Tag Archives: Great Depression

How a Brexit risks triggering return of Far Right, loss of Europe’s democracies and WWIII – A Cosmopolitan’s Doomsday Scenario

April 14, 2016 By in Baby Boomers, Brexit, Business Administration, David Cameron, Defense Policy, Democracy, Economics, Elderly, Energy Policy, Euro Crisis, Fiscal Policy, Foreign Policy, French election, Immigration, Millennials, People, Politicians, Politics Tags: , , , Leave a comment
WWI Territory Changes

WWI Territory Changes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

WWII Europe 1941-1942 Map EN

WWII Europe 1941-1942 Map EN (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many older people who live in the UK are myopic, seeing immigration as the only threat and that’s why they favor a Brexit. They are blind to the UK’s enormous competitive weaknesses.

However, older UK expats, like myself, are more cosmopolitan. I’ll be 68 on May 12 but I’ll be voting with Britain’s youth to REMAIN in the EU.

The risks are real. Following a Brexit, I risk profile the return of the Far Right (starting in France) and the domino collapse of Europe’s democracies, the vaporizing of the EU bureaucracy and new bilateral alliances (like pre-WW1). Greed to protect trade and secure natural resources will lead to WWIII. Russia, China and Turkey will seek new geopolitical gains and America will sit on her hands (with yet another lame duck President).

Younger British voters want to remain part of a leaner EU. To repeat, I’ll be 68 on May 12 but I’ll vote with the youngsters that Britain’s Stronger in Europe.

UK expats can envision the doomsday scenario resulting from a Brexit. Whereas, older UK residents are myopic and can only see immigration as the threat.

Happy to debate.

Opinion – mainly macro: The imaginary world of small state people – Simon Wren-Lewis – John Gelmini

December 10, 2014 By in Austerity, Business Administration, Central Government, Local Authorities, Local Government, Outsourcing, People, Politicians, Politics, Public Services Reform, Shared Services Tags: , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Simon Wren Lewis is wrong about the BBC and he is wrong to pose the problem as “Big State” versus “Little State”.

The State can do more than it does now with a fraction of the people if only the people could be shocked into becoming more productive.

Dr Alf says that austerity went on for too long and I agree. It should have been deeper and far more concentrated as was successfully done in both Canada and Eire for just 2 years.

At the same time a crash program of quadrupling exports needed to be in place using a combination of faster writing down allowances, Pimsleur style language training and benefit recycling.

We are now facing the prospect of bringing in Portuguese bricklayers at £1000 gbp per week because we lack sufficient bricklayers here and we have a shortage of engineers which is going to be filled by recruiting from Spain.

We are also going to bring in vast numbers of Syrian refugees at a time when we have a shortage of 11.5 million houses, are building 100,000 a year and lack bricklayers.

Our welfare system and the innate nature of too many of the indigenous population promotes laziness,torpor and in those who do work very low productivity. This has to be confronted, along with the obesity and alchohol consumption which accompanies it. Simply sanctioning benefit recipients is not enough, as it is it is used to massage the unemployment figures down and save on the benefits bill. Those who are sanctioned need to assigned to care homes and other forms of useful work in exchange for their benefits.

Food banks are expanding because of the sanctioning of benefit recipients but there are cases of Heroin addicts and others using the food which they obtain with real and possibly fake documentation as currency with which to buy drugs or to finance trips to hospitals like the Lister at Stevenage near where I live where they sneak in and try and steal drugs. which now have to be guarded by G4S 24 hours a day.

Other food bank recipients may well be genuine but I have witnessed a number of them smoking and guzzling beer in the Witherspoon pub in Letchworth Garden City and the same practices go on throughout the country and are witnessed by others.

John Gelmini