Mr. T's pearl of wisdom

My prediction for 2010 is in line with what Mr. T stated in Rocky III regarding his fight with Rocky Balboa: "pain". In turbulent times, Mr. T offers comforting honesty.

The third year of the (Second) Great Depression - the Year of Our Lord 2010-, will feel like receiving a credit card bill we had forgotten about. Instead of tackling the economic problems like the Irish have done, the Labour Government has simply asked for an overdraft.

In 2010 we will realise at last that the Government simply cannot bail out every failed business and every greedy borrower who took on a 125 per cent mortgage from Northern Rock. Like every addiction, the addiction to Government will not be easy to beat but beat it we must. If we understand that freedom retreads when the Government expands, we will be able to build a better future for our children. If not, the only thing we will leave them will be a trillion-pound bill for our stupidity and a country on the road to serfdom.

Mr. T's "pain" might sound tough. But the longer we delay it, the more it will hurt.

Rewarding failure

The problem we face is our short memory. The economy grows for a reason, because free enterprise have enough space to develop and success is rewarded with better jobs and lives for our families. Once we remove the conditions for economic growth, surprise, the economy stops growing and will not start growing again until we resume those conditions.

Too many people believe money can be created out of thin air (or out of credit cards) and work is only an optional nuisance. We assume that the economy will continue growing forever, no matter how big government becomes and how much we tax honest citizens to subsidize those who are lazy and selfish.

We pay so much money to "help the poor" that we have locked millions of people in the cold, soulless machinery of the state and rewarded failure to such extend that it is no longer worth working or studying hard. Why work when "the poor" get a salary and a house for life and the hard-working taxpayers who create wealth and jobs are taxed to death? Is it not just better to aspire to be poor?

Once we have taxed to exhaustion all the bankers, entrepreneurs, businessmen and anybody earning an honest living, there will be nobody left to create jobs and prosperity. That moment is approaching worryingly fast.

Another one bites the (desert) dust

Dubai has joined the Scottish Premier Alex Salmond's 2006 "Arch of Prosperity", with fellow bankrupt members Iceland and Ireland. Sheikh Mohammed’s, the emirate's alpha male, building spree ended badly when Dubai failed to back "Dubai World", the umbrella company behind all those nice hotels, because there is not enough money.

To cut it short: a teenager (Sheik Mohammed) took his dad's credit card and went on a shopping spree expecting the dad (Abu Dhabi, the Emirate with oil and gas) to pay the bill. The problem is the dad was already upset about the whole business and the uncles (Emirates Central Bank and the international credit markets) couldn't keep cheating the creditors by giving away Monopoly notes and borrowing for ever and ever.

The Dubai crisis offers some relief for the cynical: at least it was your neighbour's house burning and not yours. Next in line in Greece. And printing money and depending too much on foreign funding sounds worryingly like Britain.

Dedicated to our fellow spender Sheikh Mohammed !

No insurance is the best insurance (really)

Sounds surprising but uninsured drivers are less likely to have an accident: they drive carefully because they know nobody will pay for their car's repair. The same principle should apply to banks but it does not because the government guarantees up to £50,000 per saver and institution in the event of a bank going burst. No wonder the less solvent banks usually top the best savings rankings and savers are happy to trust them their cash: no matter what happens, they will get their money back, courtesy of fellow taxpayers.

That incentives risk-taking. Banks lend irresponsibly without worrying about the consequences or caring for their customers' money because the government will always step in to save the folk's savings. Without that guarantee, banks would think twice before trying to become the next Intergalactic Empire (RBS buying the Dutch lender ABN AMRO in 2007, the Force was not so strong after all) and savers would deposit their hard-earned cash into solvent institutions.

Nationwide: run, baby,run !

Graham Beale, [Nationwide's] chief executive, also warned of a renewed fall in
house prices next year as more people lost their jobs and unemployment rose. -
Via FT.com

The government is hoping that the low interest rates will generate a new property bubble to take the country out of recession - at least until the next election. That is not going to happen because:

1- Britons cannot even save £200 for a new TV under the "buy now, pay later" culture, let alone saving 30k for a house deposit.

