12 September 2013...is the best way to sum up the Trade Union Conference.
How out of touch... how ignorant... how stupid.... these Union dinosaurs are.
One idiot was cross-eyed crazy bewailing that the number of public sector employees was falling.... Good - that is how it should be, the State consumes far too much of our economy and still has a massive deficit to deal with. A rebalancing of the economy from the wealth consuming public sector to the wealth creating private sector is essential for economic recovery and for future economic health.
A job created in the public sector always is at the cost of a job in the private sector. It also works in reverse, thankfully. Cut the public sector and more private sector jobs are created and I am not talking about what is called the 'secondary public sector' either, but proper profitable jobs that add to the nations wealth and not just suck the life out of it as so much of the public sector does.
The latest employment news demonstrates this with falls in unemployment being at a much greater rate than most agencies predicted. It is now down to 7.7%.
The fall in unemployment in July has been revised to 36,300, the steepest decline since 1997. It then fell by 32,600 in August. The good news also is that this was driven by an increase in full-time jobs, not part-time jobs.
This is on the back of more and more good news on the economy coming through every day.
Yes, pressures are still on wages and, due to that, most people are not yet feeling any real benefit in their pockets. But, all of what is happening is an essential precursor to an improvement in people's incomes and living standards.
More though needs to be done after such a deep and long recession to speed up recovery improve productivity. Only in this way will people feel an improvement in their living standards. For this we need those supply-side reforms I have written about so often.
There is a downside to recovery.....
Most forecasters believe that an interest rate rise will be needed up to 2 years earlier than Carney said, possibly towards the end of 2014. Good for savers, bad for borrowers. My advice - clear down as much of your mortgages and other debt before rates rise....
............ This will be the last blog for a week or two..... Normal service though will be resumed back to 2/3 blogs a week by the end of September....
Alas, I am reminded also of Tom Keating, the art faker, who painted Constable's Hay Wain scene, only facing back towards the Mill itself.
The interesting story of the making of the scene...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyG9kG5SSG0&feature=related