Britain needs to be more American and less European (at least in economic terms)
Low taxes, business friendly regulation, affordable housing and a dynamic financial sector that invests in Britain rather than anywhere but Britain
Just a brief thought about the UK, economic growth and our relationship with Europe. If we want a great economic future for Britain wouldn’t we better off as the 51st state (or if you prefer the 51st-54th states) of the USA?
Despite being governed by complete idiots for the last 30 years (longer if you’ve the misfortune to live in California), the USA has maintained its hegemony.
Despite the growth of China, the hubris of the EU and the lies of Russia, the USA has the same proportion of the world’s economy as it did 30 years ago. This isn’t true of the EU (or Britain).
Yet this week the boss of the EU, Ursula von der Leyden has been wibbling on about the Club of Rome at a conference called ‘Beyond Growth’ which sounds to me like a load of rich people without any money worries pretending that the future of Europe lies in not having economic growth. Madness.
The other madness is that, despite this utter lunacy, the majority of Britain’s great and good want us to rejoin this confederacy of defeatists.
So what is the secret of the USA’s success? I’m sure there are 500 page books written explaining it (it has been a habit over the years yet nobody has yet better de Tocqueville in describing why the USA works) but it seems to me that the secret doesn’t lie in the things that excite Nick Timothy and Rachel Reeves - protectionism and state subsidy. The industries that the US state lavishes with subsidy are that nations least successful industries. We don’t point at sugar, corn, steel and railways then say “the yanks have this industry sorted”. Instead we look at technology, social media and a bunch of unprotected but successful service and manufacturing industries - nobody is subsidising Hollywood or Nashville, Disney, the NBA or Microsoft.
So maybe Rachel Reeves is right to go to the USA but wrong to spend it giving pre-scripted interviews to CNN and posing at the New York Stock Exchange. Maybe Britain and British leaders should be heading to the sun-belt, talking to business leaders in Texas, Florida and South Carolina about the miricle of economic growth. A growth set in train by low taxes, business friendly regulation, affordable housing and a dynamic financial sector that invests in America rather than anywhere but America
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Britain once led the World in free trade, free markets and then embroiled itself with ‘Europe’ more precisely the European Economic Community which consisted of 6 nations, then 9 in 1973 when UK, Ireland & Denmark joined. Now it’s 26 nations. Up until that point the UK had traded globally particularly with Countries of former Empire and the USA. These Countries because of history, shared common business practices, common standards, common language and traded comparative advantage. Australia, for example, mostly agricultural with some industry, shipped agricultural products to the UK (mostly industrial with some agriculture) and UK traded manufactured goods in return. This stopped after 1973 as the UK was inside a protectionist Customs Union and free trade globally was heavily restricted by tariffs and non-tariffs. The UK was forced to trade predominantly within the EEC with different standards, language, business practice, and with fewer comparative advantages. We have never recovered after over 40 years. Protectionist economic practices are deeply entrenched, we still are far too dependent on Europe for trade and so have kept our tariffs and non-tariffs and regulatory framework aligned to the exclusion of more beneficial trade in the global economy. We have much more regulated labour market than the US, and bloated, inefficient, near useless public services - a drain down which the Government never tires of pouring money. Personal achievement is scorned - merit is frowned upon - being more successful than others isn’t ‘fair’. We have a much more extensive welfare state than the US. Illegal immigrants have been entering the UK by the hundreds of thousands annually over the last few years and probably now number about 5 million. They are all immediately entitled to free healthcare, free education for children, free accommodation, free food, clothing and necessities and spending money. We have the ludicrous situation where whole hotels are being booked by Government to house them - not slum hotels but 3 and 4 star hotels. The cost is enormous. The way out of the UK’s problem: 1) abolish the welfare state; 2) return to a free trade nation and trade globally again; 3) restore respect for personal enterprise and wealth creation; 4) stop all immigration from the World’s shitholes and send the illegals back to France whence most of them came to seek asylum allegedly fleeing from the French Government. Of course it won’t happen.