The Cannibalistic Entropy Of Anglo-Saxon Capitalism

Will Hutton has written a very nice wee piece on the necessity of Cadburys remaining in British hands. Glad to see someone agrees with me.

As is only to be expected, some of the more predictably Pavlovian type of freemarketoids are having a go at him in the Comments. No group of potential slaves ever embraced slavery so warmly as economic liberals. One would weep, if one were not laughing.

The way in which British assets have been swallowed up by the protectedly ravenous is not merely pillage; it's a direct result of Anglo-Saxon capitalism's cannibalistic approach to the economy. Dog must not merely eat dog; dog must own dog he plans to eat.

Inevitably, this has resulted in a cannibalistic entropy. We have no significant industrial base any more, a victim of foreign competition. Or not, as the case may be. It is hard to see how industries in countries that don't provide subsidies can compete with those from countries that do. Trade carried out on such terms cannot be labelled 'competition', for only one side is competing. It's like a boxing bout in which only one pugilist is permitted gloves or a gumshield.

Once the industry's gone, you have to rely on provision of services as a means of generating national income, always a risky business. Most services traded in the UK are completely unnecessary. Adam Smith, the old Pie in the Sky Fairy himself, would turn in his grave at the thought of an economy in which the principal motor of economic activity is the haircut.

Being unsustainable, the businesses that supply them can't of course be sustained. It was to the demographic that believes that their unnecessary service really is the better mousetrap which will have the world beating a path to their door that Lord Sugar spoke a few home truths not so long ago; and if his delivery lacked finesse, he can't really be criticised for stating the bleedin' obvious.

What's left, when you can't make things and can't serve people? The answer is very straightforward; sell the shirt off your back, a policy to which successive British governments have surrendered themselves with abandon. It's a pity they've felt it necessary to surrender the rest of us to it as well. Those who lead Britain will not be happy until absolutely nothing in the United Kingdom is owned by the British anymore. Cannibalism and entropy might both be phenomena, but that does not mean that they should ever have been considered as policies.