This week a country experiencing a catastrophic decline in living standards announced it was going to increase spending on its military to a record 2.5% of its GDP.
That same country, days earlier, announced that it was going to remove some forms of state support for people too disabled to work, calling them workshy, implying their disability was a choice.
A country in which poverty is rising at its fastest rate in decades, in which the gap between the rich and the poor would shame a kleptocracy, in which millions rely on emergency food aid every week. This country decided missiles and fighter jets are the priority.
This country identified disabled people as the enemy within.
This country is Britain.
Iâm not going to overstate the depths of Britainâs social, economic and spiritual breakdown with rhetorical flourishes.
I know what you are thinking. Finally someone is doing something for oppressed minorities! Well, the minority of Goldman Sachs millionaires didn't need any help, if you ask me. Wikipedia: Studied at Oxford, analyst for Goldman Sachs, hedge fund manager, Stanford Graduate School of Business ... Supported the UK's exit from the EU ...
Married to Akshata Murthy, who runs her father's investment firm. Because she has not been officially naturalized in the UK, she pays only £30,000 of the £20 million in taxes that would otherwise be due.
The couple lives at Kirby Sigston Manor in the village of Kirby Sigston near Northallerton. They also own a terraced house in Kensington in central London, an apartment on Old Brompton Road in South Kensington, and a penthouse apartment in Santa Monica.
Finally, normal people! Who are also affected by the effects of their policies themselves!
FINANCIERS SLAM U.K.: You've heard of banana republics, but what about a banana monarchy? Moderator Susan Li, from Fox Business, was moved to ask on Milken's main stage if the U.K. remains investable, following the market and currency routs that have greeted the country's recent mini-budget.
Asked if Britain was becoming erratic and more like an emerging market, Gardner did not hesitate: âThat would be an insult to emerging markets.â He added that while Britain isnât in control of some factors dragging its economy down, like Russia-driven energy shocks, it's making a mess of what it does control: âBrexit is a significant damage to the long-term prospects of the U.K.â
A senior economist at a panel moderated by Global Insider lamented that the British cabinet appeared to be âlosing its mind.â The Economist magazine is running a section this week on the actions of Prime Minister Liz Trussâ team: âHow not to run a country.â
The newly elected prime minister in the U.K.is a real piece of work. It is fascinating to see such self-loathing economic policy at work.
American economist Larry Summers was quoted as saying:
âIt makes me very sorry to say, but I think the U.K. is behaving a bit like an emerging market turning itself into a submerging market."
To me, it looks like British voters want to try on grass skirts and move to stylish thatched roof huts. Apologies for being so politically incorrect. In an emerging market or poor developed country where these kinds of "get something for nothing" policies are implemented, real people starve.
Don't worry about the British; they will simply be a little hungry and very cold this coming winter. Their material standard of living will take years to recover.
