The Anglosphere Revisited
by John Brian Shannon | July 29, 2016
Britain survived the 20th century despite two British-economy-wrecking wars (WWI and WWII) and the follow-up to those wars, the Cold War.
But imagine all that Britain could’ve become by now if it wasn’t required to wage World War I, World War II, and the Cold War in the first half of the 20th century. Great Britain would’ve been equal in economic and military power with the United States, and humanity would have completely missed two hot wars and one cold war.
The Anglosphere would’ve held dominion over the Earth — and let’s hope they would’ve had enlightened and moderate leaders.
There would’ve been no need for some of the overcompensating behaviors we witnessed in the 20th century.
The excesses thrust upon the world by continental Europeans in the 20th century are 100% responsible for the creation of two classes of overcompensators; The neocons and the terrorists — both of whom are engaged in a non-virtuous and negative relationship that could still destroy all life on the planet.
That is a scenario of if not when, unless we can completely overcome the three speedbumps in our civilizational development, recover, and get back on track — the track we were originally on until continental Europe changed history three times for the worse.
It could still be the end of us all. But only if we let them.
Not that I wish the continental Europeans one second of harm, it’s just that they’ve wreaked enough havoc. In fact, ‘I wish you the best, and have a beautiful day!’
It’s time to put Britain back together — and in tandem with a politically-moderate United States (and without prejudice to any other country or bloc) to recreate the Anglosphere as it was intended to be prior to the change in the world order made by 20th-century Europeans.
The time of war followed by plenty of overcompensating must now be over, or humanity won’t survive it.
Any nation that wishes to join the Anglosphere need only pass legislation that English is one of their official languages and have a politically-moderate foreign policy, then I would consider them eligible to join The Commonwealth of Nations, which is the umbrella organization of Anglosphere nations.
In that way, I would hope to (eventually) win over every nation. Yes, every one.
No more war. Peace and prosperity. Peace, Order, and Good Government.
That was the path that Great Britain, the United States, and other Anglo nations were on before three wars were thrown at us by continental Europe. (WWI, WWII and the Cold War)
As bad as those wars were, the two overcompensating responses (the neocons and the terrorists) may yet turn out to be even worse. Those two groups may ultimately spell the end of humankind.
And that’s what I’m trying to prevent.
In North America, we say; “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Well, the continental Europeans of the previous century broke the working model.
Now we need to get it back.
Transforming Britain’s Trade Partnerships
by John Brian Shannon | July 25, 2016
Every day of the year, we teach others how to treat us.
If we consistently demonstrate that we’re reliable, we teach others to trust us. If we demonstrate that we’re untrustworthy, we teach others to avoid us.
And so it is with nations; By virtue of their policies and procedures and by their other actions, we teach the leaders of other nations and their corporations how to treat us, how to deal with us, or give them reasons to avoid us.
Pretty simple stuff. We learned this in kindergarten.
But sometimes we get so busy working in our business we forget to work on our business, and that message can lose place.
In the interdependent world of the 21st-century, the highest priority for British Prime Minister Theresa May and her ministers must be to work on our business and not get wrapped up in the daily routine, and thereby lose place.
The government of Theresa May is off to a good start and it’s too early to draw conclusions about her future economic policy, but governments of the past have ranged from inspired to dreadful in regards to steering Britain’s economy.
The United Kingdom is the 5th-largest economy on the planet. Let’s not lose that.
Partnership
We need to trade with stable regimes, it’s better for market certainty. They want us to be economically certain. We need them to be economically certain. In fact, economic uncertainty is our enemy and theirs.
Therefore, interdependence and symbiotic relationships will work best for us and for our trade partners.
If we ensure that engaging in trade with Britain always works to the advantage of our trade partners, we will teach them that more trade with us is their goal.
In this way, our trade partners become our best sales and marketing force. Handy, that.
Using Import Tariffs as Revenue Stream
Minimal standardized tariffs can offset government budget imbalances and balance of trade issues — and that applies not only to Britain, but also to it’s trading partners.
