We live in curious times. American culture is dominant. Its propaganda goes everywhere via Hollywood media, and it’s other products follow in their wake. They’re drinking Coca Cola in the jungles of South America.
And yet …
China owns trillions in American debt. Western economies are kept afloat by a housing bubble, and low-interest credit obtained thereon. The Chinese banking system is parlous, our own more solid, but still giving out credit like a crack-addled wh*re.
What next? Well, housing is limited by the amount of land. It’s finite. The small investor distrusts the stock market, after the dot.com collapse. People want something to put profit of the labour of their years into. Property is safe … enough.
Likely there will be a decline, even a modest collapse. 20% growth year-on-year for a basic need like housing, bought on credit, won’t continue forever. Not a problem, unless you’re the one over-extended.
Will there be a depression? Probably. Like poker, the trick is knowing when to ante-up, and when to fold. The economy is a belief system; as long as no one shouts "The emperor has no clothes!", the ball goes goes on.
Then, there is the decline of manufacturing. They make things cheaper in the East. This could be fought by focussing on quality and branding. Britain is relying on The City Of London and services to keep Britannia afloat, but knowledge-based services can be offshored. Better to be known as The Brand and The Best in your industry, and the rest is jake. The Japanese learnt this lesson. Too bad their antiquated banking system and corporate culture didn’t follow suit.
Manufacture to the highest standard, limit editions, get the marketing right, and hammer copyright violators. If you can wear plimsolls, or you can wear Nike, which would you choose?
An example is offshore banking. What name do people think of? Switzerland, and maybe the Cayman Islands coming a poor second.Â? At one time, they provided the quality, the branding followed, and the rest get the scraps.
Where are the British equivalents? Where are the brand leaders? Damned by a decline in the work
ethic, an uneducated workforce, red-tape, high taxes, untrained management, cheese-paring accountants
and Trotskyist unions defending the worker’s right not to bother. Nothing is hated more than success here, nothing more loathed than a local boy made good.