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AZLewes

Listed below are comments made by AZLewes between Friday, 17th October 2008 and Saturday, 14th November 2009.

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New name for a new economy? 09:50am on 14 Nov 2009 Goldstein and Blair's concept of "Oligarchical Collectivism" would appear to fit present circumstances quite well. Why look further?
Networks and the iPhone 8:03pm on 17 Jul 2009 And just think, all these rival phones make heavy use of chips licenced by a single designer . . . . . .
Football clubs go bust, football manufacturers do quite nicely.
RBS, repossessions and recovery 3:22pm on 01 Dec 2008 Post #4

Outsourcing.
Far more evil than banks any day.
Labour to end top rate tax pledge 11:33am on 24 Nov 2008 120 -

...... Or are the voters really that stupid?

Yes.
Labour to end top rate tax pledge 10:26am on 24 Nov 2008 Expect Weimar-style repudiation through inflation.

It's the only way out NuLab have left us.
Talking tax cuts 12:10pm on 10 Nov 2008 Tax cuts funded by borrowing as a desperate attempt to buy votes . . . . .

We've been here before, y'know. At the end of the Wilson/Callaghan regime.

Inflation took the sting out of the borrowing then, and I don't expect anything else this time around.

Tough for those people with no debts and a fixed income . . . there were a few in my family last time. Somehow, I don't think there are enough of them to decide an election.
Forcing the banks 7:36pm on 06 Nov 2008 Trouble is, who can the banks lend to without getting themselves into a deeper hole?

Lending used to be much more of a judgement call, based on personal knowledge of the borrower. Not any more.

Credit scoring works in a commoditised business model until people learn how to work the system, then it breaks down. Now the banks have got rid of the old-fashioned bank manager and they won't get him back in a hurry. They're without a compass and they're understandably scared.

What I suppose the government wants is a return of irresponsible lending to compulsive consumers. Another dose of the same, in fact.
Stretching America 09:35am on 05 Nov 2008 As I write, the price of gold has started moving up again.

I'm keeping my gold ETFs for the next few years while President Obama prints dollars to meet his spending promises.
The truce is over 12:41pm on 17 Oct 2008 #165 balhamu

Not really what I was on about y'know . . .

Toffs were always freer to do what they liked, as their social position was more secure.

Insecure middle-class respectability is what I sometimes think we need a bit more of.

Just a bit - not too much please 8-{>>
The truce is over 11:50am on 17 Oct 2008 #131

Yes, the notion of Maggie as a starry-eyed William Morrisesque person is amusing - but possibly a bit closer to the truth than people might think.

I don't think you attach enough importance to the moderating effect that social structure used to have on people's behavior. Say what you like about the old class system (and there's plenty to say) at least it made people think twice before doing something that might result in a loss of status. These days, by and large, relative wealth is the only status marker (instead of being merely an important one).

Come to think of it, the class system also provided non-financial incentives to become a teacher or a nurse rather than work in an office or a factory . . . food for thought there.

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