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Comment to Rob Killick’s article of a similar name but opposite meaning.

I commented because this particular proposition - that we must stagnate and or go back to the stone age in order to protect the environment, really gets up my nose.  What is wrong with people’s imagination? We must have a new Industrial Revolution possibly known as the tech-tronic-dustrial revolution. We are at the beginning of the digital electronic revolution, not the end. We have the technology and the knowledge - we lack the will us it.

Why do we lack the will? We don’t. The industrialists do.

Examples:

1.  Food.

There is enough growing space and enough seed and water to feed the world’s population. It’s just that we don’t grow food to feed people! The industrialists grow food, market food and ship food to make money. Not to feed us all, simply to make money.

2. Energy.

There is enough energy available to power our homes using solar and wind generated electricity. We need different homes, not ones built while, and following the designs of ones built, when the steam engine ruled.

Back to my comment:

Rob,

Along with others, I don’t know where you get this idea from. Who is suggesting we destroy our economy? Who is suggesting the we compromise our way of life? If we leave the extreme-greenie-hippy-back-to-nature-groups out of this who is suggesting it?

What most people who recognise the dangers in what we are doing to the planet (even putting “Global Warming” to one side) is that we must change what we are doing to preserve our environment. This is obviously in danger of deteriorating to a point where it can’t support us all. We can’t ALL do this by living in tents and caravans and harvesting berries, there are just too many of us. We will need high technology to change the current balance from taking too much from our surroundings to putting something back , or at least, leaving what is there for the next generation to use. This seems to me just simple common sense.

What seems blatantly obvious to me should happen is that having invested umpteen billions in the financial system – when it is taken back (For the money to be vaporised back to where it came from – thin air.) We DO NOT vaporise it but we start the biggest rebuilding of our transportation system, our industrial base, our scientific community and our personal living conditions since the start of the original industrial revolution. If we can create £500 Billion to give to banks and survive virtually unpunished on the world stage we can do it again to secure our environmental and energy future. We DO NOT wait for the rest of the world, we lead, we invent, we demonstrate as we have in the past.

We get people working, DOING STUFF that benefits us all, Building, Insulating – tear down the worst – whole towns if we have too – and rebuild using 21st century knowledge and technology. Gut the petrol and diesel cars and retro fit electric propulsion – don’t tell me it can’t be done. Why waste what is already there?

Invent, Design and build the electrical networks and switching mechanisms that are required to handle disparate, differently sized intermittent AC and DC power and base load generation. Get the farms working again get PEOPLE back to farming and being interactive with the land – our farms are dying – the soil is dying from over fertilisation and over mono-cropping (is that a word?). Did you know that birds no longer follow tractors to get the bugs and worms turned up by the ploughing? Why – there are none to get – the birds have given it up as a bad source of food – that worries me that one fact! Get rid of SOME of the problems – Investigate and fix the problem with the Bees – Surely we could do that?

We are a small enough, densely populated enough country to make it all viable as an experiment. We do not have the vast distances that need covering in the US, China, Canada or Africa. We are small enough to be the experiment.

Then we sell our newly gained knowledge and our experience to the rest of the world. They are going to need it after peak oil/gas if they don’t start now. This is the type of “New world” that we can create – get a jump on the competition. This is the type of vision that the UK people need – something to strive for – something that has underlying good at its heart, something to be proud of as a nation. Some thing that will actually pay back to the people not to global banks, businesses and as you mentioned it, dictators.

If you are concerned about what happens when you give a few people a lot of money and few rules - you should read this article on counterpunch

nuff said.

More sense from politicians! Twice in two days - I’ll need time to recover.

See BBC news Today

I see nef have given this a cheer too on their blog

Not been any time for blog writing this week or month! my apologies to my subscriber - Indeed I have just one! (thank you!). So I am encouraged to write something new.
I see that other voices are taking up one of my (not unique) ideas to turn the Post Office network into something we, the people, can use. See this post on nefs Triple Crunch Blog

Also no supported by Peter Mandelson as out lined here on BBC News

There are parts of the wordpress editor missing today I am actually having to write this in pure html - no additional tools seem to be available or work so I will give up for tonight and try again tomorrow.

I’ll try to get a new page of the book done too! Otherwsie it will take a literal year of Sundays

Today I posted my first comment to someone else’s blog concerning the proposed windfall tax on energy. I mostly just think about posting,  I’m getting brave!

But the shilly-shallying of these massive (Non-UK) companies when it comes to their social responsibilities makes my blood boil! In essence I say to the government - Give them an ultimatum - voluntarily help those in need or pay the tax! I also say that a voluntary agreement would be more likely if these companies, that are vital to the nations well being, were actually still owned in the UK.

I don’t know if these Spanish, French and German companies are going to be asked to help their own domestic customers in the same way, but if that is likely is is also not likely that they would take the line “charity begins at home”. It raises another point in my mind - if we are all a jolly-joined-up caring Eurpean Community isn’t the UK “home” too?

As a country we have bought a very expensive bank! What should we do with it? Bail it out and then turn it over to the private bankers again? No. Let’s USE IT.

