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beardedmrbean · 3 months

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Traditionally incoming Argentinian presidents give an inauguration speech inside of Congress to other politicians. Javier Milei, a former “tantric sex instructor” turned libertarian economist, symbolically gave his speech with his back to the Congress facing towards the people.

“For more than 100 years, politicians have insisted on defending a model that only produces poverty, stagnation, and misery,” President Milei said. “A model that assumes that citizens exist to serve politics, not that politics exists to serve citizens.” He also promised an “end a long and sad history of decadence and decline” and promote a new era based on peace, prosperity, and freedom.

Since his headline-making election victory last month, media portrayal of Milei has ranged from dismissive to condescending, often depicting him as an eccentric “far-right populist.” Yet, since taking office, Milei has shelved many of his campaign’s more contentious proposals and begun implementing a radical but, by international standards, orthodox reform plan to revitalize Argentina’s faltering economy.

Milei inherited a challenging situation. Argentina’s economy has shrunk by 12 per cent over the last decade, annual inflation reached an extraordinary 160 per cent in November, while the poverty rate increased to 40 per cent in the first half of 2023.

Argentina has a fascinating economic history that led up to this point. In the 19th century post-independence Argentina adopted a liberal constitution that helped deliver an impressive economic expansion.

By the early 20th century, Argentina was one of the world’s richest countries, driven by agricultural exports. Real wages were comparable to Britain and only slightly below the United States. Millions fled destitution in southern Europe for a new life in Argentina. Buenos Aires has been labelled the “Paris of South America” because of spectacular neoclassical architecture built during this era.

This turned to disaster over the subsequent decades because of collectivist rule – from military dictatorships to avidly socialist leaders. Argentina nationalised industries, subsidised domestic production, limited external trade, and introduced an unaffordable welfare state. This has become known as the Peronism, named after 20th century president Juan Domingo Perón, a leftist populist leader who supressed opposition and controlled the press.

This agenda accelerated in recent decades under self-identifying Peronist leaders, turning Argentina into one of the world’s most closed and heavily regulated countries. The latest Human Freedom Index places Argentina at 163rd in the world for openness to trade and 143rd for regulatory burden. This has culminated in an economy on the precipice of economic disaster.

Not wasting any time, Milei has proposed a mega package of over 350 economic reforms to open the economy and remove regulatory barriers. This includes privatising inefficient state assets, eliminating rent controls and restrictive retail regulations, liberalising labour laws, lifting export prohibitions, and allowing contracts in foreign currencies.

There has been a notable absence of some of most radical ideas – such as legalising organ sales or banning abortion. He has also put on hold plans to dollarise the economy and abolish the central bank. Instead, at least by international standards, the agenda contains several orthodox economic reforms.

Many of the measures – such as cutting spending to get the deficit (currently at 15 per cent of GDP) under control, opening the country up to international trade, and liberalising the airline industry through ‘open skies’ policy – would be required to join the European Union. The government is eliminating capital and currency controls and allowing the peso to devalue – measures that the IMF’s managing director Kristina Georgieva said these are important to stabilise the economy.

There are undoubtedly significant challenges ahead and some darker elements to agenda.

Milei has been, uncharacteristically for a politician, honest that “in the short term the situation will get worse”. The removal of price controls, for example, will increase inflation until demand and supply can stabilise to end shortages. But, he says, “then we will see the fruits of our efforts, having created the foundations of a solid and sustainable growth over time.”

The government is facing significant opposition, with the union movement organising mass protests and threatening a general strike. The government has responded by proposing questionable new anti-protest laws, that include lengthy jail sentences for road-blocking and requirements to seek permission for gatherings of more than three people in a public place. Milei, who could struggle to get much of his agenda through Argentina’s Congress, is asking for sweeping emergency presidential powers until the end of 2025. This raises serious questions about democratic accountability.

Nevertheless, there are some positive early signs. Since Milei’s election Argentina’s flagship stock index has risen by almost one-third and the peso’s value has not collapsed. Argentina could soon benefit from a major new shale pipeline pumping one million barrels of crude a day (helped along by reforms that allow exports of oil and sales at market prices) and the mining of the second largest proven lithium reserves in the world.

