The Problem with Tariffs and Globalisation.

Posted on by Opher

Trump and his entire team are simplistic idiots. That goes without saying. They certainly haven’t thought this through and it’s totally beyond his base of hopeless, ignorant, ill-educated fools.

Trump believes that bunging huge tariffs on imports will drive companies back to the States.

He believes it will revive manufacturing in the States and bring back jobs.

He sees it as a transactional threat. Foreign countries will fall over themselves to create better trade deals with America.

Win Win.

Except this is simplistic and naïve and takes no account of the complexity of the market.

For example: China has been hit with big tariffs making Chinese imports into the States much more expensive. Under globalisation the USA’s rare metals mining was shipped out to China. They now produce nearly all the world’s supply. If they withhold those rare metals or charge massive retaliatory tariffs the USA is snookered. They need those metals for their defence industry.

The same goes for many other industries and countries. Trade is complex.

Under globalisation the developed countries farmed out manufacturing to the undeveloped world. Labour was much cheaper. Rules less stringent. They could manufacture at a fraction the price. The result was that we could import goods at a far lower price than we could make them. Everybody benefitted by having much cheaper goods.

The problem was that our manufacturing industry collapsed with great loss of jobs and those jobs were not replaced. People were thrown on the scrapheap. Disenchantment led to the rise of populism with simplistic solutions.

Now Trump’s Tariff wars seeks to drive jobs back but it is doomed to fail because:

Global production and supply lines have become very complicated.

Firms will not undergo the huge expense of relocating if there is a hint of uncertainty – will the tariffs last? Will trade deals be negotiated?

Labour costs in the USA are far far higher than in the undeveloped world.

Countries will become protectionist, respond with their own punitive tariffs and look to develop their own manufacturing industry, seek other markets and bypass America.

The end result is that the whole world will become poorer, prices will zoom and nowhere near enough firms will expand or relocate to make it worthwhile.

The recession will be dire!!

The one thing you can be sure of is that Billionaires will profit!!

What we learnt from the G7

Posted on by Opher

We live in a global world. When Johnson talks about global Britain he’s talking bollocks.

A summary of my views on Socialism, Capitalism, Globalisation, Poverty and A/I.

Posted on by Opher

From my point of view:

Liberalism is neither socialist nor communist.

Socialist is not communist.

We have never had a communist state yet. We have only ever had totalitarian tyrannies posing as communist.

Democratic Socialism has worked very well a number of times in Britain (always undermined by the media (owned by the wealthy elite) and further undermined by the money markets (controlled by the wealthy elites)).

Democratic Socialism is working very well in Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway.

McCarthy used propaganda to create a knee-jerk response of all Americans towards Socialism and Communism. They are seen as the same thing. they are not.

Unrestrained capitalism is creating massive inequality and leaving many people in dire straits through no fault of their own.

Globalism is rampant with multinationals avoiding taxes, moving operations into the Third World to cut costs and leaving Western working classes in the lurch.

Third World countries are being economically exploited (workforce – low standards of health & safety, low wages, poor working conditions, low environmental standards) with bribes, corruption and dictators bought off to create big profits.

A/I will make matters far worse as more wealth is funnelled to the wealthy owners, far fewer workers are required and the surplus workforce are dumped into unemployment or low-pay jobs on zero hours contracts with no future, struggling to survive.

The system is run by the wealthy for the wealthy.

Unless there are international constraints the bulk of the population is doomed to a miserable existence and the environment is going to be destroyed.

I contend that we need a fairer, more compassionate system that controls globalisation and A/I for the benefit of everyone.

The Answers to Globalisation, Automation and the Demise of Outmoded Industry.

Posted on by Opher

There is a storm coming. I can smell it in the wind.

There is an anger brewing. I can taste it in the blood.

The truth is that we are at a crossroads and nobody is making the decision on the road to go. We have problems that need solving and nobody is solving them. People have lost their faith in politicians and experts. They do not believe anything. It is all fake news. They have turned to the witchcraft of populism and Brexit looking for salvation. It only makes matters worse. The division and fury grow.

The politicians deflect the blame on to terrorists and immigrants, to bureaucrats and Brussels. But the real problem is them – the politicians. They are not addressing the real problems. All they seem interested in is themselves and power.