Conversely, for us as a country there is a lot of money to be SAVED here! How? well How about this for an idea:

We know that banks make money by charging the businesses that accept your payments, whether by card or cash. Why do we allow them to make money on all the benefits, tax credits and unemployment money we pay out?

If there are say 1,500,000 people receiving benefits why is that we allow chunks to be taken out of this by private banks? Lets work it through:

1,500,000 people who receive for the sake of argument, £100.00 each week. This money is deposited automatically by the Government into peoples bank accounts. At my low estimate that is 150 Million pounds ( £150,000,000 ) per week or 7.8 Billion (£7,800,000,000) a year being deposited that gets under the control of commercial banks, and we know what they do with it. Plus many of the people receiving benefit are on the borderline between credit and debit most of the time. They will probably be incurring interest on overdrafts and charges when, in desperation or panic, they make payments that they can’t afford. And I expect the banks are charging us, via the government for paying all the amounts each week. Lets say it is just 10p per transfer or payment that would amount to £7,800,000 per year just for making the payments!

I believe that we can use Northern Rock (Our New “Civic Bank”) to massively reduce the costs to society of the administration of the benefit system and help us to control the money we using to support those in need. If we use Northern Rock as the “Civic face” of the Bank of England (effectively what it is now) we can benefit in the following ways:

• By issuing a “civic debit card” we bring the benefits system in to the 21^st Century.

• By issuing a “civic debit card” to people receiving benefits instead of hard cash or transfers to commercial banks we reduce costs.

• Reduced and easier access to “emergency money” by people in short term money trouble.

• This emergency money to be Interest free.

• The ability to recover the short term emergency money loans by automatically debiting a weekly amount (that is agreed to be affordable) to the persons civic debit card account.

• Reduced cost for the applicants - no need to travel to make an enquiry – can be done by phone.

• Reduced interest paid by credit-borderline people.

• No charges on accounts for credit-borderline people.

• Reduced expense for the country by keeping these charges down (after all we probably end up paying them)

• Reduced benefit fraud – the civic bank will know how and where the money is being spent so unusual or strange spending will be investigated. (The credit card companies and banks already do this.)

• Proper realistic interest rates paid on money kept in the civic card account encouraging saving.

• Reduced fraud in applications for benefit and distribution.

• Less threat to DHSS staff – there is no actual cash on the premises.

• Having the cards will carry no stigma.

• No other bank account necessary to hold a civic debit card.

• Limited Cash withdrawal so benefit spending can be tracked.

• Options for unwell and/or addicted people on benefits to restrict their card voluntarily for instance so they cannot buy alcohol or cigarettes.

• Particular people could benefit from a different form of card – a “Civic Pride Card” these would be issued to people who have given or lost something or someone for the benefit of our society or it aims. Particular instances come to mind:

  • The remaining partner of a member of the armed forces killed in combat

  • The remaining partner of a member of the police service killed in the line of duty.

  • People elected by the Queen or the People to receive a Civic Pride card.

  • Injured and disabled services personnel themselves injured in the line of duty.

  • Civic Pride cards are a lifelong entitlement to an agreed and indexed sum per year or month– the recipients’ service being considered “beyond price”. We should not quibble or be reticent about honouring those who give so much.

 

• The civic bank will cover its costs by investing the unspent money in the civic card accounts – it can do this profitably and competitively because the money source will be cost-free. It will not be permitted to lend money it has not got – no leveraging/gambling with the country’s assets!

• The civic bank will cover its costs by participating in the current per transaction card charging scheme.

• Reduced cost of living by negotiating with large regional supermarkets for the best discount for food and essential goods charged to the civic card.

• Accessibility – Northern Rock to take over the existing Post Office network scheduled for closure. Providing those vital services where they are needed – not where commercial banks think they would be most profitable.

• Could double as an ID card – covering the costs of the ID card scheme using commercial practices.

• Civic cards for pensioners. More transaction coats saved and as pensioners tend to be better savers, more deposits for the civic bank.

• Civic cards available to all not just those on benefits.

• “Untied” cards available for asylum seekers and refugees. With a limited life span. (3 Month temporary permit? 3 month civic card.) With use restricted to essential purchases. To extend it or receive a new one we want to know where you are and what you are doing.

The uses for such a system go on and on. The possibilities are almost endless once such a card was established and in use.

There will be fraud of course, but there always will be, no matter what the system.

Is this the way we want OUR bank run

clipped from www.theyworkforyou.com Vincent Cable (Deputy Party Leader; Twickenham, Liberal Democrat) Link to this | Hansard source | Watch this That is a helpful correction. However, the point in answer to both Mr. Redwood and Mr. Jones is that we now know that over the past few months the Northern Rock management has refused to accept any individual voluntary arrangements. Northern Rock is the only bank that has refused to do that. It is clearly worried about the security of the people who have been lent to. There have been complaints from the Insolvency Service that that is bad practice and against policy. Northern Rock is the only bank that is taking that extremely aggressive approach towards the people who have borrowed from it, as it is worried about conditions such as those described by the right hon. Member for Wokingham.

Getting repetitive this…

Just testing really - making sure that posts and categories appear where they should.