Argentina has long served as a solemn reminder that prosperity is neither inevitable nor unassailable. Misguided policies can transform mere challenges into a profound crisis. Milei is offering a glimmer of hope: redemption may just be possible. Let’s also hope that Britain’s leaders can similarly take the path of reform, ideally before things get as bad as Argentina.

Matthew Lesh is the Director of Public Policy and Communications at the Institute of Economic Affairs

#nunyas news

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workingclasshistory · 2 years

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On this day, 5 October 2004, residents of Chiawelo, Phiri and Dlamini in Soweto, South Africa blocked Johannesburg Water from installing prepaid water meters, which they could not afford. They blockaded the Old Potch road, and resisted police who used stun grenades and made numerous arrests to try to clear protesters. As of the following year, the water company had still been unable to install the meters. After taking power in 1994, the African National Congress government had followed advice from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, which resulted in widespread privatisation of utilities which resulted in huge price increases: in some cases by up to 600%, alongside millions of cut-offs. Pictured: a protest over water privatisation in Cape Town, 2018 If you enjoy our daily history, you should get hold of our 2023 Wall Calendar. It has a positive, good news story for each day of the year, plus photos of ordinary people who have helped make history, and room for your own year planning. Proceeds help fund our work. Get it at https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/wch-wall-calendar https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/2100629040122235/?type=3

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ecologyalike · 11 months

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Debt at the heart of the growth paradigm

Before industrialization, much of the world’s population lived in a society with very low per capita economic growth rates. In the 1930’s with the invention of econometrics, economic growth became a symbol of a modern state, and an aspirational goal of the nation to demonstrate progress in comparison to other nations.

However, sustained economic growth comes with an immense social and ecological cost. There is little doubt that increasing pollution and waste generated by the growth economies threaten the well-being of future generations. Likewise, the overuse of the world’s natural resources is eliminating the possibility of people in the majority world achieving the same levels of income as people in high-income countries.

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

If the problems of the hegemony of growth are obvious, what is creating a “growth trap” so hard to escape?

In today’s economy money is primarily created through the issuance of loans by the private banking sector. Most of the money circulating in the economy is created by private banks. When a person gets a mortgage to buy a new home, the bank creates a deposit account with an equivalent amount of money in the ledger (no new money is printed). However, this deposit is equivalent to other types of money, in fact over 99% of total transactions by value in the UK are bank deposits! Only a fraction of the money is physical cash created by the state.

The problem with this type of money production is that we need to maintain a high level of loans to have money circulating in the economy. Understanding how money is created in the modern economy, and the role of debt in the process of money creation, helps to understand one of the key obstacles to escaping the hegemony of growth.

At the individual level, dept economy means that people must constantly work more than they consume, to be able to pay back their loans. Having a shorter working week, and earning less, is not an option if one needs to pay back a home mortgage or student loan. It is difficult to reduce private debt in the absence of growth.

Likewise, in the non-growing economy, the country governments struggle to pay down their public debt and may need to cut spending on education, health care or other social services. Particularly low and middle-income countries, with large debts issued in foreign currency, are often unable to invest in public infrastructure without taking more loans.

In the worst case to manage their loan payments to international creditors, they must resort to privatising the state assets such as electricity production or drinking water, exposing these “public goods” under speculation of private markets, and making them too expensive to most of the people in the country.

If all loans would be paid back, there would not be money in the economy.

Dept drives growth, which in turn is necessary to avoid financial crises. High levels of public debt mean that growth is the only option to manage the loan without hurting the people living in the country. Likewise, high levels of private debt mean that people have no option other than to continue to contribute their labour to the growth economy.

However, in the current financial system, private banks continue to issue new loans for profit, without any consideration of whether these loans contribute to the economy operating within planetary boundaries or advance equality and social justice.

And while banks and asset mangers cash in profits, the circle of more debt and demands for more growth goes on and on and on….

