Friday, March 02, 2007
A Pinch and a Punch, First of the Month!!
Bollocks. It's the 2nd.
Never mind. You can have a pinch and a punch anyway. That's all right. Don't mention it.
Some interesting things:
1. Interview with Lynne Segal in today's Guardian.
2. China 'sneezes' and the global financial markets get the shits. Or something like that. I said this was going to happen all along didn't I? Yes I did. Of course, all of this is explained away in obfuscatory, mystificatory terms by media economics correspondents and 'City analyists'* - it's all about market 'correction' you see (i.e. it's all the mysterious but benign work of the invisible hand of the magic Adam Smith fairy sprinkling its magic market correcting moondust and, er, you shouldn't trouble your silly little heads about it) . I haven't seen any pictures on TV of City traders sitting on steps with their heads in their hands looking thoroughly dejected like in 1987. Obviously things aren't quite that bad yet, then. It will be interesting to see whether the US economy slides into recession in the coming weeks and months, though.
3. I'm reading Will Hutton's The State We're In and The State to Come at the moment. Never really read them before. They're actually quite good rollocking reads - or, at least, as close as you can get to a rollocking read on the subject of economic growth and investment. I have to say that I normally prefer Iain M Banks.
* In Elliott's book (with Dan Atkinson) The Age of Insecurity, it's pointed out that one very successful City analyst used to prepare briefings about projected future economic trends over the coming three months by adding up various stats from the previous 3 months and then dividing by three. This is what they get paid for. Do not believe the bastards. They don't really know what they're doing. As Elliott and Atkinson suggest, economics - particularly economic 'analysis' resting on neo-classical assumptions - isn't a 'science', it's witchcraft and soothsaying.
Never mind. You can have a pinch and a punch anyway. That's all right. Don't mention it.
Some interesting things:
1. Interview with Lynne Segal in today's Guardian.
2. China 'sneezes' and the global financial markets get the shits. Or something like that. I said this was going to happen all along didn't I? Yes I did. Of course, all of this is explained away in obfuscatory, mystificatory terms by media economics correspondents and 'City analyists'* - it's all about market 'correction' you see (i.e. it's all the mysterious but benign work of the invisible hand of the magic Adam Smith fairy sprinkling its magic market correcting moondust and, er, you shouldn't trouble your silly little heads about it) . I haven't seen any pictures on TV of City traders sitting on steps with their heads in their hands looking thoroughly dejected like in 1987. Obviously things aren't quite that bad yet, then. It will be interesting to see whether the US economy slides into recession in the coming weeks and months, though.
3. I'm reading Will Hutton's The State We're In and The State to Come at the moment. Never really read them before. They're actually quite good rollocking reads - or, at least, as close as you can get to a rollocking read on the subject of economic growth and investment. I have to say that I normally prefer Iain M Banks.
* In Elliott's book (with Dan Atkinson) The Age of Insecurity, it's pointed out that one very successful City analyst used to prepare briefings about projected future economic trends over the coming three months by adding up various stats from the previous 3 months and then dividing by three. This is what they get paid for. Do not believe the bastards. They don't really know what they're doing. As Elliott and Atkinson suggest, economics - particularly economic 'analysis' resting on neo-classical assumptions - isn't a 'science', it's witchcraft and soothsaying.
Labels: Economics, Lynne Segal, Will Hutton
