Do we ever learn.....

Bit of a two parter this... but both are the same in there own way...

If you have ever read "The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire" you will know that, apart from a really good, if long, read... it's a basic blueprint for the growth and eventual demise of empires.

Growth -  either violence or coercion.......  The Romans used both to great effect to expand their empire. They had a very well trained and organised army so they fought when needed or would say come join us and we will protect you and respect your ways, initially.

Demise -  sometime by ignorance  - sometimes by famine caused by overpopulation of an area - sometimes by over engineering of a resource - but more often by self importance, greed and not learning from the past.

The core Roman people grew INDIFFERENT, self obsessed, materialistic, greedy and being, as we now say, PC.

They not only gave freedom to the people they previously enslaved but gave them power which, in the end, helped along with the in fighting/ bickering/ stupidity (PC), enabling the "Huns" to invade them so swiftly

The British empire being the last in a long line of empires is now in that eventual demise state.

We ruled some with the use of a well trained army and navy. We ruled others through coexistence and then we became more indifferent, self obsessed, greedy  and the empire declined into the Commonwealth and now that, mainly by the anal and illogical use of PC, is declining into something else

It is at a point now where it is irreconcilable. PC has gotten so out of hand and the euro zone will not let us change things back because we buck there system. its a lose lose situation that the next empire is taking full advantage off... the "Huns" invaded... the new empire cry is not "war" its "my rights are that you must change your rules/ law"..... and unfortunately we do....


As the winner writes the history books, then destroys anything that proves the new "history" wrong.... the endless cycle or rise and fall continues. regardless of what a group/ sect/ religion thinks it is impossible to have 100% of anything where the human animal is concerned.

Even if the next empire gets the 1000 years that Hitler was so intent on... it will fall... even if it tries to maintain itself with a vastly reduced population... it will fall...

So much will be lost... maybe a latter day Phil Harding will come along.. dig something up... and say "Cor... I's know wat thaat is..."
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The Wall Street Crash... the world staggered... people jumped out of windows and  the masses starved and all because of lost in confidence.... not lost money.

Since 1929 there have been many, many, crashes of far greater magnitude and no ones jumped out of a window.... only a few have starved... So what is the difference.... it's simply INDIFFERENCE... Oh dear I have lost 200 billion... don't worry pay it back when you can/ that's OK ill just write it off.

The underlying cause of this is not the arrogance of "greed is good" but simply "greed can be ignored"... The same ignorance that caused the 1929 crash is gathering momentum again, in a much more global way, but due to the effects of the "indifference" its going to be totally, and potentially catastrophically, different. The 1929 crash did not start a war but this one might.

In 1970 I earned £6 a week (the apprentice was on £9 but my first job is a story for another day) - gave my mother housekeeping - rode my motorcycle all over the country  - down the pub at the weekends... was not flush but never felt poor.... Now you have to have £300 a week just to make ends meet. We have more gadgets - we have more choice - but better off I simply don't know... there's a whole raft (cant afford a boatload) of things I could do/ eat/ say/ watch/ wear/ play with/ fly then but cant now....

Why do prices go up... Because you can = Greed... you don't put the price up it does not go up.. Now I realise that there is more to buy these days than there was in 1970 so an increase is inevitable but as soon as you start having to continually pay of investors and "have" to make more profit than last year, or your a bad risk/company. or the company is foreign owned and a percentage immediately goes out of the country.....the price goes up exponentially for the user.

In 1982 I wanted to go to the USA with a work colleague.. was about to book the flight when my workmate said... "not got all the money now... fridge u/s". So the plan was to book up a couple of weeks later..... but "Laker Airways" (google them if you don't know) went bankrupt...

The odd fact is... he was the first low cost no frills airline... and the others wanted to stop him.. a simple and true fact is yes he was in debt but that debt was smaller than British Airways had at that time... guess who the main instigator for closing Laker was......

So much of this country has been sold of because the government wanted a one time hit to bolster its funds without the full realisation/ understanding of the lack of future income alongside the amount of income exiting the country or the erosion of control. (companies can sue governments for laws/ rules that affect there profit... who thought that was a good idea... Oh yes companies)

In 2014 a third of the UK's infrastructure including energy and transport is owned overseas (EDF is French) but with China being allowed to design,own and operate a new generation of power stations in Britain and the fact that are also investing heavily in the new HS2 and "other" infrastructure this figure is rapidly changing for the worse..

Cadbury is still a well loved brand but it is no longer a British company in its own right and the chocolate on a Cadbury's cream egg is no longer "Cadbury's"... The new American owners immediately went back on there word... closed plants... lowered the quality of most of its chocolate, but not the prices...

The Arab emirates own much more than just Newmarket....

Jaguar Land Rover was bought by the Indian group TATA five years ago

The list is endless....

But then who knows... money has not, in itself, been relevant (just the ownership of a number) for a long while now..... almost every football club is in debt... almost all countries are in billions of debt.... and that's just "acceptable" these days... Print more?.. simply write it off, as its only a number on a computer somewhere?.. 

And the UK can be "Lakerised" at any time..... there's even a multiple choice of "new" owners
Ya.. something to look forward to before the new empire strikes back...

Question....
Have you ever heard of the term "Non Productive Staff"... do you think it simply means a lazy worker... or do you know it means "someone who does not produce anything". 

In 2011 there were approximately 720,000 employed across tne UK automotive industry, with 140,000 directly employed in manufacturing.... that's a 5 to 1 ratio...

Sometimes an office worker is very productive within the company... but others are only productive in producing paperwork that keeps themselves in work........

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All praise to you if you have read this far....

But please have a look at this... even if you only read the eight reason titles I think you will notice a similarity to today:-

http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/8-reasons-why-rome-fell

So, as, this blog title implies... Do we ever learn anything...  Possibly not...