References

Escaping Growth Dependency – Why reforming money will reduce the need to pursue economic growth at any cost to the environment by PositiveMoney

https://positivemoney.org/publications/escaping-growth-dependency/

Sovereign Money - An Introduction by Ben Dyson, Graham Hodgson and Frank van Lerven

https://www.insearchofsteadystate.org/downloads/Sovereign-Money,-An-Introduction-Dyson-Positive-Money-2016.pdf

#debt #degrowth #economy #money

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mostlysignssomeportents · 2 years

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Tory Britain is crashing and burning

After 43 years of Tory policies (including the 12 years of Tory-lite Blairism), Margaret Thatcher has been vindicated — there truly no longer is “any such thing as a society.” As Thatcher predicted, “there are individual [ultra-rich] men and women, and their families [whom they pass vast inheritances on to].”

To get a sense of just how truly fucked the UK is, start with Charlie Stross’s dissection of the omnishambles (“omnishambles” is a Made-in-Britain forerunner to “polycrisis”):

https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2022/08/the-gathering-crisis.html

In the midst of Europe’s worst drought in 500 years, the UK is particularly hard-hit, with staple crops (carrots, potatoes, onions) facing failure — potato yields are down 50% (!).

Inflation is out of control. If you believe the Citibank estimate, it’ll hit 18.6% by January. If you want a rosier outlook, follow the Bank of England, who say it’ll be a mere 13%.

This has driven the pound to a ten-year low against the US dollar, which is driving up import prices from one of the few major trading partners the UK has left, thanks to Brexit.

Speaking of Brexit! The incompetent, lying philanderer who became PM after lying and backstabbing all of his Tory rivals sure “got Brexit done.” He was spectacularly bad at it and eventually his own party had enough of him. Boris is a lame-duck PM, and he’s popped off for a leisurely foreign holiday while his party decides who’ll get the job next.

So effectively, the country has no PM — and it also has no one to serve in his stead, since Boris sidelined his deputy, the ghastly Dominic Raab, on his way out the door. It’s not just the PM’s office that rudderless — a wave of scandal-driven ministerial rejections have left key ministries without leadership.

Brexit is the gift that keeps on giving, lopping 6% off the UK economy. The promised red tape reductions haven’t delivered good news for UK small businesses, which are failing at the rate of knots.

What has Brexit delivered? Well, it led to deregulation of the water system (which Tories had largely privatised), permitting water companies to flush raw sewage into Britain’s rivers and coastal waters, rendering them unsafe to swim in. To be fair, even if they wanted to treat the sewage, they’d couldn’t, because Brexit stopped water-treatment at the border.

There’s runaway energy prices everywhere, but Britain’s version is extra-special, with contracts coming in at 400–1000% higher than last year, triggering a wave of small business closures. Care homes are warning that they might have to turn off the heat this winter.

But even if they manage to keep paying their bills, it might not help, because energy experts are forecasting unscheduled, UK-wide rolling blackouts this winter. The Tories’ backup plan is to import energy from France, Belgium and the Netherlands, these being three countries that are slowing or halting energy exports.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has proposed re-nationalising the energy companies (36% of Scots households are headed to fuel poverty by October). The Tories have categorically rejected this, which is great news for anyone hoping to convince Scotland to leave the UK.

Tory rule — starting with Thatcher’s airdrop of the nation’s stock of public housing — destroyed the nation’s capacity to supply housing to working people, and what affordable housing remained was turned into deathtraps after it was sheathed in highly flammable cladding.

Conservative ideology has produced a country that can’t provide shelter, or food, or water, or energy. But what about health-care? The NHS is OK, right?

Yikes. England’s NHS — a patchwork of underfunded public providers and hollowed out, private providers — has suffered from worsening annual winter crises for years. This year’s winter crisis arrived early — in the summer, with overflowing A&Es and hospitals out of beds.

A key goal of Tory rule has been suppressing the wages of working people, smashing unions and coming up with wheezes like zero-hours contracts and wage-theft schemes like making up servers’ pay out of their tips. British workers were already one bad beat away from losing everything, and 10% inflation has pushed millions over the brink.

Not all workers are broke! This year, average executive pay for FTSE 1000 companies has risen 39%, to £3.4M.

