiments involving little levers that dispense food and found they have memories distinctly longer.
- Gordon Brown is an awesome economical genius.
No, he's a lucky, opportunistic, irresponsible boom-and-bust merchant
Let me make it plain here. I am not peddling any other party or politics. I am just getting annoyed by this perceived common wisdom. It is trotted out like a tired show pony everytime Nu-Labour get criticised.
Gordon Brown came to power at the best possible moment. The world economy was recovering from the recession that had gutted the world throughout the early nineties. China was burgeoning as a production centre and opening up its economy. Most importantly, the bull-run on property that had occured during the 80's was about to be dwarfed. None of these factors were down to Mr. Brown, any more than he can claim responsibility for a day of good weather. So why are these things so important?
There's nothing quite like the optimism, growth and reckless good feeling that comes from a recovering economy. After all - what better returns are there to be had than those from getting in at the bottom of a bull run? The investment from such financial environments spark growth even further. A great time to be in business.
China's emergence, along with all of the other "BRIC" economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China), is hard to over-estimate. Improving productivity and investment in these economies has driven down the price of goods dramatically. Normally, huge growth is accompanied by rampant inflation. The BRIC economies have stopped this from happening for the past decade. Lucky wasn't it?
Lastly, the house prices. I have a mate from Poland who cannot grasp the obsession with house prices in this country. It occured to me that we are among a small group of developed countries who rely on property prices to underpin growth. Only New Zealand and Ireland have more than us to lose by falling house prices. There have been small global recessions in both 1999 and 2002 that we should have had. But we didn't. Luquidity was maintained by people withdrawing moving against their equity.
Gordon Brown has milked these phenomena. We have gorged ourselves on credit and grown FAST as a result. But we have put nothing back. It's now time to start the repayments. We now owe more than our GDP - £1.44 tn, an incomprehensible amount of money. It has been irresponsible behaviour from a man who proclaimed "no more boom-and-bust" These 3 pillars are now starting to look shaky or have now crumbled altogether:
It's safe to say the whole country is sliding into recession as it the US, Russia, the Eurozone and the UK. The run of the last 10 years is completely over. Buckle up for a long deep recession. If the rule of thumb is "the bigger the boom, the worse the bust" we're all in a lot of trouble. To make things worse, all indications are pointing to a pending bubble burst in China and India. Russia's run in with Georgia has slimmed their stock market by a third. When these economies tank, all hope will be lost for even the most pig-headed of bulls.
Lastly, the housing market is buggered. I mean stuffed. Unless it's a home, buying houses now is toxic waste. Everything has been done by this government to stop it. Pushing all kinds of theories like increasing yields for landlords will underpin the BTL (Buy-to-let) market as more people rent. It's true that there are 25% more renters, the shitter is that there are 35% more landlords as people who hold out for unrealistic sales prices are renting out to cover costs.
The house of cards is falling and people should be turning around hand crucifying Crash Gordon. Instead, we are tutting at the weird eyebrow patsy that has been brought in to replace him. It's either impeccably timed or extremely lucky again.
The question we all need to ask ourselves is this:
Is he criminally and wilfully negligent or just moronically fortunate?
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