Saturday, September 22, 2018

Aangirfan - CHATHAM HOUSE - OPPOSED TO CONSERVATIVES

Jim O'Neill

Terence James O'Neill, Baron O'Neill of Gatley, a former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and a former UK Conservative government minister, is a British economist.

O'Neil is chair of the spooky Chatham House think-tank (Like the USA's Council on Foreign Relations).

O'Neill thinks that, in some respects, a Labour government would be better than the current Conservative government.



O'Neill writes at the ft :-

"I am not overly concerned by some aspects of a prospective Jeremy Corbyn (UK Labour) administration.

"In at least six policy areas, which Mr Corbyn and his shadow chancellor John McDonnell are treating as priorities, businesses and the Conservative government need to catch up."

O'Neil worries that the current Conservative government "has virtually no time for ... devolving powers and responsibilities to the urban regions.

"The Northern Powerhouse and Midlands Engine schemes now receive almost no attention."

O'Neill worries about Britain's productivity crisis.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, Britain has seen a 15-20% decline in GDP - "stemming from weaker productivity."

O'Neill writes:

"Labour's readiness to explore new ways of shaking up the status quo is admirable."

O'Neill points out that lower corporation tax has not magically boosted investment spending.

O'Neill writes: "we should stop cutting corporation tax to increase profits with little societal gain."

According to O'Neill, "it was once assumed that, when unemployment fell below a certain level, wage growth would accelerate.

"It has not happened."



O'Neill worries about chief executives being paid large sums of money, while their companies are failing to make Britain a better place.

O'Neill worries about the privately run railways and utilities being badly managed.

O'Neill writes: "The Labour party has stepped into the vacuum left by the Conservative government and appears to be offering the radical change that people seek."  

Compiled and written by Aangirfan. 

2 comments:

Konrad said...

“"The Northern Powerhouse and Midlands Engine schemes now receive almost no attention."

In the U.K., most government funding goes to five major cities: London, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds-Bradford, and Glasgow.

There are other cities (Liverpool, Bristol, Belfast, Leicester, etc) but these are basically towns. The point is that many Britons would like to see the U.K. economy more geographically diversified. Instead of riding trains and tubes back and forth between the cities and the far-flung suburbs, people would like to see jobs closer to home. I’ve been there. I saw it. I know. The Midlands, for example, are pretty to look at, but rather dead economically. People live there, but they work in the cities, which in some cases are very far away.

There have been proposals to boost the economy of Northern England (the “Northern Powerhouse”) and the Midlands (the “Midlands Engine”). However the Conservatives in Parliament and the neo-liberal Blairite members pf Labour, serve the City of London. That is, they serve the financial economy, not the real economy. Hence they have done little to make the economic proposals a reality.

Mr. O'Neill criticizes this. He is worried about the entire U.K., not just his own fortune. He thinks the Conservatives (Tories) are moribund.

Note that O’Neill is writing at the Financial Times. This is an extremely pro-neoliberal propaganda outlet that occasionally goes weird. That is, the FT once in a while carries an article that is not garbage. We see an example above.

Matt Franko said...

US is leaving UK/EZ in the dust under Trump policies.. O’Neill sees this...