Richard,
I fear you have misunderstood those graphs.
The falls are in the value of traded goods and services, not the volume.
You’ll find these falls in value correlate well with the inverse of the dollar strength.
That is, you are looking at exchange rate effects.
Reply
Richard Murphy says:
February 22 2017 at 1:51 pm
Nit what the WB says…Reply
Darren says:
February 22 2017 at 1:57 pm
It’s exactly what the WB says. Read the graphs again.Trade has only “fallen” in terms of dollar values, due to the strength of the dollar. Trade volume is up.
He’s a professor you know….
Dr Crainshaw and Robert Ley make some nicely worded points. They are among the more astute of Murph’s fanbase now that Rocco Siffredi has been banned. I am not sure if Mike is onto something, too
Hahaha
“Slaine says:
February 22 2017 at 11:02 am
BBC news at 10 last night was very upbeat about the economy. Rising wages, large budget surplus etc, all delivered by Fiona Bruce in a jaunty tone. An institution under threat?
Reply
Richard Murphy says:
February 22 2017 at 12:05 pm
They must be suffering pre-crash delusions”
Dr Crainshaw, you made me spill my coffee.
Dr Crainshaw is very, very good!
Robert Ley is genius as is Dr. Crainshaw…..
There are an awful lot of woodworm infesting the comfortable sofa in Ely that is the Tax Research comments section.
Help!!!
Please explain Crainshaw and Ley……
… and in the post regarding his meeting with the Greens in Norwich his first response to those commenting is to agree that using prisoners as labour is “…interesting – adding a whole new dimension of social policy”.
He then goes on to say “And incidentally – I do n ot think houses need to be built in the the traditional way: why not print them? Is that mad now? I doubt it”.
Jimmers says:
“Dr Crainshaw, you made me spill my coffee.”
Great stuff. All the contributor expertise adds real substance.
Lockers
That first comment did make me laugh – especially given the original comment came from the legendary advocate of mass murder on class grounds, Ivan Horrocks….
And given the man’s luddism the second statement is even more surreal
Lockers
I was surprised to see Ivan Horrocks advocating the use of prisoners to address labour shortages! Imagine if someone such as Maggie had ever suggested anything like that?
Although not surprised to see him cock up / not understand at all the rationale about migration (as part of Brexit). These idiots still seem to believe that post Brexit, there will be an sudden exodus of the existing EU work force here. It’s the usual ignorance of “this is what Brexit must clearly have meant” – from a Remainer..
How do the Remainoids explain the continued influx of people from the EU since the referendum? Surely they should all have fled in a panic by now?
Lockers,
Its probably pure luck but his ideas of printing houses isn’t that fanciful.
I can’t see why a lefty would want to automate jobs anyway. Shouldn’t he be advocating building them on site from first principles?
Using prisoners to build houses, eh? What could go wrong?
I mean, the State wouldn’t increase its supply of cheap labour by sending its political enemies to prison, would it? You know, the “enemies of the People” who oppose the Curajus State?
“I seem to recall a number of authoritarian states – which we’re well on the way to becoming – using prisoners in such a way.”
I cannot imagine any State favoured by Horrocks which wouldn’t be brutally authoritarian, given his past comments.
Why not use prisoners to write tax blogs? That way they wouldn’t even need to leave the building.
Rob
In the real world ‘Curajus state’ extensive use is made of a series of Labour camps throughout the country. And you are spot on. Internationally every state which Horrocks admires is a police state. For all my criticism of Carol Wilcox, for Me Horrocks and the equally grotesque Andrew Dickie are eerily reminiscent of those men in the dock at Nuremberg – ideologues happy to see millions sacrificed on the altar of their misguided creed
It’s eerie how Mr Ley should turn up on the blog even before forced labour for building houses came up in the comments
Oh yes, using prisoners for labour, undercutting cheap labour, forcing down wages, increasing unemployment. You don’t even get the positive effects of the employed spending their wages. Wot a cunt.
Using people who are under guard to do work….
It didn’t work for the Romans, it didn’t work for the Germans, cannot offhand recall anywhere it did work. Caused no end of problems for the people who would have done the work normally.
I recall someone writing here a few months ago to say slavery had a negative effect on the US economy. It would be interesting to know the source to back that up.
