Interesting read.. I'm stil lworking my way through it..
Participatory Economics (Parecon for short) is a type of economy proposed as an alternative to contemporary capitalism. The underlying values are equity, solidarity, diversity, and participatory self management.
The main institutions are workers and consumers councils utilizing self managed decision making, balanced job complexes, remuneration according to effort and sacrifice, and participatory planning. This page links to articles, interviews, talks, instructionals, Q/A sessions, and books about parecon and closely related matters.
Also a wee bit from the parecon site ..... food for thought..life after capitalism..
H
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
A wee bit about sensible economics:
Industry and markets founding their costings which do not include social aspects of our society are surely doomed to failure. Should we not encourage sensible economics and sensible accounting practices to factor in these very important areas?
Surely it is up to us, the people who can change this.
Surely we *should* be factoring in costs which will affect our children and future generations?
As it is just now, they have no baring on current costing models, the cost of increasing pollution in the environment which could increase deaths of our children have no current value and so are irrellevant. Is this not wrong?
We have the principle of opportunity costs, can they not include social costs and future enviromental costs?
Adbusters have an interesting piece*:
"A new paradigm is waiting in the wings, one that values nature flows and money flows equally. One that addresses the social and environmental costs of the current model."
*http://adbusters.org/metas/eco/truecosteconomics/neoclassical.html
H
Industry and markets founding their costings which do not include social aspects of our society are surely doomed to failure. Should we not encourage sensible economics and sensible accounting practices to factor in these very important areas?
Surely it is up to us, the people who can change this.
Surely we *should* be factoring in costs which will affect our children and future generations?
As it is just now, they have no baring on current costing models, the cost of increasing pollution in the environment which could increase deaths of our children have no current value and so are irrellevant. Is this not wrong?
We have the principle of opportunity costs, can they not include social costs and future enviromental costs?
Adbusters have an interesting piece*:
"A new paradigm is waiting in the wings, one that values nature flows and money flows equally. One that addresses the social and environmental costs of the current model."
*http://adbusters.org/metas/eco/truecosteconomics/neoclassical.html
H
Sunday, November 07, 2004
2004 Presidential Election
What can I say? I got the turnout right, sort of - not found any official figures on that yet.
But, Bush? Why oh why?
1. The Media - Still overwhelmingly obsessed with the idea that being patriotic is not questioning the President / Administration. They certainly had a go at times on his military record but not the real issues - Iraq, the fiscal defecit, healthcare etc.
2. Moral Majority / Christian Right - They came out to vote in enough numbers to add to Bush's 2000 total. The Democrats need to learn from this.
3. Kerry - Not compellingly different enough. Too much critisicm without presenting sufficiently different, alternative ideas (Very reminiscent of the problem the Tories have in the UK).
Of the post-match analysis, I liked this piece by Simon Schama.
I think the one thing that we, in the UK in particular, is that the US Presidential Election is not about policies and manifestos, it's a popularity contest and basically it's like this :
Presuming those dodgy e-voting machines worked properly and weren't tampered with - Just over half of the people who can be bothered voting in the US like a man with these qualities in charge :
Decisive - Refuses to admit any mistake or revisit any decision.
Poor Verbal Skills - No fancy words or rehetoric - simple aphorisms only please.
Nationalist and Unilateralist - The US does not need anything from the rest of the world right? Doh! Wrong. The USA needs money from the rest of the world invested in it in order to keep it's economy going. It also needs the rest of the world to sell it all the stuff that it consumes which the US does not manufacture - and there's a whole lot of that...
The bizarre thing to me about this result is it is kind of like the inverse of what happened with Labour and the Tories in the 80s, especially from a Scots point of view.
Then the North and Scotland voted for Labour but got the Conservatives because the richer folks in the South-East voted for them.
In the US the richest folks are more likely to be liberal (That damn Liberal Elite again....) so they vote Democrat. Meanwhile, all the poor folk who can't get jobs love Bush because he promises to protect them from the bogey men he likes to invoke to scare them, all the while he is taking dollars from their back pockets and passing them out to rich Corporations.
Here's hoping the other 35% who don't vote wake up and realise they are needed to swing this in a more sensible direction in 2008 for President (Mrs) Clinton the second....
What can I say? I got the turnout right, sort of - not found any official figures on that yet.
