Hoping for growth - from corrupt service industries?

As manufacturing starts to wain, and retail sales and consumer confidence continue to fall, are we going to see politicians once again try to highlight (and rely upon!) 'potential growth' arising from the UK's 'expertise' in the service sector?

Well if they do, they won't refer to the hard-pressed and hard-working retail sector ... but the corrupt practices of groups such as insurance companies and 'no-win no-fee' ambulance chasing lawyers ... who, by actively conniving together (e.g. insurance companies referring people to pushy ambulance chasers!), have forced up already sky high premiums by nearly 40% this year ... 

The lawyers pocket £1000's in fees, and the insurance companies charge all costs back to the motorist.  On top of this, the practice of insurance companies referring accidents to accident lawyers* is also making them 4x more profit than from providing insurance premiums - a shocking revelation. In effect insurance companies are now more keen to be a claims management company than an insurance company - to the detriment of all motorists.

Many people are now charged far more for car insurance than their energy** (value = keeping warm, cooking and washing etc) ... with the average insurance bill set to exceed £1000 by 2012. Insurance premiums are colossal - yet they add no value. Insurance companies call it 'piece of mind', but get Government to enshrine its purchase in law to force you buy it!

Insurance companies and no win-no fee lawyers are parasities - who leech off hard-working people and who destroy real value/wealth creation in this country! So why do politicians allow such scams to continue ... well because they are lobbied heavily by insurance companies ... and because many politicians are lawyers themselves!

Combining these parasitic organisms with the corrupt practice of banks will cause this nation to implode (i.e. collapse) ... not 'grow' ... and if politicians think we can solve the country's problems by exporting these 'services' abroad they are even more deluded ... 

The leeches in our society know no bound ... and need to be driven out ... just like a plague of locusts/rats ... 

      

* Even Jack Straw, a Barrister and ex Justice Minister himself, has said this practice is a racket and must stop!

** Despite energy prices also shooting up, and energy companies being referred to the competition commission!

Challenging the flawed Financial, Insurance and Real-estate markets

Michael Hudson (said to be one of only 12 economists who predicted the crisis) strips away and challenges the flawed economics we're currently subjected to, as well as the progressive, deliberate and corrupt transfer of wealth/control to the rich unelected landowners and the bankers.

Taxes on property and land have been progressively reduced, whilst taxes on products, services and jobs have been steadily increased (and are set to increase much further in coming years).  The idea that wealth is generated via real estate asset price inflation is both niave and flawed - house price inflation is a result of failure ... i) the failure to build sufficient housing, ii) the failure and de-regulation of financial services/banking, and iii) the flawed/irresponsible levels of debt people were allowed/encouraged to take on. Given everyone needs a roof other their head, strategies/policies designed to deliberately inflate house prices and to encourage people to take on further debt (e.g. equity release to release more money back into the economy), were arguably not only short-sighted but immoral (e.g. the Government taking house prices out key inflation figures used by Bank  of England when setting interest rates).

Many people have for many years had to hand over high percentages of their salary (30-40%) straight to banks, in the form on interest payments, and this will worsen once more as interest rates start to rise again (due in part to future imported inflation). 

Land Value Tax would address this issue head on, and move the profits away from banks (and to the Government). In doing so the Government could drop taxes on products, services and jobs.  This would reverse the current trend of pricing manufacturing and jobs out the market, and move the economy towards a successful, sustainable and value added economy once again. It would also avoid the UK (and the rest of the world) becoming progressively governed by unelected officials and financial institutions; ruling over us via debt and driving poverty/serfdom with the imposition of more unfair/punitive taxes.

However the financial, insurance and real-estate markets (and their associated lobby groups) would fight such a move all the way (supported by the landowners, the media and politicians who have themselves been profiting from it with their expenses), as many of them do not actually know how to generate any real value or wealth (nb they focus/profit from transferring wealth).

Without such changes the crisis will continue to grow, and the UK will progressively shut down ... as more wealth is transferred (and pocketed) by those who provide no value and destroy net wealth.