As a general rule, Britain should engage in free trade with every country and charge a standardized 5% tariff on every good that is shipped to the UK. And all countries that trade with Britain should likewise institute a harmonized 5% tariff.
Q: Why would Britain want foreign governments to charge a 5% tariff on British goods?
A: Each $1 billion dollars of British export earns that foreign government $50 million dollars in (import) tariff revenue.
But why would foreign governments shoot for British exports of only $1 billion per year / $50 million tariff revenue when those governments could collect $600 million in tariff revenue on $12 billion of exports from Britain?
Or ten times that amount. Let’s hope.
Easy Money
Therefore, the higher the gross total value of imports arriving from Britain, the more dependent the foreign government will become on that revenue. Which means they won’t want anything interfering with that simple and easy tariff revenue stream!
“Can you please continue to export to my country?”
“Why yes… yes we can.”
Anytime the UK government wants to increase exports, all it must do is ask each foreign government representative this sort of question:
“How would you like to be responsible for bringing home $600 million per year in tariff revenue, instead of the present $50 million per year?”
It’s so easy when they do the work for you…
Transformation
By asking for the cooperation of our trade partners in this manner, not only will UK exports realize a manufacturing boom, but the partner nation will see a tariff revenue boom — and that’s interdependence taken to the next level.
Symbiotic trade relationships become the path to prosperity for both partners.
If Britain does this, and does it well, every country in the world will become a highly motivated salesforce for British goods — your trade partners are practically marketing Britain’s manufacturing sector for you.
As the price of each imported item increases by 5%, it will spur domestic demand on account of UK-produced goods not having a price rise due to a 5% tariff.
In that way, domestic production will increase, which has several positive influences in the overall British economy; UK-produced goods will be incrementally cheaper in comparison to imported goods, increasing consumer demand for UK-produced goods, causing UK manufacturing sector unemployment rates to fall, and consequently the government will lower it’s unemployment insurance expenditures and receive higher income and sales tax revenue from those now-working citizens.
And that’s not all
In addition to those positives; The UK government gets a new revenue source to augment it’s spending programmes. In the UK, this translates into more funding for Britain’s highly-ranked National Health Service (NHS) and makes deficit-reduction a reality for the Exchequer.
Since the global financial crisis, the UK government has in addition to running a mild austerity programme, also run high budget deficits (8.5%) which simply accumulate as government debt — and that’s the last thing the country needs as the UK’s debt-to-GDP was already too high prior to the financial crisis of 2008.
Global Debt Clock for Britain 2015. Image courtesy of The Economist’s Economic Intelligence Unit.
But with billions in tariff revenue helping to fund UK government operations, not only would deficits disappear and high public debt taper, there would be enough revenue left over to fund the ‘shovel-ready’ infrastructure projects that are unemployment-reducers, job-creators, and income tax generators for the country.
In economics, that is known as a virtuous circle. Which is a very wonderful thing.
Economists win Nobel Peace Prizes for engineering virtuous circles. Yes, it is that big a deal.
Investment
Tariffs should be seen by Britain and it’s trading partners as revenue generators.
Revenue from tariffs can fund deficit elimination, debt repayment, infrastructure and job creation or whatever gives the UK economy the best bang for the buck at that time.
Growing economies attract a lot of attention — the good kind. And every investor wants to invest in a winner.
By designing our economic fundamentals to mesh with the present economic moment, the UK could enjoy an almost unprecedented economic boom courtesy of the virtuous circles deliberately engineered into Britain’s economy.
Delivering on that goal should be our highest priority.
Britain: Between Now and Article 50
by John Brian Shannon | July 21, 2016
Until Article 50 is triggered by UK Prime Minister Theresa May thereby setting the stage for exit negotiations from the European Union, it’s tempting to think about what could be accomplished in the meantime.
Making this the time to focus on the reasons 52% of the UK electorate voted to leave the EU and to try and design policies that actually solve their problems. Remember, this is more than half of the UK electorate we’re talking about — not some jolly sods down at the pub having a pint.