But, Bush? Why oh why?
1. The Media - Still overwhelmingly obsessed with the idea that being patriotic is not questioning the President / Administration. They certainly had a go at times on his military record but not the real issues - Iraq, the fiscal defecit, healthcare etc.
2. Moral Majority / Christian Right - They came out to vote in enough numbers to add to Bush's 2000 total. The Democrats need to learn from this.
3. Kerry - Not compellingly different enough. Too much critisicm without presenting sufficiently different, alternative ideas (Very reminiscent of the problem the Tories have in the UK).
Of the post-match analysis, I liked this piece by Simon Schama.
I think the one thing that we, in the UK in particular, is that the US Presidential Election is not about policies and manifestos, it's a popularity contest and basically it's like this :
Presuming those dodgy e-voting machines worked properly and weren't tampered with - Just over half of the people who can be bothered voting in the US like a man with these qualities in charge :
Decisive - Refuses to admit any mistake or revisit any decision.
Poor Verbal Skills - No fancy words or rehetoric - simple aphorisms only please.
Nationalist and Unilateralist - The US does not need anything from the rest of the world right? Doh! Wrong. The USA needs money from the rest of the world invested in it in order to keep it's economy going. It also needs the rest of the world to sell it all the stuff that it consumes which the US does not manufacture - and there's a whole lot of that...
The bizarre thing to me about this result is it is kind of like the inverse of what happened with Labour and the Tories in the 80s, especially from a Scots point of view.
Then the North and Scotland voted for Labour but got the Conservatives because the richer folks in the South-East voted for them.
In the US the richest folks are more likely to be liberal (That damn Liberal Elite again....) so they vote Democrat. Meanwhile, all the poor folk who can't get jobs love Bush because he promises to protect them from the bogey men he likes to invoke to scare them, all the while he is taking dollars from their back pockets and passing them out to rich Corporations.
Here's hoping the other 35% who don't vote wake up and realise they are needed to swing this in a more sensible direction in 2008 for President (Mrs) Clinton the second....
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Monday, November 01, 2004
Eloquent View from New Jersey
From a Talking Point page on news.bbc.co.uk
"Whoever is elected President will be dealing with a very rapidly changing world. Economic wealth is shifting, instability and the resulting security threat is growing, an ever more 'aware and educated' world community is demanding justice, equality, honesty, and fairness. America must eventually understand and accept that it has no choice, but to become a full and integral part of a global society. If we deal with these challenges with an open mind, America and the world will be a much better place for our children, but if not, we as well as the rest of the world are in for a 'very rough' and dangerous ride. A new world is coming whether we like it or not and I just hope that whoever we elect as President understands this.
John, NJ, USA"
I wish all US voters were as wise as John here. Smart man.
From a Talking Point page on news.bbc.co.uk
"Whoever is elected President will be dealing with a very rapidly changing world. Economic wealth is shifting, instability and the resulting security threat is growing, an ever more 'aware and educated' world community is demanding justice, equality, honesty, and fairness. America must eventually understand and accept that it has no choice, but to become a full and integral part of a global society. If we deal with these challenges with an open mind, America and the world will be a much better place for our children, but if not, we as well as the rest of the world are in for a 'very rough' and dangerous ride. A new world is coming whether we like it or not and I just hope that whoever we elect as President understands this.
John, NJ, USA"
I wish all US voters were as wise as John here. Smart man.
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Bush - Little Things Count a Lot
Molly Ivins column (Also here) which points out the little blots on Bush's copy book. Please do not vote for this guy, it only encourages him... but, if you don't vote for him, please vote for somebody else, and somebody else who stands a chance of getting in, not Mr Nader. Please!
Molly Ivins column (Also here) which points out the little blots on Bush's copy book. Please do not vote for this guy, it only encourages him... but, if you don't vote for him, please vote for somebody else, and somebody else who stands a chance of getting in, not Mr Nader. Please!
Friday, October 22, 2004
UK Management and Productivity
This one touched a nerve with me :
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/16/it_holy_grail/
It's easy, especially as a cynical, non-employee, IT geek, to just
slag off management and blame managers for everything but this
article seems to bear this view out with respect to the productivity
gap.