2-Nobody has 30k anyway: Britain has one of the world's highest debt-to-GDP ratios. The average Brit owes £9,191 according to Credit Action, a charity, and that excludes mortgages.

3- House prices skyrocketed until 2007 because cheap credit created bubble-jobs and illusion of wealth, not for sound fundamentals (work hard and save, wow, revolutionary).

4- Homeowners are losing their jobs, with unemployment set to reach 10pc next year. The government is trying to bail-out everybody but sooner or later it will become obvious that there is not enough money to save that many debtors. Homeowners will be forced to put their properties into the market as the only way to pay their debts. That will keep prices down.

5- Inflation is the government's favourite choice to pay for the debts by reducing the real value of money. Do not let it: get some good-old Inflation-Beating savings from NS&I and Swiss Francs. .And some Swiss chocolate.

Peter Schiff was right... now it's time to run

Granted, Peter Schiff - a Libertarian economic guru- was right about gold in 2006. But, when everybody in your local pub and their grandma is talking about buying something, it is time to sell like it happened with Internet stocks in 2000. Gold will continue rallying as long as the US Central Bank - the Federal Reserve- feels comfortable with a weak dollar to boost exports and generates just enough inflation to reduce the real value of the 12 trillion dollars national debt.

The problem is the dollar cannot keep going down for ever and ever, with the Chinese watching how their dollar holdings become worthless. Sooner or later, Ben Bernanke - Chairman of the Federal Reserve - will be forced to say the magic words: "we prefer a strong dollar". Then it will be too late for those who are going crazy buying gold.

Chinese democracy

The problem about lying is that one always gets caught. China can only lie as long as get-rich-quick investors and anti-West lobbyists want to believe her, like they believed Japan in the 1980s, but the truth is that a dictatorship with barely any respect for law and property trying to run an economy based on semi-slave labour cannot succeed unless it cheats the numbers. State-owned banks have been lending outrageous amounts of money to inefficient state-owned companies, in a sort of "creative accounting" to produce unreal GDP growth figures (see the excellent articles on the subject by Vitaliy N. Katsenelson) .

Government-planned economies never work, no matter how Chinese they are, and still remains the question of how a corrupt and despotic government will cope with several hundreds of millions of hungry unemployed once the bubble bursts.

Chris Mounsey LPUK At Libertarian Alliance

LAConf09, Chris Mounsey: "The UK Libertarian Party" from Sean Gabb on Vimeo.

The nation's credit card

Contrary to what Labour might say, a "stimulus plan" does not solve any problems but delay them. The "car scrappage" scheme or the 15pc VAT cannot last forever because even the nation's credit card (called National Debt) has a limit. The stimulus creates a false sentiment of prosperity by printing money out of thin air - the Bank of England takes care of that- and putting devalued pounds in people's pockets to encourage them to spend. That buys time to the Government to create a new asset bubble that will create some bubble-jobs and, they hope, buy enough votes to win another election.

But sooner or later we will have to face the fact that the Government is broke and we all have to pay the credit card bill. What we need is sound economics based on low taxes, small government and a bit of common sense. Spending money we do not have in "stimulus" plans only stimulates our future ruin.

LPUK Conference 28th November 2009

The Annual AGM/Conference will be held at the Gladiator Room, Gloucestershire Cricket Club, Nevil Road, Bristol BS7 9EJ 10.30am- 4pm November 28th 2009


The Conference will deal with matters of policy and constitutional matters to be put forward by members via their regional coordinators, and the election of officers for 2010, plus party organisation, aims and objectives

A business meeting dealing with end of year accounts and hand over to the new NCC will be held in January.

We need to know numbers attending by November 2nd. There will be a £5 charge to defray costs on registration so please help us by registering early, and as ever Donations will be happily received.

Contact members@lpuk.org

The Sportsman Pub is nearby where I understand the usual fare can be obtained.

There is carparking available for 100 vehicles.

Directions

By Road

From the North:

Exit Junction 19 on M4 onto M32 to Bristol

Exit at Junction 2

Take the 3rd exit off the roundabout, keep in right hand lane and follow brown
tourist signs to County Ground. Continue on Muller Road for approx.1 mile.

