On the evidence, our 'soft power' expenditure ('Foreign Aid') is a complete waste of money, even if an increasing proportion is being spent on 'refugees' at home. It is a pity that pensioners have to suffer, but maybe the state pension should be properly treated as a 'benefit' (which it is classed as) and be set off against other income and capital above an inflation-proofed level (inc assets, esp property) eg 25k pa income, £250k capital. That would set off some squealing!
Joachim for Chancellor! All makes perfect sense. Unfortunately your chances of being elected would be zero. Doing the right thing has no traction in politics. Spend with impunity and be damned.
I think we need a better metric for the quality of government investments. R&D spending is often very good (when it's about basic research for which private companies can't see a business case). R&D spending is expensive and bad when it's a boondoggle, like the billions the German government likes to spend on Hydrogen or on Nuclear Fusion. Building housing can be great if it's Singapore-style, since nothing profits more from cheap capital and transparent allocation rules than housing. But beware the Mezzogiorno case...
Mmmm...I notice that saving The Planet, that middle class hobby and source of gov subsidies, regularly mentioned on this Substack, is omitted from the personal treasury budget - apart from writing 'not enough... renewable energy'.
(What would be 'enough' renewable energy?)
I would say the UK has plenty renewable energy, it's actually Europe's Planet-saving posterboy, probably being, along with Denmark, the early renewable adopter. (A marketer would say 'Visionary'...).
That adding renewables to the mix causes imbalances which necessitate a massive expansion of the elec grid has been known for years. Its a simple 1+1.
Politicians, renewable Gurus, ESG wallowers, journos etc preferred to avoid that discussion. Although there seems to be a sizeable cohort that is economically so illiterate that they honestly - still - believe that meddling with the national energy mix is simply a matter of changing gears. You find the same hubris when economic- and financial sanctions are concerned:
The Dangerous Game of Modern Economic Warfare with Doomberg
Cooking dinner on moral superiority is still a pretty hard thing to do...
Grid expansion is now presented, not just in the UK, as the logical next step. While in fact it should have been the first, very costly, step. Like elsewhere in Europe in the UK businesses may have to wait a decade before grid capacity allows for a company's physical expansion. While renewable projects themselves - those that weren't halted or killed - can expect an even longer period to connect:
Renewable energy projects worth billions stuck on hold
That personal Treasury budget could have been collecting a lot more corporate tax if it weren't for the green-zealots-without-a-plan...
But hey, they got subsidized EV's and solar pannels. While London installed ULEZ to keep out the fossil hoi polloi. So the green middle classes have made a buck (saving The Planet begins with saving yourself) but they sure seem uncomfortable with the possilbe unsavory electoral choices of for instance the fossil hoi polloi.
But preferably he who throws the boomerang also catches it. The question is with what part of the body. I hear necks often have the honor...
On the evidence, our 'soft power' expenditure ('Foreign Aid') is a complete waste of money, even if an increasing proportion is being spent on 'refugees' at home. It is a pity that pensioners have to suffer, but maybe the state pension should be properly treated as a 'benefit' (which it is classed as) and be set off against other income and capital above an inflation-proofed level (inc assets, esp property) eg 25k pa income, £250k capital. That would set off some squealing!
Joachim for Chancellor! All makes perfect sense. Unfortunately your chances of being elected would be zero. Doing the right thing has no traction in politics. Spend with impunity and be damned.
I think we need a better metric for the quality of government investments. R&D spending is often very good (when it's about basic research for which private companies can't see a business case). R&D spending is expensive and bad when it's a boondoggle, like the billions the German government likes to spend on Hydrogen or on Nuclear Fusion. Building housing can be great if it's Singapore-style, since nothing profits more from cheap capital and transparent allocation rules than housing. But beware the Mezzogiorno case...
Mmmm...I notice that saving The Planet, that middle class hobby and source of gov subsidies, regularly mentioned on this Substack, is omitted from the personal treasury budget - apart from writing 'not enough... renewable energy'.
(What would be 'enough' renewable energy?)
I would say the UK has plenty renewable energy, it's actually Europe's Planet-saving posterboy, probably being, along with Denmark, the early renewable adopter. (A marketer would say 'Visionary'...).
That adding renewables to the mix causes imbalances which necessitate a massive expansion of the elec grid has been known for years. Its a simple 1+1.
Politicians, renewable Gurus, ESG wallowers, journos etc preferred to avoid that discussion. Although there seems to be a sizeable cohort that is economically so illiterate that they honestly - still - believe that meddling with the national energy mix is simply a matter of changing gears. You find the same hubris when economic- and financial sanctions are concerned:
The Dangerous Game of Modern Economic Warfare with Doomberg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZLJERyeyfg&t=13s
Cooking dinner on moral superiority is still a pretty hard thing to do...
Grid expansion is now presented, not just in the UK, as the logical next step. While in fact it should have been the first, very costly, step. Like elsewhere in Europe in the UK businesses may have to wait a decade before grid capacity allows for a company's physical expansion. While renewable projects themselves - those that weren't halted or killed - can expect an even longer period to connect:
Renewable energy projects worth billions stuck on hold
https://bbc.in/41sjH6u
That personal Treasury budget could have been collecting a lot more corporate tax if it weren't for the green-zealots-without-a-plan...
But hey, they got subsidized EV's and solar pannels. While London installed ULEZ to keep out the fossil hoi polloi. So the green middle classes have made a buck (saving The Planet begins with saving yourself) but they sure seem uncomfortable with the possilbe unsavory electoral choices of for instance the fossil hoi polloi.
But preferably he who throws the boomerang also catches it. The question is with what part of the body. I hear necks often have the honor...