The UK, like the EU, Japan, S.Korea, Australasia, Canada and many others are militarily and monetarily subservient tribute states to the USA. Western civilisation is in decline. Our democracies have come to be dysfunctional. Populations have come to be entitled and demand more and offer less. This disease goes across the board from people demanding 'rights' to the corporates who own most politicians pushing their own rentseeking agendas ahead of what is best for the nation/s as a whole. Neoliberalism codified this now morally, fiscally and politically corrupt system. The problem is systemic and will not be fixed until the system breaks. It is a civilisation in decline. The over symplistic neoliberal prescription of cutting government expenditure does not work because it does not solve the underlying problem of over entitled populations and under performing productivity. The greater ability of emerging economies to implement more productive systems has overwhelmed the traditional industrialised nations. Yes, China has won the trade war - by not adopting democracy and instead by implementing a comprehensive and determined program of state capitalism combined with free enterprise...much in the way the west once did. The problem for the west was that as affluence grew the demands from the voters for 'nice to have' 'rights' at the same time as corporate sponsors of politics demanded ever more policies that enabled and increased rentseeking parasitic wealth extraction for private gain. The biggest but certainly not only example of this corporate parasitism was the removal of restriction upon what commercial banks could fund with fiat debt issuance. The requirement that they fund only projects which could be reasonably expected to produce increased productivity was removed. And so began decades of fiat debt funded price pumping speculation in assets- both productive assets that already existed and housing. Libertarians are so mired in the simplistic mythology of neoliberalism that they cannot see its toxic effect. The west today is intellectually disabled by the loss of a sense of collective purpose and responsibility, drowning in the me me me amoral neoliberal paradigm of 'there is no society'.
The UK, like the EU, Japan, S.Korea, Australasia, Canada and many others are militarily and monetarily subservient tribute states to the USA.
Western civilisation is in decline.
Our democracies have come to be dysfunctional.
Populations have come to be entitled and demand more and offer less.
This disease goes across the board from people demanding 'rights' to the corporates who own most politicians pushing their own rentseeking agendas ahead of what is best for the nation/s as a whole.
Neoliberalism codified this now morally, fiscally and politically corrupt system.
The problem is systemic and will not be fixed until the system breaks.
It is a civilisation in decline.
The over symplistic neoliberal prescription of cutting government expenditure does not work because it does not solve the underlying problem of over entitled populations and under performing productivity.
The greater ability of emerging economies to implement more productive systems has overwhelmed the traditional industrialised nations.
Yes, China has won the trade war - by not adopting democracy and instead by implementing a comprehensive and determined program of state capitalism combined with free enterprise...much in the way the west once did.
The problem for the west was that as affluence grew the demands from the voters for 'nice to have' 'rights' at the same time as corporate sponsors of politics demanded ever more policies that enabled and increased rentseeking parasitic wealth extraction for private gain.
The biggest but certainly not only example of this corporate parasitism was the removal of restriction upon what commercial banks could fund with fiat debt issuance. The requirement that they fund only projects which could be reasonably expected to produce increased productivity was removed. And so began decades of fiat debt funded price pumping speculation in assets- both productive assets that already existed and housing.
Libertarians are so mired in the simplistic mythology of neoliberalism that they cannot see its toxic effect.
The west today is intellectually disabled by the loss of a sense of collective purpose and responsibility, drowning in the me me me amoral neoliberal paradigm of 'there is no society'.