Turn left into Ralph Road, opposite Bus Depot.

At T junction, turn left and then take first right into Kennington Avenue.
At top of road, turn left (signposted) into Nevil Road and drive through the Grace Gates into the ground.

From Central Bristol :

From St. James Barton roundabout in the City Centre, take exit marked Horfield (A38)
Continue along Stokes Croft Road and onto Gloucester Road

After approx. 1.5 miles turn right into Nevil Road (Signposted)
The Grace Gates are at the end of Nevil Road

By Rail :

Bristol Temple Meads is in the centre of Bristol, approx. 2 miles from The County Ground
Bus no. 8 or 9 will take you from the station to the bus station and then take any of the buses as below

Bristol Parkway is on the northern side of the City and approx 4 miles from The County Ground

By Bus :

The Bus Station is located in the centre of Bristol.

Outside the Bus Station from The Travel Inn, services, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76 and 77 will take you along the Gloucester Road. The stop is Nevil Road, which is within 100yds from the Ground.

Something To Be Really Worried About On May 6th 2010.

I listened to Radio 4 this morning, to Austin Mitchell after his fringe meeting at the Labour Party Conference yesterday. Eight people turned up at his meeting, and one of those was his wife.

I saw the empty seats, the closed off areas at Brighton

I saw the photographs of half dead, half asleep Lib Dem supporters whilst Cleggy gave his all at the Lib Dem Conference.

UKIP and BNP are in dire straits financially; the LPUK is examining the pointlessness of contesting seats at Westminster in favour of building a grass roots local authority base.

Next week I am going to be watching the glassy eyed adoration of no policies Cameron and the Conservatives.

Basically Party Politics has collapsed in this Country, dwindling party memberships, over centralisation into Westminster, the recession, the expenses scandal etc has traduced democratic politics that has taken four hundred years to build up in less than twenty years.

The Public know it’s a fix, the Public want Radical Change and a New settlement, that was evident at the Forum on Modern Liberty, but that clamour for real progress has been stymied by the big three parties, and the growth of smaller Parties and pressure groups will never have a voice under this Electoral system. The British just don't do the 'Summer of Rage'

The Public has withdrawn from even voting, because ‘the Government’ always gets in. This has produced the bizarre situation where corrupt faux aristocrats lead the Labour Party. Has it really got to the point where Mandelson is the saviour of the Socialist Left? Is there nobody left in the Labour Party that can see what a travesty this is. We have now got a situation were Esther Ranzten and a baggage handler from Glasgow, are now seen as the authentic voice of politics. Don’t get me wrong anybody who takes on somebody who is trying to explode a car bomb has physical courage, but I am not sure that I want my politics to be along the lines of ‘fisticuff’ Prescott. A man who can barely string a coherent sentence together.

Politics is dead, the only option on offer is Mandelson’s ‘post democratic’ age. This is just an Oligarchy by another name with the rest of us condemned to the role of exploited serfs.

Unless the Radical smaller Parties start to coalesce around the concept of a new constitution, a new settlement and a new voting system, we are going to see the gradual sapping of the life blood in our democratic institutions, with the Police and the EU taking up the slack and running the country by default. The Army is now a degraded institution, loved and respected by the people. Hated and kept short of funds by the political classes and sent to fight illegal wars and to occupy foreign countries, the police on the other hand seem to have no shortage of equipment and helicopters, because the political classes see them as the only thing between us and them.

I spent the weekend as a Libertarian, with a Socialist, a near BNP supporter two Tories and a Liberal Democrat. We discussed politics we all had strong points of view that we could never agree on, but we had a forum to discuss politics because we had respect for each other and ‘ground rules’ that everybody was entitled to their say. What we did agree on that this was not replicated at either National or Local level. There is no forum. If nobody is prepared to listen to my point of view, why the hell should I listen or engage to somebody who wants to talk ‘at’ me about their politics.

That is the position that the Public now have with the current political structure.
There may be only 646 of them and sixty million of us, but nobody is listening to the sixty million, only to the 646, and pretending that this the body politic.