Personally I think there are a couple of reasons why we are in this
mess :
One such reason why this is such a problem in the UK versus the US is
the albatross we carry round our necks which we call "The Class
System". We defer less than we used to to the "high heid yin's" but
we still have this "them and us" bull and associated inferiority /
superiority complex. I dare say this goes on in the US too but I
doubt it's quite as much of a problem.
Management in the UK is too centered around finance and accountancy.
I can't quote it here but I've read elsewhere that there is some
astonishingly high ratio of accountants in the UK versus the US. This
in turns means more conservative (With a small 'c') decisions are
made and less innovation and input from non-management / non-finance
employees. The obsession with costs also makes investment a very low
priority in the UK, especially with respect to training.
Finally, much as I like to bash the US, I do get the impression that
US employees do invest more of their own time and money in improving
their skills than we do in the UK. Can't blame managers for that,
though maybe I could blame them for not motivating us enough?
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Cars = Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.
Disclaimer : I've owned 4 cars in the 16 years I've been legal to drive. 3 were cheap bangers 13+ years ago, my current I've had since '99 and was mainly bought for two reasons :
a) Having a kid more or less makes a car essential, having a teenager makes you an unpaid taxi-driver ;)
b) I work freelance, so not having a car restricts the places I can work a lot.
The car, to me, is the single purchase which most clearly defines all that is wrong with 'Western Civilisation' :
It's individualist and about personal freedom primarily, and doesn't give a toss about the common good.
It brings out the worst characteristics in people.
It's use leads to people being killed and injured, a lot.
It has lead to our destroying large parts of the natural world to accommodate it's use.
Worst of all, it's not even a good technological solution - Cars are woefully inefficient and , superficial changes and materials aside, haven't changed design much since the days of the Ford Model T.
It's one of those things that everyone knows should be scrapped and replaced with a better solution but nobody has the vision or balls to do so - The classic, "But we've always done it that way." excuse.
Until we can take a good hard look at nonsense like driving around in piles of metal powered by dead fish bits, each of which is generally piloted by one person alone, progress of the human race is going to very slow. If indeed we can progress without going into a decline brought on by our use of such 'non-sensible' solutions...
Disclaimer : I've owned 4 cars in the 16 years I've been legal to drive. 3 were cheap bangers 13+ years ago, my current I've had since '99 and was mainly bought for two reasons :
a) Having a kid more or less makes a car essential, having a teenager makes you an unpaid taxi-driver ;)
b) I work freelance, so not having a car restricts the places I can work a lot.
The car, to me, is the single purchase which most clearly defines all that is wrong with 'Western Civilisation' :
It's individualist and about personal freedom primarily, and doesn't give a toss about the common good.
It brings out the worst characteristics in people.
It's use leads to people being killed and injured, a lot.
It has lead to our destroying large parts of the natural world to accommodate it's use.
Worst of all, it's not even a good technological solution - Cars are woefully inefficient and , superficial changes and materials aside, haven't changed design much since the days of the Ford Model T.
It's one of those things that everyone knows should be scrapped and replaced with a better solution but nobody has the vision or balls to do so - The classic, "But we've always done it that way." excuse.
Until we can take a good hard look at nonsense like driving around in piles of metal powered by dead fish bits, each of which is generally piloted by one person alone, progress of the human race is going to very slow. If indeed we can progress without going into a decline brought on by our use of such 'non-sensible' solutions...
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Friday, October 15, 2004
Interesting BBC Programme - Terrorism and Fear
An interesting, but very little publicised programme starts on BBC2 this coming Wednesday.
It's along the lines of the thesis that Michael Moore touches on in Farenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine - That governments are making hay out of millennial and terrorism-driven fear.
BBC Spiel :
How fear of terrorism has come to dominate politics around the world
A new series, from acclaimed film-maker Adam Curtis, tells the story and examines just how far that fear is based on an illusion
The Power Of Nightmares – The Rise Of The Politics Of Fear
Wednesday 20 October on BBC TW
Also see :
Guardian Article
The Power of Nightmares starts on BBC2 at 9pm on Wednesday October 20
An interesting, but very little publicised programme starts on BBC2 this coming Wednesday.
It's along the lines of the thesis that Michael Moore touches on in Farenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine - That governments are making hay out of millennial and terrorism-driven fear.
