Let Them Eat Cake

The key to good economics is timing, Adam Smith was banging on about pins when pins where the last word in precision technology, Keynes was lucky to be at the height of his powers when the world needed him most and Milton Friedman took his bow when everyone had gotten bored of trying to make Keynes ‘General Theory' work.  Enter stage right Thomas Piketty, who is also lucky to be making his pronouncements on inequality as a new gilded age dawns bright.  Incidentally, one of the last gilded ages led to Equality, Fraternity and Liberty by way of the Guillotine so M. Piketty, a Frenchman, should be careful what he wishes for.

Exécution de Marie Antoinette 16 octobre 1793

The Return of the Robber Barons

In the US there has been a huge row brewing on the “take” that the top 1% earners have as a proportion of all wages, currently they earn 20%.  This is the highest share since 1928; the roaring twenties with The Great Gatsby and all that.  Conversely in the UK there is a remorseless focus on the poor share that low paid workers receive, the so called crisis in living standards;  and this weekend Ed Miliband offered a cack-handed subsidy solution to this important issue.

David Miliband's brother

The tales of low income poverty and indecent wealth tie together neatly in the recent spat at the Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland.  The refinery is owned by one of Britain’s wealthier individuals,   Jim Ratcliffe, the somewhat reclusive 61-year-old chemical engineer turned offshore billionaire and owner of Ineos.  The dispute at Grangemouth was initially about victimisation of a Union leader but it turned into a battle of wills between Ratcliffe and the Union Unite over pay and conditions at the plant in return for job security and investment.  Ratcliffe played “hardball” by threatening to close the plant and eventually a deal was done on his terms.  The left has painted Ratcliffe as a sinister bogeyman and the media have added to the fun by christening him “Doctor No” in deference to his lifestyle on his €100 million super-yacht Hampshire ll.   The yacht is 258 feet long with a helicopter cum sports deck, a crew of 23 and seven suites, the perfect lair for the “Bond villain”.

Ratcliffe's yacht - Hampshire ll