Automation, globalisation and the demise of outmoded industry has created a monster. We no longer need a large workforce. There are no longer a large number of well-paid jobs. A large chunk of the population are surplus to requirements. They are being thrown on the scrapheap. Worse than that is the fact that all the wealth is being channelled into a small elite who have never had it so good. The sportspeople, entertainers, bankers and businessmen are exploiting the global media to extract more loot than they know what to do with. They give themselves massive bonuses and stash it away in tax avoiding companies and off-shore havens. The multinationals and wealthy hold the governments to ransom by threatening to take their money elsewhere.

Here’s what we should do:

a. Plug all the tax evasion loopholes

b. Put in place a fair but progressive tax regime to create greater equality

c. Limit bonuses and salaries

d. Reduce the working week to 3 days for the same pay and get full employment

e. Use the added tax income to employ more teachers, nurses, doctors, social workers, old people carers, police, council workers, counsellors and get public services working to a high quality (these are the jobs we need)

f. Retrain people to take up these roles

g. Have a huge infrastructure development – road, rail, internet, bridges, schools, hospitals, housing, old people’s havens

h. Invest heavily in new technology – alternative energy, internet, biochemistry, genetics, computing, robots, medicines, food technology

I. Invest heavily in the environment.

J. Invest heavily in leisure and health.

k. Invest in the arts, music, dance and culture

L. Move on from the old ways into a brave new world.

 

If we do not move on and embrace the future the hopelessness, fury, hatred and division will destroy us all.

The Plight of the Poor Whites

Posted on by Opher

The working class whites used to have a good income from dangerous, dirty well-paid jobs in industries such as mining, ship-building, car manufacture, oil, steel and components industries. These jobs have largely gone. Automation and globalisation have taken these jobs away. They are either operating in countries where the workforce is paid a great deal less or automation has reduced the need for workers. Bosses have maximised their profits by cutting the wage-bill.

 

The working men and women not only used to receive a good wage for their hard work but also had the respect of the community who recognised the arduous and dangerous nature of their work. Consequently those working communities had great self-respect.

 

The world has moved on. Some of these industries are in terminal decline. We no longer need oil, gas and coal with its pollution and global warming. We need renewable energy.

 

While the new industries require labour a lot of the work is skilled or automated.

 

The working class has been left high and dry. They are unemployed or doing low-level, poorly paid work, delivering or stacking shelves.

 

Many white blue-collar workers feel desperate and totally let down by the system. They look for scapegoats and blame immigrants for taking their jobs. They have turned to Brexit and Trump – both running campaigns focussed on cutting immigration with lashings of blatant xenophobia and overt racism – both claiming that these policies will solve the problems and make the country great again. Neither will.

 

What is needed is an overhaul of the way society works.

 

Firstly we need to build new industries to replace the old ones. China has seen this. Their renewable energy programme has made them a world leader while the USA, under Trump, is vainly hanging on to old industries and the UK sits on the fence.

 

Secondly we need to seize the opportunities presented to create a better society. At present huge profits are going into the pockets of fewer and fewer. We need to provide a progressive taxation system so that these profits are share more uniformly. With the taxes gathered we should revitalise our infrastructure, provide quality education, health care and social care. This will provide quality jobs.

 

The desperate plight of the displaced workers requires urgently addressing before their anger turns to hatred and violence.

Blogging creates such a small world! Incredible! Thank you all my visitors!

Posted on by Opher

P1040310

I have been blogging for nearly two years. I have posted just short of two thousand four hundred posts on a variety of subjects.

The amazing thing for me is that my posts have been read in over 160 countries all over the world. There is only two countries in Africa, one in South America, Greenland and parts of Indonesia that seem to have not tuned in.

I find it remarkable to think that I sit here in the north of England writing out my thoughts, dreams and visions; putting out photographs, artwork, poems and stories; sharing lyrics, books and science, and in nearly every country around the whole planet some people have tuned in and looked at what I have to say. In the blink of an eye a photo taken by me in Wales is being appreciated by someone in Peru or China.

Isn’t that simply mind-boggling?

We are becoming a global community!!

Here to you all – the one people of humanity!

Together we can change the world – make it fairer, more equal, better and safer!

Together we can look after the planet and save the destruction of the world!

Thank you all for tuning in!