Category Archives: Politicians

Opinion – John Gelmini – ‘Populism: The corrupting of democracy’ via The Economist

September 2, 2019 By in Business Administration, Democracy, Extreme left, Extreme right, Far Right, Far-left politics, Fiscal Policy, Foreign Policy, Healthcare, Immigration, Neoliberal, People, Politicians, Politics, Public Services Reform, Unemployment Leave a comment

Dr Alf with his usual thoughtful precision has demolished the thrust of the arguments made by the Economist whose editors regularly attend “private meetings” as evidenced by the attendance list of the Bilderbergers(www.bilderbergmeetings.org). Populism at grass roots level is to do with massive income inequalities.

In America just 51% of the entire population earn enough to pay income tax and increasing numbers of jobs are being subjected to robot process automation, AI, offshoring and outsourcing. GE which used to have massive finance departments dedicated to Dr Alf’s former calling as a Chartered Accountant and Financial Director now have much of the work done in India at a fraction of the cost.

The UK is £5 trillion GBP in debt whilst £25 trillion sits offshore with half of it in BVI. The Economist has nothing to say about that or the juxtaposition of the two sides of the coin. We have on the one hand Chief Executives earning 100, 200 and in some cases 450 times average worker pay, when bonuses and “other emoluments” are factored into the equation, we have 1.8 million zombie companies which never make a profit and teeter on the very edge of their banking covenants and we have local and central government services costing triple those of Switzerland.
At the same time, we have 1 million people using food banks, average gross pay at £30,000 GGP and houses costing nine times average pay thus denying 80% of future adults any prospect of ever buying a home.

Within 13 or 17 years, 50% of jobs will be gone thanks to AI, machine learning, RPA, cybernetics and nanotechnology. This was predicted by Eric Schmidt of Google in 2013 and 2014 at the Grove Hotel, Watford, England and on You Tube and by the Oxford University and Chinese Government surveys all of which the Economist were privy to. People in America,Europe and the UK, unless they were in the top 16% of wage earners, have all seen their living standards drop and remain low for the past 25 years thanks to the banking crisis, “Cyprus style bail-ins”, quantitative easing (debasement of the currency,) and the loss of traditional blue-collar and lower middle class white collar jobs.

We know from Jordan Peterson, the Canadian psychology professor, who wrote “12 Rules for Life”, that anyone with an IQ of 83 or less (10% of the global population) is deemed to be incapable of doing ANY job the Pentagon wants done. Extrapolating that into civilian life everywhere as he does means that 10% of the working population are economically useless. That percentage is rising as machine learning improves and AI powers ahead of human intelligence starting this year (Source:Ray Kurzeweil, Chief Futurist and CTO of Google).

People, even at the most intellectually challenged level, know that something is wrong, potholes abound in roads, they are told to buy electric cars at £30,000GBP each when they have less than £500 GBP in their bank accounts at any one time ( the same figure that prevailed in the 1990s when GE Capital conducted a survey to size the market for secured loans and impaired life annuities). Their children cannot get jobs and even if they can they are not reflective of their expensive degree courses. It is much more than being “down on your luck” but is a malaise in which hope is completely lost by those at the sharp end which is where MAGA, the Gilet Jeunes and the EDL, PEGIDA etc, all populist movements along with ANTIFA, Momentum et al spring from. These movements cover the extremes of the political spectrum and are representative of populism.
The phenomenon will not go away until there is a clear and coherent plan to reskillill people, stop the reverse Robjn Hood phenomenon which emboldens plutocrats and puts the proletariat in the”olive press”.

The Economist will never talk about these matters because it exists to create the impression that things are fine.

John Gelmini

Opinion – World Views on the Brexit Failure – John Gelmini

April 2, 2019 By in Brexit, Business Administration, Defense Policy, Democracy, Economics, Extreme left, Extreme right, Far Left, Far Right, Far-left politics, Foreign Policy, Growth, Jeremy Corbyn, People, Politicians, Politics, Public Services Reform, Society, Theresa May 3 Comments

Dr Alf, refreshed and reinvigorated by the clear air and magnificent scenery in Peru, has had a good opportunity to review the current state of play vis-a-vis Brexit.

On current form, I can see the UK remaining in the EU, as that was what was planned all along.

I tend to think we will have to have an extension to our time, as there will not be time to agree a new deal, even if the 27 European member states were to agree it. Following that extension, we will remain in the EU until it splits into two halves in about 18 to 22 months time, based on its own tensions and the incompatibility of member states economic cycles. The main half, based on “Greater Germany”, Austria, Sweden, France, Holland, Belgium and Finland will be juxtaposed against the Southern half, based on Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece, plus the Balkan states. The UK would probably do best in EFTA, which will fall outside these blocs, as the Southern bloc would be too limiting and the main half would mean falling under German control. The Germans have already planned for this scenario by bringing back a lot of their gold reserves from America but I see no proper planning here in the UK.

The UK’s ills stem from a disgruntled proletariat, which feels hard done by, unrepresented and has little money. It is made worse by gross inequality, which manifests itself in massively inflated executive pay, wasteful local authorities and a political class bludgeoning expenses on a bigger scale than the scandal exposed by the Daily Telegraph a few years ago. These factors, too few exports, too little productivity, and over expensive public services, plus indifference to the need for reform and efficiency measures for the police, civil service and the NHS, have led to falling living standards amongst the many, and rapidly rising ones for the few in fhe know. his rather than Brexit, is driving the incessant demonstrations and aggressive behaviour although the very stupid want to scapegoat migrants for their plight even though these migrants are doing work which the indigenous proletariat refuse to do or see as “beneath them”.

Mrs May is indifferent to these realities – to the failure to build houses, use systems building and reform the police so that they can fight crime and the need to reintroduce National Service to inculcate discipline in the young population in a country which is now out of control. She must be removed and her tired Cabinet of ‘also-rans’ replaced with younger more telegenic people who get it.

What passes for an Opposition is run by an ageing Trotskyite, who condones institutional anti-Semitism, with a history as a political troublemaker,  historically has  some highly suspicious associates and most critically no effective leadership qualities. Left-wing activists cite Jeremy Corbyn’s policies but he must be measured by his actions and failures, most noticeably Brexit and anti-Semitism.

Concern about Brexit masks a deeper malaise in the UK, in which deference is gone, and the ruling class seen as venal shysters, freeloaders, parasites and scoundrels. Rather too many of them are seen in this light and not as well-minded people “,trying to do their best”. Politicians of an earlier generation tried to serve their country – now this is seen as quaint, with the Far-Left and the Far-Right actively promoting chaos and revolution.

An element of tangible contrition and behavioural change is needed, and needed fast, otherwise, the UK is in for a very rough ride – politically, economically and socially. I am far less confident than Dr Alf that the UK Government, Parliament and the EU will reach a last-minute compromise to avoid disaster.

John Gelmini