Bits'n'bobs and the economy: the light; the balanced; the bad; the hopeful...

For the Scandinavian crime fiction fans out there - of which there are many, I know - UKTV Food's Market Kitchen series had Icelandic chef Agnar Sverrisson on the programme last week.  He used to be the head chef at Le Manoir Aux Quat' Saisons and now has his own restaurant in London texture (they have a special Scandinavian five course tasting menu for £39.50).  He prepared Roast (sustainable) Icelandic cod with avocado puree, chorizo and artichokes last week and you can find the recipe here.  (Note: in these troubled times the programme is continually running recipes in a feed two for less than a fiver slot.

[Please bear with me on this little story as it's worth it for the end result.]  I don't find economics the easiest topic to fathom at the best of times.  I gained a BSc. Econ. Hons. majoring in a topic I decline to mention and can still remember sitting through my first lecture in economics at university.  I had done 'A' levels in Maths, Zoology and Chemistry; subjects that tend to be rather precise.  The lecturer presented a graph and declared it was a "demand curve".  I sat there thinking "It's a straight line.  Why isn't he plotting points to prove it?  God, this is theoretical rubbish."  It only gets more complicated after that, so, after three years of it, I never really did make the bar when it came to fathoming the depths of economic theory.

As it stands today, I have spent about fifteen years of my professional life working in the financial services industry and lived through one recession in it.  I have seen mistakes and seen recovery and seen the mistakes repeated to a ravenous extent at this time.  I know a fair bit, but it's a small bit in the massive scheme of things and the torrent of bad news that hits us daily.  Luckily, a certain person has come to my rescue and he might come to yours too.  He has a blog where he discusses the economy and explains things in simple, but not condescending terms.  I don't even find his words overtly political - simply common sense.  Earlier this week he picked up on the mood of the nation as seen through blog comments and suggested action that the angry and disenfranchised can take.  Here's the post in full:

I have been asked to sum up the mood of the bloggers. I think it is quite like the mood of the students I met at Oxford last week as well.

There is a new seriousness. The many who found economics dull are now straining to understand what is happening and are hungry for more news and views. Most share a sense that we are living through unusually worrying and dangerous times.

Most who blog on this site accept that government and regulators are deeply implicated in the banking crisis. Many agree with me that the government cannot simply spend and borrow its way out of it. They want to see some commonsense and business expertise applied to sorting out broken banks. They want the government to target its spending better on people and projects that need public spending, whilst reining in the runaway state with its spy cameras, its thought police and its overweening arrogance.

Most are appalled by public profligacy and waste, by the gross unfairness of job losses and more rules for the private sector, and better expenses and bonuses for the public sector. People are hungry for change for the better, but know they have to live with another year or more of the current government. They fear for their jobs and their savings and have a sense of powerlessness.

So what can we all do? We have to take to the airwaves and the blogsphere, answer the endless surveys and pollsters enquiries, to persuade the politicians in power of our views. The government is uniquely unsure of itself, and vulnerable to polls and media advice. We need to be noisy in asserting a different reality to the government’s parallel universe. Bailing out big banks and spending more money in the public sector is the route to undermining state credit and the currency, not the way to prosperity.

The man in question and the author of that blog is John Redwood, Conservative MP for Wokingham since 1987.  This link will take you to his homepage, where I for one am finding a lot of sense and education right now.  And, unlike some other political blogs, Redwood is an effective communicator who writes well and attracts sensible and intelligent comments.

Taking up his advice, I heed his comments and will ensure my thoughts are known by whatever avenue is applicable, relevant and effective, including on this blog.  I urge you to to do the same.

Moving on, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002) was introduced in the US as a reaction to the financial scandals of Enron, WorldCom and others.  It was meant to protect against financial fraud and improve (US) publicly-quoted companies' corporate governance and internal control structures.  It's controversial because some say it's onerous, costly and not effective.  And here we are today with the Madoff scandal and the UK's Serious Fraud Office investigating the UK's arm of AIG.  No, not looking effective is it?  Not looking good.  If Obama repeals the act - as some suggest - I suspect a new tranche of even more detailed and layered regulation and legislation, not least for the FS industry which has proved that it can outrun its regulators across the globe during the last decade or so.

And lastly, our depressed and depressing economy is calling on creative solutions, a "needs must" approach, major sacrifices and a struggle to survive.  I discovered today that a neighbour here in south Wales has been made redundant and is now working on the other side of the country to support his family.  He is to return home for a weekend, every two weeks.

And this is now a working concept that I have added to my job search.  There is one European destination for which it is cheaper to fly to and from Cardiff than it is to do the same for Jersey or Edinburgh; conveniently, they have a few flights at reasonable times.  And that mainland European city also has jobs in my line of work.  The cost of simple lodging and the sterling to Euro rate makes it look like a viable option.

Tomorrow, my job search goes officially global.

Comments

[cfr]

Thanks Maxine.
JR was once Secretary of State for Wales and renowned for this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIwBvjoLyZc , mainly because he was not well-liked.
I see your point Maxine and I also think that it's a pity that we effectively have a two party system because it promotes that type of behaviour. However, after this dire government, I'm not sure how long that will last. And if there is ever evidence of "power corrupts", by God we are defining it here in the UK.

[Maxine]

Good luck with your job hunting. John Redwood's comments make sense when taken in the article you provide and out of other context, but unfortunately I formed a poor opinion of him in the past when he was in a position of more influence. One thing I have seen in my life of seeing political administrations come and go here and elsewhere, is that it is easy to be articulate and passionate when not in power, but minds and positions change rapidly when power is attained.

[cfr]

Thanks both.

[Helene]

Good luck. I really wish you all the best. I hope you'll find a job near your home.
Take care.

[Norm]

Good luck with the job search. Why is it that everyone apart from the Government can see that throwing money at the public sector and encouraging people to spend more on the high street was the cause of the problem not the solution?
Sustainable is a word which can be applied to Icelandic Cod but not to their banking system. Exeter City Council had money in Icelandic banks and we will face the resultant hike in council tax in April.