woody2 Posted December 1, 2017 Share Posted December 1, 2017 2 hours ago, RIchard Britten said: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/brexit-secretary-david-davis-in-threat-to-quit-over-damian-green-porn-storm-a3707546.html was it damian greens computer...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody2 Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 no deal megaboost..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mojomonkey Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 Do the Department for International Trade really base their press releases on Daily Mail stories, dear god. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody2 Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 1 minute ago, mojomonkey said: Do the Department for International Trade really base their press releases on Daily Mail stories, dear god. no, the report was by independent economists..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mojomonkey Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 15 hours ago, woody2 said: amazing how many eu universities are in the top30 in the world..... nil I had you down for subscribing to "the university of life", aren't universities full of liberal scumbags? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mojomonkey Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 2 minutes ago, woody2 said: no, the report was by independent economists..... Ok, that pic isn't link clickable and looks just like a retweet of a Daily Mail article. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody2 Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 3 minutes ago, mojomonkey said: Ok, that pic isn't link clickable and looks just like a retweet of a Daily Mail article. report was done by patrick minford professor of economics at cardiff university..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pongo Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 (edited) 1 hour ago, mojomonkey said: Do the Department for International Trade really base their press releases on Daily Mail stories, dear god. To be fair, it’s Liam Fox’s Department of International Trade, to use its full title. A circus. Not a serious branch of govt. It’s just for him and Comical Woody. It’s Baghdad 2003 for the Brexiteers at the moment. They’ll take any reports of good news they can get. One more push and the Americans EU will surrender. #comicalwoody Edited December 2, 2017 by pongo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pongo Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 (edited) 1 hour ago, woody2 said: report was done by patrick minford professor of economics at cardiff university..... It's strange Liam re-posting this now given that the story came out and was widely reported last summer - and in 2016. Minford's calculations are based on the UK unilaterally abolishing all tariffs and import duties. A plan which almost nobody else is advocating. And certainly not the govt (well apart from Liam maybe). Personally I agree that it would be a great idea to universally abolish all tariffs and trade barriers in the event of no deal with the EU. But it would be an incredibly difficult plan for any government to sell to the public. To be clear, it would It would mean the UK having the confidence or blind faith to not tax imports even whilst other nations continued to tax British exports. Minford is way out on the on the fringes. 'Hard' Brexit offers '£135bn annual boost' to economy - BBC, 20 August 2017 Brexiters’ idea of unilateral free trade is a dangerous fantasy - FT, 9 June 2016 Edited December 2, 2017 by pongo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manximus Aururaneus Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 46 minutes ago, pongo said: It's strange Liam re-posting this now given that the story came out and was widely reported last summer - and in 2016. Minford's calculations are based on the UK unilaterally abolishing all tariffs and import duties. A plan which almost nobody else is advocating. And certainly not the govt (well apart from Liam maybe). Personally I agree that it would be a great idea to universally abolish all tariffs and trade barriers in the event of no deal with the EU. But it would be an incredibly difficult plan for any government to sell to the public. To be clear, it would It would mean the UK having the confidence or blind faith to not tax imports even whilst other nations continued to tax British exports. Minford is way out on the on the fringes. 'Hard' Brexit offers '£135bn annual boost' to economy - BBC, 20 August 2017 Brexiters’ idea of unilateral free trade is a dangerous fantasy - FT, 9 June 2016 Well I've been a supporter of it since before the referendum, you support it, so does Patrick Minford, Tim Congdon, Roger Bootle and all the other Economists for free trade - so why not start to 'sell' what you say "would be a great idea"? https://www.economistsforfreetrade.com/who-we-are/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pongo Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 (edited) 16 minutes ago, Manximus Aururaneus said: Well I've been a supporter of it since before the referendum, you support it, so does Patrick Minford, Tim Congdon, Roger Bootle and all the other Economists for free trade - so why not start to 'sell' what you say "would be a great idea"? You would unilaterally abolish import tariffs? ie the UK abolishes them whether or not other countries reciprocate. I could go for that. But it's basically a scorched earth, all - or nothing, approach. Try selling it to most of British business or the man in the street. It would put any government which tried it out of office. Because WTO rules mean that it would have to apply to all countries. Therefore nearly all imports would quickly be cheaper. The plus side is much less tangible and (to be honest) theoretical. It's an idea which is simultaneously both amazing and incredibly stupid. On that basis alone it's basically whacky. Sensible govts have to be much more sombre and conservative. Edited December 2, 2017 by pongo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manximus Aururaneus Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 13 minutes ago, pongo said: You would unilaterally abolish import tariffs? ie the UK abolishes them whether or not other countries reciprocate. I could go for that. But it's basically a scorched earth, all - or nothing, approach. Try selling it to most of British business or the man in the street. It would put any government which tried it out of office. Because WTO rules mean that it would have to apply to all countries. Therefore nearly all imports would quickly be cheaper. The plus side is much less tangible and (to be honest) theoretical. It's an idea which is simultaneously both amazing and incredibly stupid. On that basis alone it's basically whacky. Sensible govts have to be much more sombre and conservative. If you want to calculate 'whacky' - add up the cost of the permanent +\- 20% increase on world food prices paid by all EU citizens as a result of EU 'closed shop' protectionist policies. That's real whacky! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody2 Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 1 hour ago, pongo said: You would unilaterally abolish import tariffs? ie the UK abolishes them whether or not other countries reciprocate. I could go for that. But it's basically a scorched earth, all - or nothing, approach. Try selling it to most of British business or the man in the street. It would put any government which tried it out of office. Because WTO rules mean that it would have to apply to all countries. Therefore nearly all imports would quickly be cheaper. The plus side is much less tangible and (to be honest) theoretical. It's an idea which is simultaneously both amazing and incredibly stupid. On that basis alone it's basically whacky. Sensible govts have to be much more sombre and conservative. you wouldn't need to stay in wto...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mojomonkey Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 35 minutes ago, woody2 said: you wouldn't need to stay in wto...... Would you advocate leaving it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pongo Posted December 2, 2017 Share Posted December 2, 2017 (edited) 1 hour ago, Manximus Aururaneus said: If you want to calculate 'whacky' - add up the cost of the permanent +\- 20% increase on world food prices paid by all EU citizens as a result of EU 'closed shop' protectionist policies. That's real whacky! Then offset that against the jobs, food miles etc. And look at the way in which our markets across Europe have evolved. It's no surprise that the best fruit and veg, fish etc is still available today close to railway stations and not airports. __ Separately - it's all very well, these madcap and economically sociopathic ideas. Eg unilaterally abolishing tariffs and ****ing manufacturing for a laugh. Sure, over time, it would mean leading by example - and there might one day be equilibrium. But in the meanwhile, chaos. I can see why ideologically minded Brexiteers, blue-sky thinkers and whackos like Minford and Bootle are attracted to this as if it were an actually viable idea. It's revolutionary, devil-may-care and reckless. Fun to talk about - but you would be bonkers to actually do it. Responsible politics and economics is much more about finding sensible comprises and agreement. Edited December 2, 2017 by pongo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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