BBC Spiel :
How fear of terrorism has come to dominate politics around the world
A new series, from acclaimed film-maker Adam Curtis, tells the story and examines just how far that fear is based on an illusion
The Power Of Nightmares – The Rise Of The Politics Of Fear
Wednesday 20 October on BBC TW
Also see :
Guardian Article
The Power of Nightmares starts on BBC2 at 9pm on Wednesday October 20
Saturday, October 02, 2004
G24 Want More Influence in IMF
It seems the G24 are getting vocal about their lack of influence in the IMF.
It's ironic in a way - It's so common to hear Americans bleating about how they bankroll the world (I think a lot of people assume the money they dole out to Israel is matched with donations to other countries - it isn't, far from it), the truth is that the world bankrolls the US by investing in it and letting them maintain a huge deficit. What would happen should China and Saudi Arabia pull their money out of the US I wonder?
Fact is, the current IMF/World Bank set-up was engineered to suit the US's requirements -
If you haven't read about the Bretton Woods agreements prepare to be apalled :
wikipedia
google
And, if you would like to hear about alternative, fair ways of running the world and it's finances,
check out George Monbiot's books, particularly Age of Consent.
It seems the G24 are getting vocal about their lack of influence in the IMF.
It's ironic in a way - It's so common to hear Americans bleating about how they bankroll the world (I think a lot of people assume the money they dole out to Israel is matched with donations to other countries - it isn't, far from it), the truth is that the world bankrolls the US by investing in it and letting them maintain a huge deficit. What would happen should China and Saudi Arabia pull their money out of the US I wonder?
Fact is, the current IMF/World Bank set-up was engineered to suit the US's requirements -
If you haven't read about the Bretton Woods agreements prepare to be apalled :
wikipedia
And, if you would like to hear about alternative, fair ways of running the world and it's finances,
check out George Monbiot's books, particularly Age of Consent.
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
A Great Article By Naomi Klein.
8 steps to a bloody mess...
1. Enter Iraq,
2. Fire 500K state workers,
3. Try sell off state owned companies
4. Starve Iraq companies of contracts so you can sell them cheaper
5. Give the contracts to foreign Companies
6. Foreign contractors come into their country and do their jobs while they watch and starve.
7. They kidnap and kill contractors.
8. A Big bloody mess!
8 steps to a bloody mess...
1. Enter Iraq,
2. Fire 500K state workers,
3. Try sell off state owned companies
4. Starve Iraq companies of contracts so you can sell them cheaper
5. Give the contracts to foreign Companies
6. Foreign contractors come into their country and do their jobs while they watch and starve.
7. They kidnap and kill contractors.
8. A Big bloody mess!
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
British Court Decision Undermines Global Torture Ban how come we havent heard anything about this on the news?
Friday, September 10, 2004
"There are lots of things the intelligence community knows and other people ought not to know." (FBI Spokesperson)
From this compelling article by Greg Palast
More allegations as per Farenheit 9/11 that The Bush Crime Family (Copyright Mike Malloy, sic.) are a little too friendly with The House of Saud.
From this compelling article by Greg Palast
More allegations as per Farenheit 9/11 that The Bush Crime Family (Copyright Mike Malloy, sic.) are a little too friendly with The House of Saud.
Thursday, September 09, 2004
A good indicator of cost of the war for the yanks, or this one
I wonder if we have a similar comparison in the UK?
I wonder if we have a similar comparison in the UK?
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
Russia- the failure of communism.....
United States- the failure of Capitalism - the "consume more than you can afford" culture is not sustainable...
Should we not have a sensible balance between the 2 extremes?
Sensible consumption, sensible resource allocation, sensible living...?
United States- the failure of Capitalism - the "consume more than you can afford" culture is not sustainable...
Should we not have a sensible balance between the 2 extremes?
Sensible consumption, sensible resource allocation, sensible living...?
Friday, September 03, 2004
British think tank is pessimistic about Iraq's future.