Unsurprisingly, this has precipitated waves of strikes: rubbish collectors are out in Edinburgh, as are criminal barristers, whose wages and staffing have been cut, starving the justice system to the point where criminal cases are taking 708 days to be heard in court.

Also striking: dock workers, London transit workers, and, maybe, everyone, as a general strike movement gains supporters across the country. A new generation of labour leaders, exemplified by the incredible Mick Lynch, are filling the void left by Starmer’s Labour party:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0017sxg

What will the Tories do about this? Liz Truss is the presumptive next PM, who will attain that office thanks to the votes of a minuscule rump of registered Tory party members.

Liz Truss is a fucking terrible human being. As Marina Hyde writes, she’s the perfect leader for “a country whose own sewage laps at its shores.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/aug/19/liz-truss-lead-uk-sewage-leadership-marina-hyde

What will Truss do? Well, for one thing, she’ll ban strikes, which will obviously do wonders for labour conditions. She’s got an energy plan, too — she’s going to make it much harder to install solar and wind.

Pensions are being devastated by inflation. A third of the country can’t pay its monthly bills. The Tories have no answers. Their best answer to the polycrisis is drumming up culture war nonsense about “wokeism.” That’s actually slightly better than their main strategy, which is to suggest that poor people should just get better jobs:

https://www.indy100.com/politics/rachel-maclean-work-cost-living

Starmer’s Labour has abandoned any kind of politics aimed at materially improving the lives of working Britons, firing ministers who join picket lines, and refusing to breathe support for nationalisations, public housing provision, and deprivatisation of the NHS.

With or without Labour, working people and the left in the UK are rising up. It’s not just picket-lines, either. There’s mounting support for a payment strike, with the Don’t Pay UK organising a million people to refuse to pay their energy bills effective October 1. Hilariously, the Financial Times has warned these people that they will damage their credit-ratings if they do:

https://www.ftadviser.com/your-industry/2022/08/17/don-t-pay-uk-campaign-will-damage-people-s-finances/

The poorest people in Britain are forced into pay-as-you-go metering, paying the highest energy prices. Meanwhile, the private energy companies who were handed public infrastructure on the cheap by Tory leaders who promised “private sector efficiency” are making out like bandits.

For hard numbers on the UK cost-of-living crisis, check out Richard J Murphy’s roundup in The Independent, whose headline tells the whole tale, really: “It’s now impossible for the average worker to live decently in Britain.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/energy-bills-food-prices-inflation-average-wages-b2149941.html

Murphy starts by noting that the Office for National Statistics’s official after-tax income figure for average households is wildly inflated. The ONS puts the number at £31,383, but the true figure is £23,500, which has to cover £2k in National Insurance and £800 in “near-compulsory” pensions.

Rents in the UK average £1,100/mo (£13k/year), while Council Tax averages £2k, water is £400, and a family mobile service comes in at £1k/year. Add £300 for broadband and £2k for energy (a figure that is shooting up as you read these words).

Then there’s a car (£3k/year), food (minimum £100/week for a family, or £5k/year), and you’re at £26k/year. That leaves £5k/year for clothes, Christmas gifts, and a holiday.

No surprise that most UK families have no savings and carry heavy debt burdens. Tory voters were promised a better life for their kids. Instead, they’ve got nothing. Less than nothing, really, when you factor in debt.

Payment strikes are increasingly common around the world, proving Michael Hudson’s maxim that “debt’s that can’t be paid, won’t be paid.” There are a lot of unpayable debts, thanks to the role of consumer debt in funding the past two decades of economic expansion.

From the capital classes’ perspective, debt is a great way to fund expansion, since it means that the economy can grow even as wages stagnate, and consumer loans can be packaged as financial products that deliver a steady return, allowing people who have money to multiply it without producing anything.

So payment strikes are hitting China, home to a regional mass-scale mortgage payment strikes, hitting 320 property development projects. 28% of China’s top property developers have renegotiated their debts or defaulted altogether:

https://carnegieendowment.org/chinafinancialmarkets/87664

Meanwhile, in the USA, Biden steadfastly refuses to make good on his promise of unconditional student debt cancellation. Instead, he’s dribbling out means-tested, complex, partial cancellations that no one loves — especially not the young voters who’ll have to show up and vote in the midterms if the Dems are going to keep the House.