Personally the prospect of a Cameron Government on May 6th fills me with dread, as it will not be any different to Blair/Brown.

Irrespective of each of our political standpoint, we have to fight for a New Constitution, one that comes from below not imposed from above.

Our Politics are Moribund, and worse still has absolutely no mandate from the people of this Country.

I don't know what the answer is, but this isn't it.

From Times Online: (Full article).

"Seizing children’s mobile phones and bicycles could deter them from getting into trouble, according to Chris Grayling, the Shadow Home Secretary."

Well, if by "could deter them from getting into trouble", Chris Grayling means "will magnify young people's already considerable distrust of 'law' and 'justice' and foster a generation whose principle attitude with respect to law is 'how do I not get caught, next time'?", then he is probably right.

I'm old enough to remember a time when teachers had such power over pupils: powers that they could use without any justification, and without fear of challenge. That's how it was: they were despots and the 'establishment' (which included most parents) supported and indeed encouraged that form of 'discipline.' How effective was this, frankly, authoritarian approach? Well, this is how it was for me:

It generated a feeling of contempt for petty authority that has persisted to this day. I simply despise anyone who assumes the right to interfere with my life in some meddlesome kind of way. I fight those fuckers tooth and nail. This of course is a good thing but it is not the 'good thing' that teachers were hoping for.

What is not a good thing is that this was probably not the general response. From what I see now, it seems that many people seem to have regarded that approach as exemplary - if you don't like the way people behave, rob them.

There were a number of comments to the article when I read it, and most of them made sense to me, but they all missed a crucial point. It is the junior version of 'behaviour likely to cause a breach of the peace'. That is: it is a catch-all which can be used to justify any kind of interference in your activities. I simply do not like 'offences' which depend on someone's opinion of a person's behaviour. The capacity for injustice is just too great.

Crime doesn't pay ... unless you are the Government

Extracts from a recent Home Office press release (June 24th).

A new pilot fund has been launched to give local people a direct say on how the ill-gotten gains of criminals can be used to benefit their communities.

Ah hah! The money fraudulently obtained by thieving MPs as 'expenses' is to be returned to its rightful owners, then?

The £4m Community Cashback scheme will be funded by money and assets seized from wealthy criminal kingpins.

'Kingpin'? [A word last used some time back in the 18th century - means someone with a flashy car.]

The public will be able to choose which worthwhile community projects are funded by feeding in their views to a new dedicated website, neighbourhood policing meetings or through Citizens Panels.

That's what we need! More security cameras!

Until now money recovered from criminals has been split between frontline services, such as the police and Government departments involved with the criminal justice system. This is the first time a portion of that money is being paid back into communities.

Whoa! Hold on a minute: (a) Since when were "Government departments involved with the criminal justice system" frontline services? (b) How long have our Police forces been partially funded from the proceeds of crime? and (c) Shouldn't money recovered from criminals be returned to the victims of crime, rather than the community at large?

Statement from the government's Crime and Justice Adviser, Louise Casey: 'It is only right that the public should have a say on how cash from criminals is spent in their community. This sends a strong message to the public that the criminal justice system cares about what they think and is on their side. This in turn might encourage more members of the public to help in the fight against crime - to pick up the phone to report a crime, stand up in court to give evidence and support others to do the same.

Ah! 'It is only right' I suppose that makes it all right, then.

OK, let me see if I have got this right ... The reason that more people didn't stand up in court to give evidence against knife-wielding maniacs (who were back on the street faster than the witnesses were) is ... they didn't have a say in how to spend the robbers' money? I suppose if that's what the government says it must be correct ...

Statement from the Justice Secretary, Jack Straw: 'I want people to have full confidence in the justice system and an important part of this is ensuring that justice is done and seen to be done.
...
Today’s announcement is the next step in increasing the influence of local people in delivering justice in their villages, towns and cities.'

'Delivering justice,' is it? 'Sharing out the spoils' is what it sounds like to me. So, how much ... ?

Home Office figures show the value of assets recovered from criminals this year has risen to an all time high of £148m for 08/09. This is up from last year’s £136m.