The breakdown of Iraq would have dire consequences for the region as well, the report said, giving religious extremists greater freedom and threatening stability in neighboring countries. For instance, militant Sunni Muslims operating from Iraq could undermine the regime in Saudi Arabia. Kurds gaining independence in Iraq could invigorate Kurdish movements in neighboring Syria, Iran and Turkey, and possibly prompt a Turkish military response. If Shiites emerge dominant in Iraq, that could create conditions for an attempt to consolidate the Shiite communities in Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
The breakdown of Iraq would have dire consequences for the region as well, the report said, giving religious extremists greater freedom and threatening stability in neighboring countries. For instance, militant Sunni Muslims operating from Iraq could undermine the regime in Saudi Arabia. Kurds gaining independence in Iraq could invigorate Kurdish movements in neighboring Syria, Iran and Turkey, and possibly prompt a Turkish military response. If Shiites emerge dominant in Iraq, that could create conditions for an attempt to consolidate the Shiite communities in Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
This is an interesting piece from Dom Stasi:
" I neither earned, nor did I contribute a lifetime of tax dollars expecting that in the end so much as one penny of my taxes would be used to incinerate children. However, acquiescing to George W. Bush’s horrific demands in the absence of genuine, direct, supporting evidence of our enemy du jour’s capabilities and intent will mean just that. …and that would be the truest manifestation of spinelessness imaginable.” – Closing passage from the pre-war essay DEAR FELLOW AMERICAN, By Dom Stasi, February 23, 2003. "
... continued
" I neither earned, nor did I contribute a lifetime of tax dollars expecting that in the end so much as one penny of my taxes would be used to incinerate children. However, acquiescing to George W. Bush’s horrific demands in the absence of genuine, direct, supporting evidence of our enemy du jour’s capabilities and intent will mean just that. …and that would be the truest manifestation of spinelessness imaginable.” – Closing passage from the pre-war essay DEAR FELLOW AMERICAN, By Dom Stasi, February 23, 2003. "
... continued
Modern Life is Rubbish?
A recent Radio 4 discussion programme, Mid-summer Sins, invited the public to vote for an 8th, deadly sin.
Their choice?
"Apathy."
It's certainly a good one to add but what will ever drive us out of this apathy? Since I've been a wee boy I've always been interested in space and the idea of aliens etc. Sometimes I think that the discovery that there are other worlds out there with intelligent life living on them is the kick up the bum that the world needs to buck it's ideas up. Bizarrely, the late
Ronnie Reagan famously thought this too :
Reference -
A recent Radio 4 discussion programme, Mid-summer Sins, invited the public to vote for an 8th, deadly sin.
Their choice?
"Apathy."
It's certainly a good one to add but what will ever drive us out of this apathy? Since I've been a wee boy I've always been interested in space and the idea of aliens etc. Sometimes I think that the discovery that there are other worlds out there with intelligent life living on them is the kick up the bum that the world needs to buck it's ideas up. Bizarrely, the late
Ronnie Reagan famously thought this too :
Reference -
" REAGAN: Perhaps we need some outside, universal threat to make us recognize this common bond. I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. And yet, I ask you, is not an alien force already among us? What could be more alien to the universal aspirations of our peoples than war and the threat of war? "
(It took me a while to find a legitimate quote for this amongst all the UFO/Conspiracy web sites, I had started to wonder if he really said this).
Such a discovery would also certainly put the wind up religious folk in particular.
It could be argued that religious fundamentalism is a desire to see the world in a black and white simple way, and to live your life according to a few simple rules rather than have to deal with the myriad choices that modern life presents us with. Living used to be hard as a matter of hunter/gathering survival - Now, we make it hard for ourselves by buying into a system that enslaves us into a cycle of work to finance purchases that don't make us any happier?
Bush-Bashing
Bush-bashing is all too easy a habit to fall into for us Europeans especially. This interesting article
is a good one for making even the most ardent Bush-critic have a think about why it is that this guy seems to be appealing to at least half the voters in the USA. I suppose we'll find out for sure soon enough, provided the voting machines don't mess up or there isn't any dodginess...
Bush-bashing is all too easy a habit to fall into for us Europeans especially. This interesting article
is a good one for making even the most ardent Bush-critic have a think about why it is that this guy seems to be appealing to at least half the voters in the USA. I suppose we'll find out for sure soon enough, provided the voting machines don't mess up or there isn't any dodginess...
Glasgow Under-Age Club Nights
A depressing bit of notoriety for my home town of Glasgow in this article.
