Meeting distortion with distortion

At the Annual Dinner organised by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the UK Chancellor (Finance Minister) George Osborne is reported to have declared that the aim of the new UK government "is to create the most competitive corporate tax regime in the G20, while protecting manufacturing industries.”

Here we go again! Which nation will devalue its currency most? Which government will give away the most as subsidies? Which government will tax least? Has the stupidity of such moves not become apparent to all people with common sense yet?!

As long as these "national competitive" policies are followed, we will continue to program the global economy for the sorts of crises that we have seen increasingly since the commencemnet of a global economy (which I date from the fall of the Berlin Wall).

What we need is a global level playing field devoid of subsidies, with much greater currency competition (including many more complementary currencies), with equal taxation and the same provisions for financial regulation, health, safety, environmental responsibility, and minimum guaranteed standards of living for human beings (which I put forward for discussion as: one square meal a day, two sets of clothing suitable for the weather concerned, and minimum adequate shelter).

It is only then that we will have a genuinely free global market. Those who argue for anything less are not real free marketers at all. Sphere: Related Content