And the 'cashback' for the community is £4 million ...

The figures also show that a total £23.6m recovered between January and April 2009 will be paid back to frontline services, with a total £7m to be shared between all police forces in England and Wales.

By my reckoning, that leaves about £114 million going to the 'frontline services' like Jack Straw's department.

Press Release 7th July 2009

NEWS RELEASE


Libertarian Party fields
youngest ever parliamentary candidate
at Norwich North


Thomas Burridge, aged 18, is the Libertarian Party candidate for the upcoming Norwich North by-election, and is set to make history as the youngest person ever to contest a Westminster seat. Thomas was accepted offically by the Returning Officer today.

Thomas is aware that his age may raise a few eyebrows. “People may ask what can I possibly know about anything at my age? Well, one thing I do know is that Labour excesses have left my generation with a massive debt that will take generations to pay off.” “It’s all the more painful because we were not given any say in the decisions that have forced us to spend the rest of our lives in debt.”

“Currently, the Tories and Labour are squabbling about cutting state spending by a pathetic 5 per cent. Whereas, the Libertarian Party want to scrap the whole rotten system. A system that has given us high personal taxes, squalid services and a corrupt parliament.” “I may not win this time, but I will be back in five years, and in another five years, if necessary. By which time, the guilty ones will be wallowing in their generous pensions – while my generation – The Debt Generation – will still be paying back the money that was squandered.”

The Libertarian Party believes in individual liberty, personal responsibility and freedom from government. Its most prominent policy is to scrap income tax, and transfer taxes to non-essential goods, leaving items such as food, heating and rent tax-free.

ENDS

For more information, or to arrange an interview, contact the Libertarian Party Norwich North Campaign Office on 01603 850573 or the media enquiries mobile on 07505 228618.

Further details are available on our campaign website: http://www.thomasburridge.com
Alternatively, visit the Libertarian Party website: http://www.lpuk.org

And Then He Goes And Ruins It By Saying Restore The Authority Of Parliamemt

As much as I find Hague amusing and erudite, making Cameron look the twit he is, Hague ruins a perfectly good speech by saying we must restore the Authority of Parliament by having a General Election.

Two points Billy Boy, the People have the Authority in this setup, not Parliament. Parliament is only loaned Sovereignity by the electorate, that is the bit the 646 always forget, this sustains their arrogance and their theft. It sustains their view that only they can provide 'essential services'. Secondly it betrays that the Tory Party is still deeply Authoritarian at its heart and will never give way to Electoral Reform.

The two major parties have been caught with their collective hand in the Taxpayer's wallet.

Devolving all power apart from Defence and Foreign affairs away from Westmister is the only way forward, only when power is devolved closer to the electorate, will things ever change.

There is no service that is essential that cannot be done better and cheaper by anybody than by the corrupt,bloated inefficient State.

Westminster does not know how to do anything different to the way it is doing it now, until the 646 are brought to heel, nothing will improve or change.

We Still Need Your Donations

This Darien Government is now in freefall, an Election is sooner rather than later. We are hoping to put ten candidates forward in the South-East alone, and other are throwing their name in the ring.

The widget is now up and running on the blogs showing monies received since the appeal ten days ago.

We can only repeat the appeal for whatever you can spare.

Last year we set up a pledge bank in case of an Election. We would like to go down the same route again. The pledge will be called in on the morning that the GE is called.

Make your pledge at donate@lpuk.org

Take the Shirt off your Back Campaign

Its started off on Old Holborn's site Don't just sit there and accept this crap budget designed to bail out this corrupt Government and its Banker friends.

Dig out that old shirt and send it to 10 Downing Street with a note of what you really think of this budget- let us know that you have done it on 1984@lpuk.org

Gordon Brown
10, Downing Street
London
SW1A 2AA.

Invitation for blog authors

This blog welcomes contributors from the LPUK who live or work in the region. It is currently on hold until a critical mass of Members is achieved. If you wish to post here, please email to ian-at-iangrey-dot-org.

In the meantime, check out Yorkshire Libertarians