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Blair like all politicians is a sociopath. The difference with Blair is he is extremely religious which makes him a dangerous politician. He is also one of the greatest communicators of the modern age.

The only question is whether Blair actually believed his own rhetoric or was aware he was a mouthpiece for multinational opil and the military industrial complex.

The faustian bargain Blair made prior to his first election was to make the Bank of England 'independent'. Meaning the same bank governors who had been protecting the interests of the top 5% of the UK population would continue since had Blair not made the bank independent; it would have meant Blair and Labour could have appointed the majority of governors and would then have had the ability to influence monetary policy for the benefit of the vast majority of voters who ended up electing Blair and Labour.

Murdoch through his papers, The Sun and The Times showed their appreciation for Blair's decision to make the Bank of England independent by endorsing Blair and Labour. The reason the 'elites' needed to make the deal with Blair was because they knew they could do business with him. He wasnt a real Labour person, having been raised in a Tory conservative household. The elites who run the UK also knew if they didn't make the deal; it was likely Blair and Labour would have a substantial majority after the 97 election and could do what they wanted to. Blair and Labour,having been out of power for 15 years, were desperate enough to make the deal, giving up what would have been a revolution because of Blair's 160 vote majority in the House of Commons. A real tragedy since although additional financing was provided for the NHS and Education; it isn't nearly enough to rectify the starvation of public services under Thatcher so today the NHS still has 50% less financing per capita than the Scandinavian countries healthcare systems which Blair and Labour are so envious of.

By making the Bank of England independent; it meant Blair and Labour couldn't finance the majority of the desperately needed funds for the NHS and Education through Bank of England bonds or debt but Blair, Gordon Brown,Labour and the City came up with private financing initiatives(PFI) to finance part of the desperately needed money for the NHS and Education. Unfortunately private financing wasted at least 30-40% of the financing on consultants, fees and the necessary profit margins for the private financing initiatives.

The major question is whether Blair believed in the mantra od private/public partnerships and drank the 'kool aid' or did know he was making a Faustian bargain to be elected and realized getting the financing through PFI was better than getting no financing at all.  

Blair and Labour's government will go down in history as a real tragedy because of the potential opportunites not realized due to the compromises which were not necessary to get back into the majority.

by An American in London on Thu May 10th, 2007 at 01:10:28 PM EST
This is a debate I regularly have with redstar, so just to let you know - I think that independent central banks are actually a good thing.

Inflation hurts the poor most. Thr only thing forgotten lately is that inflation has to include asset price inflation.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Thu May 10th, 2007 at 04:14:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Do you have a link?
by zoe on Thu May 10th, 2007 at 04:27:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]
It's mostly been deep in sub-threads, but if you search for Jerome, redstar  and ECB together, you should probably be able to dig up something.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Thu May 10th, 2007 at 05:13:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The only good Central Bank is no Central Bank at all.

Treasuries could quite easily issue credit directly under the supervision of a Monetary Authority, with no interest charged, but with a payment into a default fund for the use of a Government Guarantee, and a payment for administration payable to Credit Managers formerly known as Banks.

It's not Rocket Science: but it is the disintermediating logic of the Internet.

To paraphrase John Gilmour's great quote re Censorship:

"The Internet interprets Banks as Damage and routes around them...."

"The future is already here -- it's just not very evenly distributed" William Gibson

by ChrisCook (cojockathotmaildotcom) on Thu May 10th, 2007 at 05:26:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I recently read Piketty's Les Hauts Revenus en France, where he made the point that with rent control, and wage rise easily given to those that'd become too poor because of inflation, inflation was a big part of reducing inequality during the 20's...

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Thu May 10th, 2007 at 07:36:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]
And when you index the smig, provide enough subsidized, wage-indexed rental housing and run your economy to be honestly at full employment (ie, jobs for all who want them) this can continue to be true.

Plus, inflation hits the poor different than the rich based on the basket of goods they tend to buy. US statistics detail that basket of goods per income cohort and, when cross referenced against CPI data, it emerges, for instance, that inflation is higher in the US for the poor and what the poor tend to purchase, and inflation is lowest for the wealthiest and what they tend to buy.

The fed reserve, of course, does not worry about this.

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill

by r------ on Fri May 11th, 2007 at 03:20:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]
US statistics detail that basket of goods per income cohort and, when cross referenced against CPI data, it emerges, for instance, that inflation is higher in the US for the poor and what the poor tend to purchase, and inflation is lowest for the wealthiest and what they tend to buy.

The fed reserve, of course, does not worry about this.

I suggest a diary on Daily Kos.

Bush is a symptom, not the disease.
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri May 11th, 2007 at 04:52:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The Banks are more concerned with providing a guaranteed higher interest rate for their customers and true owners than any their stated reasons of higher inflation rates.

Besides housing mortgage interest costs; there isn't any underlying significant inflation and housing costs are decreased by lower inflation rates; not higher rates.

As a social progressive; I am surprised you would be taken in by the central banks stated reasons and not look at the true underlying pressures from the 'elites' which control the banks.

by An American in London on Fri May 11th, 2007 at 03:22:37 AM EST
[ Parent ]
As a social progressive, I am surprised you would be taken in by the financial conventional wisdom and advocate massive indebtedness through the issuance of bonds.

Bush is a symptom, not the disease.
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri May 11th, 2007 at 03:30:46 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I've heard many times the "inflation hurts the poor most" bit, but no one saying this ever cared to provide a link to a decent study.

Do you have one?

As pointed out by Lucas below, some studies point out that the poor were doing better thanks to inflation.

(And of course you know my opinion on the current obscure process of inflation measurement)

by Laurent GUERBY on Fri May 11th, 2007 at 02:22:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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