A majority of normally complacent voters woke up and decided to vote for real change, and big change.
If Theresa May’s government doesn’t bring positive change they will vote again and Jeremy Corbyn will ride the protest wave into Number 10 Downing Street without needing to utter a word. At that point, the only possible person who could prevent his ascension to the Prime Minister’s office would be Corbyn shooting himself in the foot. And even that might be forgiven.
With that level of motivation in mind, let’s look at what PM Theresa May might reasonably accomplish on the path to meeting the needs and wants of the UK’s frustrated electorate between now and and the day she triggers Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty locking-in Britain’s choice to leave the European Union with a non-negotiable 2-year deadline.
The geopolitical or geoeconomic reasons for Europe’s economic misfortune are of little importance to UK citizens, what they want are their jobs back!
Therefore, JOB #1 for Theresa May must be to create as many jobs as possible in the shortest timeframe — and not minimum wage jobs.
The question is: How to do that?
(Easy) PM Theresa May must send her senior ministers to every Commonwealth of Nations member country in a fact-finding and job-creation mission, and also to invite every organization in those countries to move their headquarters (or a branch office) to Britain where the goal of ‘jobs for Britons’ will be the underlying motive.
Choose a prestigious address in Britain for your organization. www.the-shard.com
Q: What prestigious organization doesn’t want a London address? A: They all do!
They simply, but profoundly, need assistance from a “Welcome to Britain!” department of the UK government designed to cut through red tape and facilitate on behalf of those organizations wishing to add a prestigious London address to their brag list.
If the city of London real estate is deemed too expensive for some organizations, do we know the selling points of other UK cities? ‘Find that now, Smithers.’ And then advertise the virtues of those particular cities, as well as the virtues of London real estate.
Every company listed on a stock market anywhere in the world, startup, and every NGO must receive a sincere invitation from Britain’s government to do business in the UK, with plenty of follow-up, and they must be guaranteed a streamlined process. No amount of hand-holding should be considered too much for organizations willing to create more than 25 UK jobs.
A flashy and informative website “RelocateToUK.co.uk” with a toll-free number; “Want to relocate your business to the UK? Call the Prime Minister’s office now at 1-800-GroYourBiz” (or whatever) must be prominently advertised around the globe on everything from cruise ships to telephone booths, on transport trucks, buses, and on passenger and cargo aircraft.
The Commonwealth of Nations comprises 53 nations with a total population of 2.3 billion people. Therefore, sending out one cabinet minister per month is simply not going to cut it.
I’d send one cabinet minister off every 3 days to various Commonwealth nations, telling them as they leave, “Don’t come back until you’ve got firm commitments for a minimum of 1000 UK jobs, or a billion pounds sterling FDI.” And if they don’t come back, they were deadweight anyways.
If Theresa May sets the bar too low then only a few UK jobs will be created — but by setting the bar and career rewards high, thousands of jobs will be created and high and regular inflows of FDI will become the norm rather than the exception.
This must be ongoing for the next 10 years, it can’t be a one-time flurry of activity.
With 2.3 billion people in the Commonwealth(!) failure to bring home 1000 jobs, or 1 billion pounds sterling in FDI per week, should result in termination of the minister’s employment. But done right, it should be easier than a walk in the park.
India alone should represent a minimum of 5% of UK GDP. And if not, we’re doing it completely wrong.
This has got to be JOB #1 for the government until a stable unemployment rate of 2.5% is reached. Hey! The very survival of Britain is at stake. No lollygaggers.
(Easy) Mandatory job-sharing legislation written and passed by September, 2016.
Those not counted as workers (students/retired/independently wealthy) aren’t eligible to access the job-sharing scheme. But for workers, every worker in the UK must be guaranteed a job for a minimum of 6 months per year — thereby accumulating enough work hours guaranteeing them (hassle-free) unemployment insurance for the remainder of the year.
Hence, workers are either ‘working’ or ‘receiving guaranteed unemployment insurance’ with no ‘other’ category for workers.
And not one worker left behind on social welfare, NOT ONE!
