Vocal Voices

I've been reading the press quite closely on the economy due to the rapid rise of the £ against both the € and the $. Not before time I should say, however the reality that the £ is close to where it stood against the $ just before the Brexit vote, yet stands hugely below where it stood against the €; just grates. It's not going to change but it does.

However when I read this article by citywire Money, all my ire at those who constantly undervalue the UK came out in smoking anger.

What am I talking about?

Well it starts with.

The pound has continued its strong run against the dollar after news of a better-than-expected performance from the UK economy in the last three months of 2017.

Ok so that's old news. The UK economy has been overperforming analysts expectations ever since Cameron came into power the first time. Yet underperformed every year Blair was in power. Stats were consistently revised down under Blair and Up under Cameron.

But when we get to.

'It's certainly fair to say the economy has performed much better than many feared in the aftermath of the Brexit vote, boosted by the rising tide of a global recovery which has lifted all boats,' said Ben Brettell, senior economist at Hargreaves Lansdown.

Let me see. The UK has been a strong, vibrant, economy for decades now. Given the fact that the IMF, the CBI, the EU, the Lib Dems and Labour have been talking the UK economy DOWN for over a year now, it is still totally unsurprising that the UK economy overperfomed against analysts expectations. If the UK HAD dropped to, or below, expectations, it would have been momentous, such is the nature of the power of our economy.

However this is not what drove me over the edge. It was this.

'This is not impressive for a small, open economy that would normally expect to be benefiting from 2017's healthy global pick-up,' said Lucy O'Carroll, chief economist at Aberdeen Standard Investments.

I was hard put not to start shouting at my mobile. But as I was in a public place at the time it would not have been quite right.

But why am I so exercised about that statement?

Well let's see. According to Wikipedia, the list of economies runs to:

IMF 191
World Bank 194
UN 211

Where is the UK?

FIFTH!

So what does that make the rest of the world? Insignificant? So we are now calling the economies of France, Italy and Spain; SMALL. So what do we call Switzerland? Insignificant?

So in order for the UK to be a small economy, then a large economy needs to be? After all we have two choices. Why two? Well in order for an economy to be large it would have to be at least twice the size of the UK? Right?? That leaves?

China
The US.

In ascending order of size.

This is the kind of Remainer BS I have been calling out as BS for two years now. It does not, however, go away and it ALWAYS gets printed as a throw away fact by Remainer press.

When I look at the UK I see the fifth largest economy in the world, the third most powerful military and one of FIVE permanent seats on the UN security council.

When a remainer looks at the UK, it would appear, they see a weak, dependent, nation; which should be apologist and rely on others in order to survive.

Is it any wonder I get mad?

No, it is not worth getting mad.

We do have the fifth biggest economy by GDP, and that is not going to change any time soon, well not until we leave the EU.

It is not a vibrant economy, though, as it relies too much on services such as banking, finance and insurance... and they can be replicated anywhere an office and investment in IT and back offices is available: See Goldman Sachs. When it comes to manufacturing goods ordinary people want in the numbers they want British companies are light years behind.

Unless and untill we get a balanced economy we will keep dropping down the GDP list.

Will Brexit be the kick up the rear end we need? The Jury has not even been picked yet.

A while back I posted an article from a German think tank. It was bemoaning the "unbalanced" 20th century German economy which was mired in goods production when everyone knew this was the province of China and the 3rd World.

Held up as the shining example of a 21st century economy wit a high services bias was.... The UK.

The UK does manufacture and is exceptionally good at it. We produce high value goods like defence, aviation, advanced automotive and space

The world's manufacturing engine is China. India wants to become the back office but is not good enough yet.

The UK is a vibrant Economy and we have been seeing the reality of that as it shrugs off attempts to derail it over and over again.

Especially by idiots like this analyst.

Suf wrote: The UK does manufacture and is exceptionally good at it. We produce high value goods like defence, aviation, advanced automotive and space

In global terms they are all high value, but small scale, not enough to sustain an economy with a population the size of the UK.

I think the concept of impartiality and of truth has more or less disappeared from those in public life or positions of influence.

All there is, is competing points of view. Papers, TV and politicians carefully select any evidence which supports their point of view and ignore or attack any evidence that supports a contrary point of view.

So we end up with £350 million pounds a week for the NHS on one hand and the constant prefix of "Despite Brexit.." on the other.

People (students especially) aren't encouraged to think for themselves, they are encouraged to believe. To automatically follow the "correct" line of thought.

A situation that brings us to where we are now; a very divided country where attacking your opponent is the automatic response to any opinion that does not match your own.

Not on VV, but just read the comments on any contentious issue on the Guardian website to see the depths of vituperation that exists, and that spring out so quickly.

Hence our technology services sector (design services for manufacturing, robotics and other high value services), along with pharma, health care services (not NHS), plus our oil, gas, shipping and aviation services.

It is always worth reading up on the analysis of other economies, the US for instance.

Especially note the part about trends where the UK growth in manufacturing is the fourth highest in the world since 1985. Higher than the US, all but Germany in the EU, Canada and Japan. Hardly the stuff of a second rate "small" economy.

Then, when you Look at the figures, Manufacturing was only 11.7% of US economic output in 2016.

Getting back to the UK.

From the Wiki page on the UK,

In 2016, the UK was the tenth-largest goods exporter in the world and the fifth-largest goods importer. It also had the second-largest inward foreign direct investment,[28] and the third-largest outward foreign direct investment.[29] The UK is one of the most globalised economies

And

London is the world's largest financial centre.[32] Britain's aerospace industry is the second-largest national aerospace industry.[33] Its pharmaceutical industry, the tenth-largest in the world

Have we got the scale of the UK economy yet? There is only ONE in the EU which is larger for all metrics and that is Germany and every effort of the EU is focused on keeping it there.

Largest, second largest, third largest, fifth largest, tenth largest IN THE WORLD.

So just what does constitute a Small economy anyway??

No wonder it makes my blood boil, this constant undervaluing of the UK by people who want to remain in the EU.

The final Irony??

Services, Not Manufacturing, Will Revive The U.S. Workforce

Cromwell, what you say goes back to what I was getting at in the other thread.

We are now being programmed, or attempted to be, by the media hence such modern phrases as "sheeple", "snowflakes" and "the echo chamber".

What were once editorials or opinion in the papers have now become the news. I have no problem with what Laura, Huw, Jon or Katya "think" about what is going on in Davos, Brussels or Westminster so long as first and foremost they give us the actuality.