4 ms·
I feel like a lot of the West is living beyond its means, funded by debt. England in particular, might be starting to unravel. England enjoyed a central stage
by blagie 4y ago
I feel like a lot of the West is living beyond its means, funded by debt.
England in particular, might be starting to unravel. England enjoyed a central stage in the world, due to the British Empire, and is used to being in that position. It's not quite clear what competitive advantage England brings to the table today, except remnants of that empire:
- Interest from colonial theft. A lot of places want their stuff back. That makes things a little bit brittle.
- Debt.
- Central role of the English language and ties to Commonwealth states.
I don't think any of that is permanent advantage.
- sumedh 4y ago> It's not quite clear what competitive advantage England brings to the table today, UK controls some of the biggest tax havens in the world.
- blagie 4y agoWhich ones? Most of the ones I know are former colonies. If you wanted a Double Irish With a Dutch Sandwich, that never hit any current UK country. Ditto for Caribbean nations. UK is deep into sleazy financial schemes, but I didn't think it was a major player specifically here.
- benlumen 4y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Dependencies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Dependencies
- freddybobs 4y agoThe documentary "Spiders Web" talks about how the UK after the second world war, used offshore jurisdictions as places which desirable place for finance being safe (because UK connection) and opaque (so can avoid taxes), and yet not accessible through courts and the law as not strictly "the UK". https://thoughtmaybe.com/the-spiders-web/ https://thoughtmaybe.com/the-spiders-web/ This was by design as a way to keep UKs importance post empire. > The charity’s list of the “world’s worst” 15 tax havens includes the Cayman Islands, Jersey and the British Virgin Islands, which, like Bermuda, are under the sovereignty of the UK. It warned that allowing these territories to act as tax havens “undermines Britain’s efforts to be an outward-facing, responsible member of the international community”. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/12/bermuda-is-worlds-worst-corporate-tax-haven-says-oxfam https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/12/bermuda-is-wor...
- blagie 4y agoThank you!
- mint2 4y agoWhen markets have confidence the debt can be serviced that’s not so much a problem. The new government came in and destroyed that confidence with proposals for wild tax cuts for the wealthiest without showing any credible plan that leaves Britain able to pay debts and not tank their economy.
- lotsofspots 4y agoRemoval of the 45p tax rate would cost around £2bn, which is peanuts compared to the amount spent on the COVID furlough scheme, for example. Calling it "wild tax cuts for the wealthiest" is political posturing.