Borners

NE Asia economic trap the investment-industrial exports machine eats itself

I recall reading a Brzezinski book in undergrad that argued Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Turkey & Iran were going to be the pivot points for the 21st century, and what happened to them would be indicative of the broader flows of power.

Have to say, he may have been on to something!

Consumption as percent of GDP around the world | TheGlobalEconomy.com The table shows the levels of household consumption as percent of GDP across countries. These are the latest numbers available from the national authorities of the respective countries. Household cons...

Neither have such a low consumption rate. And low currency value is how Taiwan does financial and consumption repression.
www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/con...

That's not the reason why its so low. The reason is that Taiwan like the rest of NE Asia, overclocks on investment and suppresses consumption.

1. Taiwan's consumption share of gdp is....low.
2. Its overclocking its gdp with high work hours, end of demographic dividend and the AI-TMSC boom....that will end well I'm sure.

Once again, another mealy-mouthed half defence of the earned settlement proposals from someone who clearly hasn't read them/doesn't understand them.

As Badenoch's letter (accurately) makes clear, there is only a modest difference in degree between Mahmood's proposals and Tory policy.

what I love about all this is that the actual product getting back to Beijing was probably incredibly trivial stuff. Like, 'smart Google search' levels.

I once acidly observed on a random Twitter thread that he was a fraud, being an anarchist working at the LSE a global elite finishing school.
He clearly having search his own name, suddenly came at me yelling about his working class credentials.
(He died living Pimlico)

Incredibly illuminating to compare income and hours worked across countries and states for ***the bottom 95% of earners only***. The typical Belgian earns as much as the typical Californian but works about 24% less

via sethackerman.substack.com

Progressive patriotism always means 2 things.
1. Maintain the racially gerrymandered constitution labour designed in 1999.
2. Say that any opposition to racial gerrymandering is racist and anti-national. Unless its Celtic.
3. Be surprised voters absorb 1-2 and vote Reform.

YouTube video by SOAS University of London Decolonizing Economics: An Introduction

Decolonising Economics from... London?
(I'm a SOAS grad so I get emails).
I mean Anglo-saxon economics insular, but actually pays more attention to "Global south*" than it does to say Italy or Poland or Turkey.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6y1...

I mean the Welsh Mainstream's main idea is "Wales deserves a fair deal" i.e. Scottish levels of spending rather than the current between England and Scotland levels. Rhun ap Iorwerth's talks a lot about this, and how he unlike W.Labour will find a way to extort it.

Bluesky overindexes on humorless scolds and people doing identity formation by arguing with something you didn't say but that doesn't make it an echo chamber; it means the place has an institutional culture, and I much prefer that culture to fending off Nazis with a block button that doesn't work

Wales is different in that 1. Its more aware of its fiscal dependence on England than Scotland is. 2. There is a giant English minority in Wales (15% of population minimum).

I think SNP 2007-2011 slow building of power and only going for the referendum in the 2nd mandate (which was bigger) is an influence.
Also the polling is clear, the Welsh mainstream wants to punish Labour nationalistically, but also wants bread & butter focus.

Immigration was central both to the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign and to the political narratives that followed it. Yet the trajectory of migration to the UK since the referendum bears little resemblance to the expectations — or promises — articulated at the time. This paper provides an overview and interpretation of developments since 2016, focusing on three interrelated themes. First, it describes trends in migration flows and stocks, highlighting the sharp fall in EU migration, the compensating increase in non-EU migration, and the role of both policy and economic developments in driving these trends. Second, it examines the economic and labour market impacts of these changes over 201625. Third, it analyses the post-Brexit policy framework and, in particular, the Labour government’s approach since 2024. The paper concludes by reflecting on the implications for future UK migration policy and for the wider political economy of Brexit.

My new @iza.org/LISER paper

Control Without Credibility: Immigration to the UK Since the Brexit Referendum

docs.iza.org/dp18419.pdf

Jesus Christ this is more humiliating than Far Right having an America fetish.
Say what you will about the US, it a big impressive beast.

Hadn't clocked quite how Dubai-coded Reform was before this piece www.economist.com/britain/2026...

The contrast between Rhun ap Iorwerth current leading Plaid Cymru to victory because he gets that only a minority are keen on Independence and PSPP pissing away a majority because he can't admit its not 1995 anymore.

Interesting, subtle difference between these attacks Mahmood put out today. Against Reform it's "unless we address these concerns, people will vote for them" but against the Greens it's just "their policies are bad". People who support Green policies are not a group that needs to be appeased.

Shabana Mahmood shows the other side of integration, i.e. being a typical West Midlands xenophobe.

Chart showing in many countries, people see their fellow citizens as morally good.

We asked people around the world to rate the morality and ethics of others in their country.

The U.S. is the only place we surveyed where more adults describe the morality and ethics of others living in the country as bad than good. See our full morality report here: www.pewresearch.org/...

"If they're not awful and bloody, then they're not the right ones"

@gilesyb.bsky.social spoke to us about the difficult choices still facing the Government, as we discussed the aftermath of the Spring Forecast.

Subscribe to our podcast here 👉 buff.ly/lJaDs3C

The failure of the land value tax - Works in Progress Magazine Land value taxes are once again becoming a popular all-purpose solution to housing issues. But implementing them in early 1900s Britain destroyed the then-dominant Liberal Party.

worksinprogress.co/issue/the-fa...

Because the latter doesn't have this effect in jurisdictions where local gov isn't based on property tax (i.e. everywhere except the Anglosphere).

I mean he's doubling down here, but with these numbers?
I mean he can't unspill that milk.

Curtis alas is junior and one of the newer Southern English professional that rest of the Labour party in Outer Britain hates more than the Conservatives/Reform.
It would be great for MK, death to Wigan, Paisley and Ebbw Vale, who need the gerrymanders.

The greatest drop in commercial/residential property values isn't between Westminster and Wigan, but Westminster and Woking.
I.e. you can't build local government on it. Revenue mismatches costs especially for social services.

Marja Donald Al Mar al Lago

We paid an ex-Tory MP to lobby for our fake Chinese firm - and authorities did nothing Investigation finds no rules were broken. It just goes to show how few rules there are.

Last week, UK lobbying regulator closed investigation into ex Tory MP Ben Howlett

We offered Howlett money to work for a fake Chinese investor. He introduced us to a dozen Labour MPs

Regulator didn't even speak to us. Our system is broken

New, by me: democracyforsale.substack.com/p/we-paid-an...