I'm not sure if these clubs are unique to Glasgow, I understand Edinburgh has them too but they really don't seem like a sensible idea. Facilities for teenagers and young people should be a community thing IMHO, not something commercial that leads kids to hang about city centres on a weekend.
A depressing bit of notoriety for my home town of Glasgow in this article.
I'm not sure if these clubs are unique to Glasgow, I understand Edinburgh has them too but they really don't seem like a sensible idea. Facilities for teenagers and young people should be a community thing IMHO, not something commercial that leads kids to hang about city centres on a weekend.
It's a Sin (So it is) (As we say in Glasgow)
An interesting wee programme has just finished on Radio 4.
A discussion about the seven deadly sins which concluded with the public voting for a new, 8th deadly sin.
The upshot of this was that Apathy was chosen as the top choice for a new one.
Apathy is certainly a good choice, at the end of the day, although the world is undoubtedly a better place now than it has been in the past, it's got a long way to go to be as good as it could be. And it's certainly true that it will only get worse if we don't buck our ideas up. Nothing good will come to pass if we stick our collective heads in the sand. Then again, what I am doing to change the world other than anonymously waffling away on a Blog that only other like-minded people I know will read? Hmmm.... ; )
An interesting wee programme has just finished on Radio 4.
A discussion about the seven deadly sins which concluded with the public voting for a new, 8th deadly sin.
The upshot of this was that Apathy was chosen as the top choice for a new one.
Apathy is certainly a good choice, at the end of the day, although the world is undoubtedly a better place now than it has been in the past, it's got a long way to go to be as good as it could be. And it's certainly true that it will only get worse if we don't buck our ideas up. Nothing good will come to pass if we stick our collective heads in the sand. Then again, what I am doing to change the world other than anonymously waffling away on a Blog that only other like-minded people I know will read? Hmmm.... ; )
Republican Party Convention
Excellent piece in The Guardian by Simon Schama (Hey, you know me and tha Guardian by now if you read this thing) on the GOP convention. Grand? No way! Old? Too true... Stupid white men in abundance. (Alternative GOP link :)
Excellent piece in The Guardian by Simon Schama (Hey, you know me and tha Guardian by now if you read this thing) on the GOP convention. Grand? No way! Old? Too true... Stupid white men in abundance. (Alternative GOP link :)
Thursday, August 05, 2004
The Return of the Malloy
The afforementioned Mike Malloy is back on the air in the US / Internet. His programme has found a home on Air America Radio.
Since it's on at 3AM UK time, interested EU people might want to download the mp3s from the White Rose Society web site.
The afforementioned Mike Malloy is back on the air in the US / Internet. His programme has found a home on Air America Radio.
Since it's on at 3AM UK time, interested EU people might want to download the mp3s from the White Rose Society web site.
Friday, April 23, 2004
US Liberalism
Mike Malloy, who used to present a great talk radio programme on the, now
defunct IE America Radio, has started a blog on his site.
it's worth a read, even if just to convince yourself that Michael Moore is not the only person appalled by antics of 'The Bush Crime Family' as Malloy calls them ;)
Unfortunately there is no sign yet of another outlet for Mr Malloy, but hopefully Air America Radio will take him on at some point. But, given the fuss the FCC are making over swearing etc in the post-Janet's-boob shock and awe, it seems unlikely anyone who isn't totally sanitised will be allowed on the air in the US :(
Mike Malloy, who used to present a great talk radio programme on the, now
defunct IE America Radio, has started a blog on his site.
it's worth a read, even if just to convince yourself that Michael Moore is not the only person appalled by antics of 'The Bush Crime Family' as Malloy calls them ;)
Unfortunately there is no sign yet of another outlet for Mr Malloy, but hopefully Air America Radio will take him on at some point. But, given the fuss the FCC are making over swearing etc in the post-Janet's-boob shock and awe, it seems unlikely anyone who isn't totally sanitised will be allowed on the air in the US :(
Speed Camera Myths
First off, I don't have a problem with speed cameras. It's the law, rules are rules etc. I don't even think they should be painted with luminous 'Look I'm a speed camera' paint either. I was never much of a speeder, having a daughter and watching her not look as she crosses the road has made me more aware of the danger of even an extra 5 mph so...