Some employed people may receive layoff notices in order to make room for those who’ve yet to work a full 6 months in the calendar year. As long as they have their guaranteed unemployment insurance benefits to fall back on, that is the sacrifice that they along with everyone else must make in order to forge ahead and out of the present economic moment. And within 6 months they’ll simply return to their previous job. No drama necessary.
Sweden has operated a job-sharing scheme (through it’s unions) for decades, and it has been a stunning success and although Swede’s tend to keep their successes to themselves you can read more about this fascinating programme here; In Sweden, Nobody Sleeps in Dumpsters
(Medium) The economic models of Norway and Sweden are very interesting models indeed, for instead of low tech/low risk/low reward, complete with millions of manual labourers that must be kept busy (the ‘Low Economic Model’) the Nordic workforce is primarily made-up of high tech/high demand with a distinctly export-oriented focus (the ‘High Economic Model’)
With the relatively high sterling, the Low Economic Model just won’t work. Rather, the UK must rapidly complete the move to a high tech/high demand export-driven economy.
If we look at the Taiwan experience; That country had little in the way of natural resources save for a massive hydro-electric dam and smallish fishing and forestry resources.
It was a country that was destined to mediocrity, until one day a very smart person decided that Taiwan would become the world’s #1 supplier of computer chips.
Everyone laughed. But the rest is history. From next-to-no-resources and a then mostly unskilled workforce, Taiwan now ranks as one of the seven economic wonders of the world.
It turns out that Taiwan’s #1 resource was it’s people, once it switched to the High Economic Model.
The UK government must adopt a similar mindset and act as facilitator to UK companies, encouraging them towards massive high tech, high value and high demand exports.
Artists that create multi-million dollar art installations around the world must be near the top of that list. Maybe ‘give them Soho’ at a special low property tax rate to set up their galleries and headquarters.
Similar should be done with the world’s top architectural firms. They too should be cordially invited to a special low tax zone part of London where they can design and build the office tower of their dreams in order to showcase their design talents.
Do you like billion dollar movies? We do! If California can lure practically the entire U.S. movie industry away from New York City (which they did from 1950-1970) then the UK can lure half of Bollywood to Pinewood Studios (for one example) and court the world’s movie industry luminaries until Buckinghamshire is full to the top, filming movies or even parts of movies in cooperation with almost every other movie company in the world. And the same applies to Theatre, and not only the Shakespearean kind.
The Low Economy jobs must be slowly purged from the UK but replaced 2:1 with High Economy jobs.
By responding to the main disappointments of UK voters with a view to resolving them quickly, and acting in ‘virtual crisis mode’ until we achieve the results we want — 1000 new jobs can be created in the UK every day, billions of pounds sterling FDI can be added to the economy every week, and a renewed focus on relocating high value segments of the world economy to London can add significant GDP to the economy.
“Begin with the end result in mind.” — Stephen R. Covey
Former President Bill Clinton famously ordered a sign for his Oval Office desk which read; “It’s the economy, stupid.” Which on the surface, seems crude and out-of-place in the office of the President of the United States of America.
But every day, former President Clinton looked at the sign and it guided his thinking, perhaps subliminally while on overseas phone calls. More often than not, President Clinton would finish the conversation and then ask his caller, “How can I get some of your business here in the US?”
World leaders learned to have something ready to offer Mr. Clinton because they knew that after the business of the day was conducted, the President would ask, “How can you help me improve the U.S. economy?” (or words to that effect)
In that way, Mr. Clinton brought home the bacon every day for America, more than any single person in the country.
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and her ministers would do well to post similar exhortations on their own desks, to remind themselves that each voice on the phone might well provide a billion pounds sterling worth of business for the UK, simply for the asking.
But if you don’t ask for it, you don’t get it. And that counts as a fail at the next election.
During a time of unprecedented global change with even bigger geopolitical change just around the corner, it’s no time for timid policymakers. Not only does the UK need larger-than-life politicians, it needs larger-than-life policies.
There isn’t a moment to waste, so let us begin.
Letter to Britain 