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The UK can go back to being the richest country in the world

tomforth.co.uk

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Re: The UK can go back to being the richest country in the world

#41

Post by ggm »

paulpauper wrote: post #9

Wealth is hard to define. Monaco is wealthy but small for example. India is big but low median wealth

Monégasque are definitionally wealthy but also exclusive. You can't just become one at a drop of a hat. Nor Maltese for that matter or Gibralter or Jersey. Living in these places demands being HNW and not Monégasque, or Monégasque and content to enjoy the largesse. You probably work in the service or finance sector, or in specialist engineering industries like design or jewellry.

Except I believe you can't break the bank, its forbidden to locals. You can't be "the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo" after all.

If you can drive a pile driver or construct sea walls Maybe you could be french, and drive in? I suspect they have a tax treaty with France to limit these opportunities, but they do need construction workers to increase the size of the state: reclaimed land from the sea is their principle mechanism of peacefully gaining lebensraum.

Re: The UK can go back to being the richest country in the world

#43

Post by JumpCrisscross »

csomar wrote: post #31

The OP starts with a very wrong comparison; essentially comparing the London area with the American average. A proper comparison will be to compare it against the Washington or NYC metropolitan area. The numbers will be different. Then the article presents no arguments on how the UK can achieve such a feat other than having a bit better public transport. Public transport does certainly help and it’ll increase GDP; bu…

> Public transport does certainly help and it’ll increase GDP; but I highly doubt it’s the determinant in creating the richest country per capita in the world

The UK is geographically blessed. That hasn’t been an advantage recently, because the EU seemed to be working, but Alexander Hamilton’s arguments against loose political unions seem prescient as ever amidst Europe’s present rightwing lurch [1].

If Britain can get its infrastructure in line and press its inherent energy-cost advantage relative to Europe, it could reasonably supplant Asia based on proximity, capital market depth and “friendshoring” advantage in many high-value supply chain elements. The problem is Britain has American-style public services and European bureaucracy; that prevents it from being the Singapore it reasonably aspires to be.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_No._7

Re: The UK can go back to being the richest country in the world

#44

Post by JumpCrisscross »

KingOfCoders wrote: post #37

"In 1920, North England’s economy as a whole was among the strongest in Europe and thus the world." Exploiting and stealing always makes you rich. An empire doesn't make sense if you don't get rich with it (Also see the connection of Slavery and the British Industrial Revolution). The only problems: It's amoral stealing and exploiting others and it's not infinite, people don't want to be exploited so the empire gets…

> Exploiting and stealing always makes you rich

Colonies have Britain an edge, but plenty of nations had colonies at the time (and have throughout history). Britain became rich because it industrialised first.

Re: The UK can go back to being the richest country in the world

#45

Post by hollerith »

j7ake wrote: post #28

“I think the UK can go back to being pretty much the richest country in the world per capita, at least as rich as the USA” said Matthew Clifford This sounds very arrogant and wishful thinking considering the trajectory of UK in the last 20 years. At the global stage, UK is as irrelevant as countries like Canada and Australia, but at least Canadians and Australians don’t openly claim they can be the richest country in…

Neither Canada nor Australia used to be the wealthiest country.

Re: The UK can go back to being the richest country in the world

#46

Post by throwup238 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #29
throwup238 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UK experienced that same right wing shift 14 years ago and is now dealing with the fallout. Europe is still in its honeymoon phase with the latest batch of right wing demagogues.

> UK experienced that same right wing shift 14 years ago Not sure these are comparable. Britain’s shift was led by its elites. Europe’s is closer to a dumping of its elites. Taken to their logical ends, the Britain after its threatened political revolutions will still look recognisable. France post RN or Germany AfD would be completely remade.

> Not sure these are comparable. Britain’s shift was led by its elites. Europe’s is closer to a dumping of its elites.

What does that mean? How is a political party funded by a bunch of generational rich right wingers dumping elites? None of these right wing parties would exist without rich people funding them. They're not grassroots movements, regardless of how they try to portray themselves.

Re: The UK can go back to being the richest country in the world

#47

Post by jasfi »

csomar wrote: post #31

The OP starts with a very wrong comparison; essentially comparing the London area with the American average. A proper comparison will be to compare it against the Washington or NYC metropolitan area. The numbers will be different. Then the article presents no arguments on how the UK can achieve such a feat other than having a bit better public transport. Public transport does certainly help and it’ll increase GDP; bu…

The problem I see is a mindset that doesn't value creators/makers. Why is public transport seen as the problem? Who can't make the next great thing because they can't get from A to B? With remote work that shouldn't even feature on a top 10 list.

If you look at the US, there are always complaints about the public transport being way behind the UK/Europe. But they value creators/makers. Why not look to the US, which is the leading economic country? If not, then which other leading economy should the UK emulate? Certainly not China.

Re: The UK can go back to being the richest country in the world

#48

Post by KingOfCoders »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #43
csomar wrote: post #31

The OP starts with a very wrong comparison; essentially comparing the London area with the American average. A proper comparison will be to compare it against the Washington or NYC metropolitan area. The numbers will be different. Then the article presents no arguments on how the UK can achieve such a feat other than having a bit better public transport. Public transport does certainly help and it’ll increase GDP; bu…

> Public transport does certainly help and it’ll increase GDP; but I highly doubt it’s the determinant in creating the richest country per capita in the world The UK is geographically blessed. That hasn’t been an advantage recently, because the EU seemed to be working, but Alexander Hamilton’s arguments against loose political unions seem prescient as ever amidst Europe’s present rightwing lurch [1]. If Britain can g…

The image thrown around in UK media about Singapore has nothing to do with Singapore

Re: The UK can go back to being the richest country in the world

#49

Post by JumpCrisscross »

throwup238 wrote: post #46
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> UK experienced that same right wing shift 14 years ago Not sure these are comparable. Britain’s shift was led by its elites. Europe’s is closer to a dumping of its elites. Taken to their logical ends, the Britain after its threatened political revolutions will still look recognisable. France post RN or Germany AfD would be completely remade.

> Not sure these are comparable. Britain’s shift was led by its elites. Europe’s is closer to a dumping of its elites. What does that mean? How is a political party funded by a bunch of generational rich right wingers dumping elites? None of these right wing parties would exist without rich people funding them. They're not grassroots movements, regardless of how they try to portray themselves.

> How is a political party funded by a bunch of generational rich right wingers dumping elites?

It’s a new set of elites. Starmer is still connected and conversant with the present batch of elites.

> None of these right wing parties would exist without rich people funding them

This is true of practically every revolution outside fairy tales. (It’s why fairy tales need divine intervention and/or superpowers to be believable.)

Re: The UK can go back to being the richest country in the world

#50

Post by KingOfCoders »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #44
KingOfCoders wrote: post #37

"In 1920, North England’s economy as a whole was among the strongest in Europe and thus the world." Exploiting and stealing always makes you rich. An empire doesn't make sense if you don't get rich with it (Also see the connection of Slavery and the British Industrial Revolution). The only problems: It's amoral stealing and exploiting others and it's not infinite, people don't want to be exploited so the empire gets…

> Exploiting and stealing always makes you rich Colonies have Britain an edge, but plenty of nations had colonies at the time (and have throughout history). Britain became rich because it industrialised first.

No.

Second: "Cotton Capital: a special investigation 2023 Cotton Capital how slavery made Manchester the world’s first industrial city"

https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2023/apr/03/...

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