Tag Archives: political economy

A British Exit from the EU

Posted on by
Reply

There’s an aspect of so what to the question: what would actually change if the Brits vote to go their own way in a few weeks?  One set of answers involves British influence on the continent or within the EU.

[I]f the British do vote for Brexit and then have to trade with the EU, the UK would in fact find itself isolated with very little influence over regulatory standards in the single market.

Great Britain already has very little influence over those regulatory standards: look, for instance, at the hue and cry from the rest of the EU over how the British comport themselves, and regulate others, in London’s financial markets.  Also, from outside, the British would be utterly free to set their own market regulatory standards without interference or “help” from their Continental betters.

It’s the same with welfare programs and immigration generally.  Although the British do fare quite a bit better here—as part of British Prime Minister David Cameron’s pre-British exit (Prexit?) negotiations with the EU, he won concessions (not enough, some would say) regarding the amount of British welfare payments would be paid to migrant (not immigrant) workers and their stay-at-home (country) families.  But the French already are up in arms over English impertinence at not letting immigrant/refugees to flow across the channel quickly enough to suit France.

Neither of those problems would be any worse with a British exit, and the British would be in absolute control over them were they to go their own way.

The upshot looks as though there is, indeed, a what to the so what—and it favors a British exit from the EU.  Which, in addition to giving Great Britain a great deal more flexibility and complete national sovereignty, would restore the British to their historical role of power broker among hegemon wannabes on the continent.

That last isn’t all bad for the British or for the continent.

What Hath Obamacare Wrought

Posted on by
Reply

The Wall Street Journal provided an amazing graphic in its Wednesday edition.ObamacarePremiumIncreasesEven accounting for bad estimating by the health coverage plan companies, this is a clear illustration of the depth of President Barack Obama’s (D) lie when he said insurance costs would go down by roughly $2,500 per year.

It’s also going to get worse: a number of programs intended to buffer these providers against such increase needs expire in 2017, including “risk corridors,” which then will be funded solely by health coverage providers’ own wealth redistribution “premiums” paid into the program by profit-making providers for the sake of money-losing providers.

An Aspect of Europe We Might Want to Emulate

Posted on by
Reply

Or at least one nation of Europe….

Germany has preliminarily approved an immigrant assimilation law.

Under the draft integration law, which now goes to parliament for approval, migrants would have to fulfill certain requirements, such as taking special classes, and authorities would be entitled to decide where in the country they should live. Those who don’t comply could face sanctions.

At the same time, the integration law aims to facilitate access to the job market and to apprenticeship programs for refugees, allowing them to more quickly earn a living.

Among the requirements:

  • language training
  • education in German laws
  • education in cultural basics
  • states will be able to decide where refugees should live in their state…avoid the creation of ethnic ghetto

We already do—or used to do—a pretty good job of assimilating our immigrants.  One thing we could benefit from, though, is a mechanism to better control initial living locations, so as to mitigate our own Little [China/Italy/Syria/etc) problem and to improve assimilation.

And so to better preserve our American culture.

Maybe It’s Time

Posted on by
Reply

…to start locking banks out of SWIFT (no, I don’t mean as a matter of National Policy).

A little-noticed lawsuit details a hacking attack similar to one that stole $81 million from Bangladesh’s central bank, saying cybercriminals stole about $9 million last year from a bank in Ecuador.  The case suggests global bankers haven’t been sharing critical information to prevent such heists.

And

A third attack, from December 2015 at a commercial bank in Vietnam, was detailed last week….

The banks aren’t telling SWIFT about these attacks, either.

A spokeswoman for Swift said Thursday that the network was never told of the earlier hack.  “We need to be informed by customers of such frauds if they relate to our products and services, so that we can inform and support the wider community,” said spokeswoman Natasha de Teran.

Bad security and victim banks didn’t tell SWIFT, despite SWIFT warnings:

We specifically remind all users to respect their obligations to immediately inform Swift of any suspected fraudulent use of their institution’s Swift connectivity or related to Swift products and services….  The security of our global financial community can only be ensured through a collaborative approach.  To this end, it is essential that you share critical security information related to Swift with us.

Because One Size Fits All

Posted on by
Reply

This time it’s the trivium of expiration dates on the food we buy in our grocery stores.

That can of soup in your pantry says “Best by June 2018.” The cereal box on the shelf above it says “Use by October 2016.” The salsa in your fridge says “Sell by June 6, 2016.”  And the quart of milk next to it simply says “May 22, 2016.”

Among the dates found on labels across the US are “production” or “pack” dates of manufacture, “sell by” dates, “best if used by” dates, “use by” dates, “freeze by” dates and even “enjoy by” dates.

And

Two Democrats in Congress—Senator Richard Blumenthal (D, CT) and Congressman Chellie Pingree (D, ME)—are just as confused as you are, and they hope to do something about it before their terms expire.

Wait—what?  Is any rational adult human being really confused about those dates?  Does anyone really not understand these expiration dates?

The States of our Republic set their own rules, but those two Progressive-Democrats don’t want variation across States; they don’t want the citizens of individual States to set their own rules: these worthies of the Federal government Know Better.  And they don’t like our choices.

After all, too many choices, too much variation makes Progressives uncomfortable.

Blumenthal and Pingree are expected to introduce bills in the Senate and House this week to establish a national standard for date labeling that would provide consumers throughout the US with consistent information on when a product begins to lose quality and when it is no longer safe to eat.

Because these two are easily confused, everyone else must be, too.  They’re projecting, again.

Elections have consequences.