BRFR Cake Stop 'breaking news' miscellany

[Psamathe]

With my philosophical hat on, I find it curious that human activity is so controlled/affected by an invention of humans (money & financial markets) to the extent that humans die or live in misery as a result of financial decisions. It feels like it's out of human control.

I suppose in a way, it only reflects all existence - tough choices about who lives and dies in times of shortages (of food, for instance) - but the 'shortage' is not of essentials to sustain life: mostly famine is a function of food not being in the right place for financial reasons, not because the planet isn't producing enough food for everyone to eat enough to stay alive.

Almost something I've been thinking recently, how many of our charities are actually addressing problems humans needlessly cause and that are quite avoidable. Charities are appealing for money to address dire situations of our own causing, situations we (as a species) have no need to have created.

 

[briantrumpet]

Money in its self is of little use, you cannot eat it, drink it, etc, but, it enables and/or gives choices. Famine may be terrible, but, it is simply a reflection that there is not enough incentive for this with the food, to transport it and sell it to those without, or with insufficient. If it was worth their while, someone would find a way to "fix" famine, and, most if not all afflictions of the human race.

Perhaps not a very flattering view of humanity, but, IMHO, a realistic one.

Indeed, it's a realistic one in some ways, but IIRC, even out in the wild, animals do (sometimes) demonstrate charity to help those in distress (maybe chimpanzees or gorillas?). But more to the point money and financial mechanisms are an entirely human-based system, but the way it operates appears to be out of our effective control to help humanity overall, despite the fact that humans operate it (e.g. bond markets).

 

[BoldonLad]

Indeed, it's a realistic one in some ways, but IIRC, even out in the wild, animals do (sometimes) demonstrate charity to help those in distress (maybe chimpanzees or gorillas?). But more to the point money and financial mechanisms are an entirely human-based system, but the way it operates appears to be out of our effective control to help humanity overall, despite the fact that humans operate it (e.g. bond markets).

Apparently so, but, I am not clear why the discussion now seems to turn on "charity", I thought we started with the discussion being money, the bond market, the financial system ?

Sadly, I think that warfare demonstrates that in the short term, just about any problem can be solved, if you throw enough resources at is (money is simply a convenient form of barter). The trick is in engineering a stable, sustainable and enduring solution.

Not saying I know how to achieve this state of utopia by the way.

 

[Stevo 666]

Didnt that happen with Greece, in the reasonably recent past?, provoked a Euro crisis as I recall. It has all gone very quiet now.

That one definitely didn't go well - although in the end Greece wasn't large enough to take the single currency down. I suggest we watch what happens in France...

 

[Stevo 666]

I suspect it was more of a floating number hovering around 10 years above his current age.
But we digress...

I did once ask him whether he would succumb to self-loathing once he was old.

 

[briantrumpet]

I wonder if he's actually being held hostage and is trying to tell us his location in code...

 

[briantrumpet]

FWIW, re benefits (excluding pensions):

 

[briantrumpet]

Haha, and thrice haha.

 

[briantrumpet]

It is an interesting question of how pension age/funding adjustments can be made when populations are (understandably) resistant to change that affects everyone who is lucky enough to get older, as France illustrates this week. When populism is on the march in so many places, grasping the nettle and making difficult decisions seems to be out of fashion.

 

[Ian H]

This is The Economist's view of the world situation. There are alternative views.
Rich-world public debt is already worth 110% of GDP. Barring the covid-19 pandemic, it has not been this high since the Napoleonic wars.
Governments will struggle to find a way out of the trap they have made for themselves. They cannot avoid rising interest bills or spending more on defence. Ageing populations exert an irresistible electoral pressure to hand over more cash. Raising taxes is just as hard. Many European governments already tax to the max; in America higher taxes are a ticket to electoral defeat.
You might hope that productivity growth, powered by artificial intelligence, would come to the rescue. Sadly, pensions and health-care spending tend to rise with incomes: in big welfare states they will surge along with productivity. So too will interest rates, offsetting the fiscal windfall that comes from faster growth.
It is therefore worth reflecting while there is still time on the grave harm inflation does to economies and societies. Uncontrolled inflation shifts wealth from creditors to debtors; from those with cash and bonds to those who own real assets such as houses; and from those who agree on contracts and wages in cash terms to those wily enough to anticipate higher prices. Inflation punishes the middle class and frays the social contract. Be warned.

 

[briantrumpet]

This is The Economist's view of the world situation. There are alternative views. Rich-world public debt is already worth 110% of GDP. Barring the covid-19 pandemic, it has not been this high since the Napoleonic wars.
Governments will struggle to find a way out of the trap they have made for themselves. They cannot avoid rising interest bills or spending more on defence. Ageing populations exert an irresistible electoral pressure to hand over more cash. Raising taxes is just as hard. Many European governments already tax to the max; in America higher taxes are a ticket to electoral defeat.
You might hope that productivity growth, powered by artificial intelligence, would come to the rescue. Sadly, pensions and health-care spending tend to rise with incomes: in big welfare states they will surge along with productivity. So too will interest rates, offsetting the fiscal windfall that comes from faster growth.
It is therefore worth reflecting while there is still time on the grave harm inflation does to economies and societies. Uncontrolled inflation shifts wealth from creditors to debtors; from those with cash and bonds to those who own real assets such as houses; and from those who agree on contracts and wages in cash terms to those wily enough to anticipate higher prices. Inflation punishes the middle class and frays the social contract. Be warned.

Thanks for cheering me up, Mr H.

 

[Pblakeney]

This is The Economist's view of the world situation. There are alternative views. Rich-world public debt is already worth 110% of GDP. Barring the covid-19 pandemic, it has not been this high since the Napoleonic wars.
Governments will struggle to find a way out of the trap they have made for themselves. They cannot avoid rising interest bills or spending more on defence. Ageing populations exert an irresistible electoral pressure to hand over more cash. Raising taxes is just as hard. Many European governments already tax to the max; in America higher taxes are a ticket to electoral defeat.
You might hope that productivity growth, powered by artificial intelligence, would come to the rescue. Sadly, pensions and health-care spending tend to rise with incomes: in big welfare states they will surge along with productivity. So too will interest rates, offsetting the fiscal windfall that comes from faster growth.
It is therefore worth reflecting while there is still time on the grave harm inflation does to economies and societies. Uncontrolled inflation shifts wealth from creditors to debtors; from those with cash and bonds to those who own real assets such as houses; and from those who agree on contracts and wages in cash terms to those wily enough to anticipate higher prices. Inflation punishes the middle class and frays the social contract. Be warned.

I've been thinking (and saying) that for some time. We're all doomed.
And to save you the bother.

 

[Ian H]

Thanks for cheering me up, Mr H.

The Economist often gets it wrong. They were championing Milei as the saviour of Argentina. Their unvarying remedy is to cut spending and reduce regulation - though, funnily enough, they made an exception when the banks crashed and they suddenly decided intervention was good.

 

[PurplePenguin]

View attachment 10564

It is an interesting question of how pension age/funding adjustments can be made when populations are (understandably) resistant to change that affects everyone who is lucky enough to get older, as France illustrates this week. When populism is on the march in so many places, grasping the nettle and making difficult decisions seems to be out of fashion.

Does this include fixing the overly generous pensions offered to the commissioners themselves?

 

[First Aspect]

Does this include fixing the overly generous pensions offered to the commissioners themselves?

Yes those should get a trim, if not a short back and sides.