David Blanchflower - Criticism But No Advice.

To the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary:
For Clarity - Attempt 511.

511) David Blanchflower - Criticism But No Advice,

Dear Mr Clark,

Having read David Blanchflower's self-promoting article, "I advised Corbyn's economics team to learn fast. They didn't"  in today's Guardian (www.theguardian.com/commentisfree?2016/Aug02) we almost found ourselves agreeing with Mr Gove and his belief that experts are not to be trusted. Mr  Blanchflower is apparently an economics expert although you wouldn't know it from reading his piece for the Guardian. We did learn that Mr Blanchflower is a remarkably important person but very little else.

Where was the economics masterclass and where was the brilliant advice?

Instead of that we're told, "they (Mr Corbyn and his team) will have to accept the realities of capitalism and modern markets, like it or not" but nowhere are we told in detail what the realities of capitalism and modern markets actually are. We didn't like that.

For Mr Blanchflower, don't mention the war seems now to have become don't mention the nature of capitalism and the modern markets it thrives upon.

From Joseph Stiglitz, Thomas Pikkety and Steven A Ramirez we know that markets are rigged ie have become highly organised criminal enterprises and that those who exploit them act to ensure that no laws are passed to regulate their criminality, that the profits generated from this criminality are filtered through offshore bank accounts to reappear as bought property in the world's leading property hotspots. If Mr Blanchflower thinks otherwise he doesn't say.

We did learn that,
"The bond and equity markets would eat him (Mr Corbyn) for lunch."
So, in Thomas Piketty's terminology, not only has capitalism been, "captured" it's also become cannibalistic too. Mr Blanchflower again offers no analysis of this penetrating insight into modern markets. Only that they're modern, they cover a multitude of sins and they don't like being messed with so we just need to get on with it.

What we get from Mr Blanchflower are a series of assertions:
- austerity was a disaster.
- it led to the biggest fall in real wages ever recorded.
(Doesn't capitalism exist to exploit labour, drive down wages and thereby increase margins and profits?)
- this explains Brexit.
- the people are hurting, "but the hurt was little to do with EU regulations or migration."
(that's not what a lot of people down here believe - is this Blanchflowerian false consciousness? He offers no explanation for the way people think the way they do.)
- there's overcrowding in schools and the NHS due to George Osborne's love of austerity.
(wasn't austerity promoted by Christine Lagarde, the European Central Bank and the IMF as the right pill for the patient? Mr Blanchflower doesn't say.
and finally,
- make taxes and spending fairer.

That's it? Theresa May would have been of more help.

His less than dazzling conclusion is;
"The country needs an opposition with a credible set of worked out and carefully funded policies" but he gives no indication as to what they might be.

The juggernaut is hurtling out of control but it's all ok because it'll have a fresh lick of paint, retreds and be taxed for the next six months.

His conclusion appears to be that Mr Corbyn needs to change but that rigged market capitalism doesn't. Anyone trying to change the system will be eaten. No doubt by those sections of the press that are owned by non domiciled, tax-avoiding proprietors who champion self-regulation - ie no regulation.

Q. Mr Clark, are poorly regulated and exploitative markets like the ones in surveying and adult care an essential part of your industrial strategy for post-Brexit Britain?

The Ombudsmans61percent Campaign is seeking:
- answers from Vince Cable, Norman Lamb, Mark Prisk, Francis Maude, Michael Fallon,. Nick Clegg, Dame Julie Mellor, The Rev Smith, Dame Janet Finch, Jo Swinson, Sajid Javid and yourself.
- a public inquiry into Ombudsman Services:Property (a company which formerly traded as the SOS before undergoing re-branding) and the role of the RICS.
- compensation for the victims of its ombudsman's illogical Final Decisions and its executives' maladministration.
- the setting up of a truly, "fair" and "independent" redress scheme free from RICS influence.

Comment is free so please comment or share your story either on the blog or by emailing: shockingsurveys1@gmail.com. Thanks. Steve Gilbert.

Print That Guardian!