A piece in the excellent (IMHO) Prospect Magazine in April, made the point that many of the financial arguments against speed cameras are complete tosh, vis a vis -
"Urban myths are proliferating around speed cameras. One of the commonest is that they are a backhanded way for local authorities to take pressure off increases in council tax. In fact, the total raised by all cameras last year was just £73m. The surplus after costs was just £6m - and that went to the treasury. Even if councils had got their hands on it, it would have amounted to less than 0.3 per cent of receipts from council tax."
(Unfortunately you can only see the whole ariticle on the web if you are a subscriber. You can get the magazine in Borders in the UK, and if you are not a completely mental right -wing nutter it's worth a look)
There were also some figures showing that most of the money raised by cameras goes back in to maintaining them and adding more so,
unlike parking fines, the Council don't make anything out of them.
First off, I don't have a problem with speed cameras. It's the law, rules are rules etc. I don't even think they should be painted with luminous 'Look I'm a speed camera' paint either. I was never much of a speeder, having a daughter and watching her not look as she crosses the road has made me more aware of the danger of even an extra 5 mph so...
A piece in the excellent (IMHO) Prospect Magazine in April, made the point that many of the financial arguments against speed cameras are complete tosh, vis a vis -
"Urban myths are proliferating around speed cameras. One of the commonest is that they are a backhanded way for local authorities to take pressure off increases in council tax. In fact, the total raised by all cameras last year was just £73m. The surplus after costs was just £6m - and that went to the treasury. Even if councils had got their hands on it, it would have amounted to less than 0.3 per cent of receipts from council tax."
(Unfortunately you can only see the whole ariticle on the web if you are a subscriber. You can get the magazine in Borders in the UK, and if you are not a completely mental right -wing nutter it's worth a look)
There were also some figures showing that most of the money raised by cameras goes back in to maintaining them and adding more so,
unlike parking fines, the Council don't make anything out of them.
ID Cards Revisited
A story about a MORI poll in The Register suggests the public are in favour of ID cards but don't trust the government to implement them properly or to make the IT project side a success. Certainly there is not much past evidence to suggest the IT side will be delivered on time and on budget...
A story about a MORI poll in The Register suggests the public are in favour of ID cards but don't trust the government to implement them properly or to make the IT project side a success. Certainly there is not much past evidence to suggest the IT side will be delivered on time and on budget...
Saturday, February 07, 2004
Corporate Public Responsibility - Tax
Interesting short article from, as ever, The Guardian
Obscene stuff - Companies are getting away with murder. As a small business person I find this even more galling. These companies have huge resources to spend on accountants to avoid paying their dues, yet the government seem to concern themselves more with chasing piffiling amounts from people who earn less than the executives of these companies get as a car allowance. Not good enough. I feel there will never be fairness here unless there is a concerted mulit-lateral strategy across the G7 nations to make companies pay their dues. Otherwise they will always find an off-shore solution that suits them.
I'd like to see companies forced to display / report how much tax they paid on their profits and their full executive compensation packages, their web-site would be a good place. Then we could see which companies were bankrupt, morally that is....
Interesting short article from, as ever, The Guardian
Obscene stuff - Companies are getting away with murder. As a small business person I find this even more galling. These companies have huge resources to spend on accountants to avoid paying their dues, yet the government seem to concern themselves more with chasing piffiling amounts from people who earn less than the executives of these companies get as a car allowance. Not good enough. I feel there will never be fairness here unless there is a concerted mulit-lateral strategy across the G7 nations to make companies pay their dues. Otherwise they will always find an off-shore solution that suits them.
I'd like to see companies forced to display / report how much tax they paid on their profits and their full executive compensation packages, their web-site would be a good place. Then we could see which companies were bankrupt, morally that is....
UK Rail Privitisation
Good points on regulation there. Like anything in life, it's a question of balance - Too much regulation and you end up with an overblown bureaucracy that becomes a monster in itself, full of self-serving public-sector folk who can be just as bad as the private-sector ones. It's a difficult one to get right. Still, on the whole, I'd rather have the overblown public sector than the money-grabbing private sector solution. At least the public-sector one keeps plenty of people in a job, the private one just rewards those chosen few at the top and, to a lesser extent, the share-holders.
