Two things I have read today have impressed me:
https://i2.wp.com/order-order.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Screen-Shot-2017-08-18-at-15.46.46.png?resize=540%2C308&ssl=1
This fleshes out Patrick Minford's point that we should simple abolish all tariffs import and export. They are just taxes on the ordinary people that benefit only the political elite and inefficient vested interests.Abolishing them cuts the cost of living for ordinary people.
Secondly:
https://unherd.com/the-feed-blog/bigger-isnt-always-better/
which points out that smaller countries are run more for the benefit of ordinary folk avoiding wars and vanity projects so beloved of politicians.
Think of Clegg and his boast that the EU enabled us, ie him, to walk tall in the world no doubt with his wealthy Spanish wife.
I urge you to read the unherd piece. It's so good I have to quote chunks from it
Nations which are smaller tend to be richer and happier. New Zealand is officially the most prosperous country on earth, according to the Legatum Institute. It ranks top of both the social capital and economic quality sub-indexes, and second for business environment and governance. The other top-ranked countries are Norway, Finland and Switzerland. Canada is the first big country, coming in fifth, even then it has a relatively small population – about half the UK’s – to fill half a continent.
Small countries can fix problems that are intractable in bigger countries. Ireland was hit far harder by the financial crisis than most of the Eurozone, it managed to implement double-digit government spending cuts and slash the deficit. It now has GDP surging well ahead of EU rivals.
The final paragraph says it all.
Power is the vanity of politicians the world over. Wars are so often power grabs that only benefit the ruling elite, the common people benefiting not one jot. Remember when you hear politicians claiming “we are stronger together”, they mean the state is bigger and the reach of their political powers are stronger. Could it be that the Scottish, Welsh, English and all the Irish would be richer and happier to just rule over themselves?
Its the Carly Simon song about our political elite
You're so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You're so vain,
I'll bet you think this song is about you
The trouble is our political elite are ugly and can't sing. Here is what it should sound like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQZmCJUSC6g
So why are we fannying around with the EU that clearly don't want to do a fair deal. Let us just leave the EU asap and cur our losses.
1 comment:
Agreed, it's an interesting take on why some countries are happier / more successful than others, but I'm not convinced that size per se is necessarily the critical factor. In any event, as regards Ireland's recovery post the financial crisis, the obvious question to ask is: why not Greece also - if all boils down to 'size'?
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