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Timmy elsewhere

At the ASI.

The value to us of Sainsbury’s is that we can buy bog roll, not however much tax they pay.

3 thoughts on “Timmy elsewhere”

  1. So we’ve seen the meme develop to the point that people who should be hard-headed realists are talking to it. A couple of points perhaps worth considering …

    1. Is this his considered opinion or are the large fixed retailers feeling oppressed (actually or forward-looking) by the rise of the internet retailers and are getting their revenge in early? A change to the law, even through amending EU treaties, could be realisable while there is quite so much public angst about the issue.

    2. When we see the clear victory for disinformation within the public discussion space with regard to the whole issue of tax & benefit, isn’t it sobering to consider how skewed our appreciation must be of similar issues that occurred in ‘history’ (in that we didn’t experience them directly but only have the reports of the victors to rely on.) I wonder what issues the readership might consider have been warped in this way. IanB might be able to consider feminism & abstentionism as already spoken up for sufficiently 🙂

  2. SE-

    Yes, I agree with that. I seem to be stuck on gender issues at the moment because that is very significant right now. But most of what we take for granted- and that includes values considered “conservative”- one tends to find are the result of successful campaigns by such groupings. This is basically my whole argument regarding the evangelical radicals of the Victorian and Progressive Eras.

    This is why I believe we need a thorough cultural reappraisal. What Timmy is arguing here is against a deep-seated and deliberately developed social value that businesses are “social enterprises” whose output is effectively secondary. It is basically believed by many (most?) that what comes out the factory gates (or off the shop shelves) is just a kind of excuse to provide employment to workers, pay taxes and provide other social benefits. We see how the hegemonic Left are indeed actively hostile to increased output of goods and services- the whole Ritchie memeset in which “growing GDP” is some kind of worship of Mammon and cheap abundant goods are morally corrupting.

    I’ve said this before, but they are actually more barmy than the Communists. The legendary tractor production statistics demonstrated that, at least, the Reds understood the importance of production. The Proggies actually don’t want the tractors, just the employment and taxes paid, or at least, the tractors are entirely irrelevant.

    We’re looking at a value set which is upper class and actively hostile to general enrichment of the populace, with a sniffy dislike of commerce. That this mindset is not only acceptable but admired is deeply harmful, and the consequence of social attitude engineering over two centuries.

  3. What staggers me is that nobody argues against it. It is obviously seen as inevitable, both by those who promote it and by their victims. Everyone you would expect to be up in arms is merely adjusting their expectations and the things they say to be in line with what they obviously see as irresistible ideological currents.Frightening stuff.

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