H/T K at TLN for the first link: Tim Watkins is the author of these articles on economics and to me they made perfect sense - if he’s right, and I believe he is, a great depression is just around the corner for the UK and others in the West!
cheers
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Thanks for these. Only half way through the first link but I find myself wondering how much the switch from long term contacts to spot pricing with energy has contributed to this situation?
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Hi @LocalYokel ,
- I really have no idea how the World pays for its energy use and at the same time controls business risks with the array of financial instruments available but it looks like a good subject to research ( whilst we can!). As covid and global climate change begin to settle into a sort of pattern of understanding, so far as I can make out - energy use, development and cost seem to be the next big areas to crack open. Rhis was always a believer in peak things, hence his approach towards global population which I personally found difficult to deal with.
The links between covid, climate change, Ukraine, Energy and Population control with CBDC’s, Banking and Net defenestration, free information speech and protest emasculation … all are beginning to register with more and more people but the masses are penned in with fear, work/no-work and psychological manipulation far beyond the limited hangout of the nudge unit, imo. The next 6 months are going to be key in humanity’s future - do we succumb to global corporate feudalism as the new paradigm or do we get the message out for people to just say NO!
I think the CoS website has its strengths but I don’t yet know TW’s views on Covid, AGW, and energy - more reading !
- the same goes for TLN’s Cockneymystic’s substack Views from Nowhere
In Cyberspace No One Can Hear You Scream
wattsupwiththat seems to spend a lot of time on energy as well as climate change issues so perhaps I’ll start there for the world alternative views?
I always thought the prudent policy followed by Norway was the way to go. But as usual the UK followed the instructions of the US with the madness of the Thatcher years. But given what the Western allies did to the Nord stream pipes from Russia I wonder how long Norwegian oil and gas will be accessible in an ever uncertain geopolitical future?
cheers
Sobering reading. This coming winter is going to be terribly tough I think. All the things that can be cut out of the monthly budget are being dropped and that is essentially what Ian Watkins is talking about in his analysis of why Wilkinson’s has gone bust. (Supply chain issues, high rents, and tighter terms of business all contributed, as he points out.)
I still recall the sense of bewilderment experienced walking around the local branch of Woolworths as the shelves emptied, the floor was strewn with litter, and the shelves themselves were being sold. Things feel like that at the moment.
Our local Morrisons is closing in a fortnight. I imagine that the “this and that” shop that currently uses the old Woolworths premises will be going soon. The clothing shop (M&Co) on the site that used to be Safeway closed two or three months back. Iceland sits empty as it has for years now. Plenty of hairdressers, vape shops, charity shops, tattoo parlours, and twee boutiques selling ‘crafty’ knick-knacks to tourists in the very smallest premises, but only one bank branch is left.
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Yep
When we came to our little town 8 or 9 years ago it had a beautiful, bustling high street. They’re disappearing one by one. Charity shops, vape shops are moving in instead.
We’re mourning the loss of Wilko already… It’s a bit hole in our small town.
The economic analysis above has a lot going for it. And it doesn’t inspire when the BoE can’t see the greedflation right in front of its eyes…
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You haven’t seen anything yet. It’s going to a lot worse still thanks to all those zombies that have survived on free credit since 2008.
Two from the top of my head.
A copper manufacturer in Germany has reported losses through suppliers working with the manufacturer’s quality control team (yeah, as if lol). Losses are in the hundreds of millions (Euro). What’s more likely is it’s getting much more difficult to use paper metals in the usual cavalier attitude.
Glencore is in trouble with the law after being caught making untrue statements in their prospectus. This comes after admitting bribery last year.
Oh, there also Revlon and AIG.
Genuinely surprised that you’ve lost Morrisons (maybe because the buyout was badly timed and a rubbish deal?)
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We stopped using them 8 years ago when we found out about the cheap prison labour. Even that wonderful disguised taxpayer subsidy couldn’t save them eh?
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Didn’t know about prison labour. That’s a shame…
It was a well used shop in our community. Once gone not sure what will replace it…
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Theft of copper wiring couldn’t be easier in South Africa. The ESP app publicises when “load shedding” is due, so risk of electrocution minimal.
I’m not sure why our Morrisons is going, they remodelled the store not that long ago (and there hasn’t been a JCB demolish the ciggie kiosk since). The recycling site up the road is going too, unless pushback succeeds, so the plasterboard, fridges, and dud Dysons dumped in the woods will def help the Garden Of England image.
I’m off to Northumberland btw, might be a few months yet but can get a decent enough house for 25% what it costs here, and most of the industrial/ mining waste land has been prettified now. They’re even building a new rail link.
This area was the largest coal dump in Europe…