Good points on regulation there. Like anything in life, it's a question of balance - Too much regulation and you end up with an overblown bureaucracy that becomes a monster in itself, full of self-serving public-sector folk who can be just as bad as the private-sector ones. It's a difficult one to get right. Still, on the whole, I'd rather have the overblown public sector than the money-grabbing private sector solution. At least the public-sector one keeps plenty of people in a job, the private one just rewards those chosen few at the top and, to a lesser extent, the share-holders.
Wednesday, February 04, 2004
It all comes down to the assumption that privitised companies are more economically efficient than public ones.
Perhaps some are, but economic efficiency is just one facet. Yes, we dont have infinite amounts of money, but effectiveness of a service should be just as important as economic prudence. Society should have effective services before they are made economically efficient. Instead we give them less money and tell them to get more efficient... the result being cutting corners just like any private company would do.
Then what happens is that the public services , if they are not privitised eventually bring in private money via sponsorship deals. These deals eventually hold more and more power over the public companies because they rely more and more on this private money and before you know it, we have a public company working for private investors making them money which is not re-investedin the public service but is exported out from the public service and into private hands... so our serives get poorer and poorer and they rely more and more on the private money- which gets more and more...
The answer is more accountability with less accountants!
More scruitiny with less lawyers and a more SENSIBLE moderate approach to this type of set up.
Perhaps some are, but economic efficiency is just one facet. Yes, we dont have infinite amounts of money, but effectiveness of a service should be just as important as economic prudence. Society should have effective services before they are made economically efficient. Instead we give them less money and tell them to get more efficient... the result being cutting corners just like any private company would do.
Then what happens is that the public services , if they are not privitised eventually bring in private money via sponsorship deals. These deals eventually hold more and more power over the public companies because they rely more and more on this private money and before you know it, we have a public company working for private investors making them money which is not re-investedin the public service but is exported out from the public service and into private hands... so our serives get poorer and poorer and they rely more and more on the private money- which gets more and more...
The answer is more accountability with less accountants!
More scruitiny with less lawyers and a more SENSIBLE moderate approach to this type of set up.
Tuesday, February 03, 2004
UK Rail Privitisation
Very interesting report on 'File on 4' on Radio 4.
Basically whent the Tories privatised the railways (Nonsense all round really), they created a new type of entity, called a 'Rosco' which takes care of owning the rolling stock and then leasing it back to the train operators. This was done because the length of the train operator franchises was kept short (To make them efficient and generate competition - Market solution and all that tosh) and, consequently, the rolling stock would not be attractive for the train operators to buy due to the long lifetime of those assets. The problem is that although the Tories created 3 of these Roscos - again, to generate competion and a 'market' - there isn't really any competition going on. Result? The costs of leasing are too high to make it attractive for the train operators to lease the amount of rolling stock they really need. Hence standing on the Glasgow to Edinburgh train every day rather than being provided with an extra carriage...
Moral? Regardless of your idealogical position on the concept, privitisation and introducing markets is not an approach does not lend itself to everything.
Sensible? No - some things just don't make sense being de-nationalised. If you think not, go travel around Europe and find a good public transport system that isn't municipal, or otherwise state-owned...
How do we get out of this mess? Feck knows ....
Link :
BBC Radio File on 4
Very interesting report on 'File on 4' on Radio 4.
Basically whent the Tories privatised the railways (Nonsense all round really), they created a new type of entity, called a 'Rosco' which takes care of owning the rolling stock and then leasing it back to the train operators. This was done because the length of the train operator franchises was kept short (To make them efficient and generate competition - Market solution and all that tosh) and, consequently, the rolling stock would not be attractive for the train operators to buy due to the long lifetime of those assets. The problem is that although the Tories created 3 of these Roscos - again, to generate competion and a 'market' - there isn't really any competition going on. Result? The costs of leasing are too high to make it attractive for the train operators to lease the amount of rolling stock they really need. Hence standing on the Glasgow to Edinburgh train every day rather than being provided with an extra carriage...
Moral? Regardless of your idealogical position on the concept, privitisation and introducing markets is not an approach does not lend itself to everything.
Sensible? No - some things just don't make sense being de-nationalised. If you think not, go travel around Europe and find a good public transport system that isn't municipal, or otherwise state-owned...
How do we get out of this mess? Feck knows ....
Link :
BBC Radio File on 4
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