Can you imagine how badly built a house made by prisoners would be?
Forced labour is good for digging the White Canal and the salt mines. That’s about it.
Plus I’m pretty sure using forced prison labour violates some conventions the UK is party to.
Check out Horrocks latest comment – completely misunderstands the graph.
University lecturer FFS
“Can you imagine how badly built a house made by prisoners would be?”
I was going to say the same thing. If you think the quality of new builds is shit now, wait until the Curajus State’s political prisoners are building them.
Horrocks did his BA in public administration, eg losing forms. What would you expect? And he now teaches another non subject. What else could he do? The market for Gauleiters, Gulag Commissars, and Funerary Operations Staff has dried up, even in Cuba
Magnus,
“Oh yes, using prisoners for labour, undercutting cheap labour, forcing down wages, increasing unemployment. You don’t even get the positive effects of the employed spending their wages. Wot a cunt.”
I may have misread the post because I find him difficult to read let, alone comprehend, at the best of times and I’m certainly not going back to check, but I got the impression that Murphy thinks that all those immigrants doing the work at the moment will leave, or be thrown out or zapped by a Dalek, hence the labour shortage.
BiND
You didn’t misread it – “thrown out” (was my reading earlier) is what he thinks Brexit means. It’s how little Remainers like him comprehend any of this.
PF – there are millions of remainers. He is nothing like millions of us.
@Graham Duke
I did try asking if trade declined from 2.7 somethings to 1.9 somethings, then how. according to his interpretation of the chart, did the world manage to trade -10.5 somethings in 2009?
Murphy deleted that comment.
Martin
I’m completely with you.
I deliberately wrote “Remainers like him” – ie quite different from “Remainers that comprehend” – perhaps it didn’t come across as I intended?
PF sorry, didn’t catch the subtle element there.
Yes he is as off target on this subject as he is on pretty much every other one he has written about in the past few years.
Perhaps we can club together and buy him an island he can have a state on. Population 1.
Martin
I have a solution:
http://www.openstreetmap.org/search?query=rockall#map=19/57.59667/-13.68847
He’ll be in his element, on Radio 4 every day – in fact 3 times a day.
I think if Robert Ley remains in situ after his latest foray I will be very surprised so here it is preserved:
Robert Ley
‘This is exactly the sort of ‘outside the box’ thinking that is required if the UK is to thrive after BREXIT. I have actually discussed the vast untapped potential of prison labour with a number of influential people in the past, and in return for a commitment to acting for the good of the country, we could offer not only rehabilitation, but also lesser sentences, so that essentially work could set them free’
MrShigemitsu says:
February 23 2017 at 9:26 pm
“..work could set them free.”
Oh really?
‘Arbeit Macht Frei’?
Now, where have I heard that before…?
BiND, the flip side of a labour shortage? Higher wages. Plus robotic brick laying machines become even more cost effective.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_Pj2GI6-xc
Magnus,
Indeed.
I’ve just been watching the BBC news on this subject and wondered how much of the problem is to do with subsidising housing rather than people. I commented to Mrs BiND that it appears to be easier to move from Poland to Lincolnshire than Cornwall to Lincolnshire to fill jobs.
Martin – “Using people who are under guard to do work….
It didn’t work for the Romans, it didn’t work for the Germans, cannot offhand recall anywhere it did work. Caused no end of problems for the people who would have done the work normally.”
Yeah, the Coliseum is crap really. I mean, think how long it might have survived if only they had used free labour. On the other hand, the University of Virginia is a nice school with lots of very pretty buildings.
Magnusw – “I recall someone writing here a few months ago to say slavery had a negative effect on the US economy. It would be interesting to know the source to back that up.”
A lot of economic historians are probably scratching their heads thinking of a way to say, politely, that African Americans have not worked out as well as they might have.
I thought Mr Ley had overplayed his hand but…..
SMFS – how many freemen did the slaves take the jobs of in the roman empire?
No NHS, no social security for those freemen.
How did the Northern states get on with the slaves? When there is a labour shortage then slaves are a temporary solution but require what you do not give freemen. Or can avoid that by simply killing them. As has happened enough times.
Anyone ever done a study on production of a slave state per person & property versus production by free people?