Abandoned by the Democratic Party, student debtors are organising themselves independently, with Strike Debt leading the way with their own payment strikes.

For more, check out Naked Capitalism’s roundup of payment strikes by Nick Corbishley, who also notes surging support for Mexican water-bill strikes, amid skyrocketing water prices, accompanied by water privatisation and sweetheart deals for foreign companies like Coca-Cola:

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/08/are-payment-strikes-about-to-become-a-regular-feature-of-the-economic-landscape.html

#pluralistic

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daloy-politsey · 8 months

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So in addition to the Nazis and the Klan, there are other right-wing forces that have been on the rise in the last 15 years. They include ultra-conservative rightist politicians and Christian fundamentalist preachers, along with the extreme right section of the Capitalist ruling class itself - small business owners, talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh, along with the professors, economists, philosophers and others in academia providing the ideological weaponry for the Capitalist offensive against the workers and oppressed people. Not all the racists wear sheets. These are the "respectable" racists, the new right conservatives, who are far more dangerous than the Klan or Nazis because their politics have become acceptable to large masses of white workers, who in turn blame racial minorities for their problems.   The Capitalist class has already shown their willingness to use this conservative movement as a smoke screen for an attack on the Labour movement, Black struggle and the entire working class. Many city public workers have been fired; schools, hospitals and other social services have been curtailed; government agencies have been privatised; welfare rolls have been cut drastically; and the budgets of city and state governments slashed. Banks have even used their dictatorial powers to demand these budget cuts, and to even, make entire cities default if they did not submit. This even happened to New York City in the 1970s. So this is not just an issue of poor, dumb rednecks in hoods. This is about hoods in business suits.

Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin, Anarchism and the Black Revolution

#racism #anarchism #neoliberalism #nazi mention

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mariacallous · 7 months

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The director of Moildova’s National Anticorruption Centre, CNA, Iulian Rusu, has resigned, the speaker of parliament, Igor Grosu, announced on his Facebook page.

“I took note of the resignation request of the CNA director, Iulian Rusu, which arrived at my address today. We thank Mr Rusu for his efforts,” Grosu wrote.

Rusu was made CNA director in February 2022. He previously worked as an expert in justice at the Institute for European Policies and Reforms, IPRE, in Chisinau.

The speaker of parliament said a new director will be appointed shortly and added that he expects the CNA to increase the speed with which corruption is investigated, stopping illegal financial flows, ensuring the integrity of the institution by accelerating reform of the CNA and cleansing it of harmful practices and characters.

Moldova will organise local elections in less than a month amid fears that election fraud might occur.

Last week, police seized a bag containing €550,000 in cash and 1,900 bank cards originating in Dubai. The authorities said the person carrying the bag was close to the fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor.

Rusu and the head of the Anti-corruption Prosecutor’s Office, PA, Veronica Dragalin, had several conflicts this year, each accusing the other of faulty collaboration. Rusi claimed the Prosecutor’s Office did not want to start investigations based on evidence from the CNA.

Rusu came to parliament in April to complain about a lack of cooperation, while the Prosecutor’s Office claimed that Rusu’s statements were irresponsible.

More precisely, CNA officers had gathered new evidence in the case of the privatisation of a hotel but the Prosecution refused to open a case in the light of the new evidence.

However, three weeks ago, Rusu declared that the misunderstandings had been overcome.

A former deputy, Arina Spataru, who recently carried out a special undercover operation against the fugitive oligarch Shor together with state institutions, revealed that this operation had also caused misunderstandings between the CNA and the PA.

Only four people were involved in the operation – Spataru and one representative each from the CNA, the PA, and the Intelligence and Security Service, SIS.

In political terms, Rusu’s resignation comes before the European Commission reports on Moldova’s fulfillment of nine key onditions, six of which are related to justice reform and the fight against corruption.

Depending on this report, but also on the political perspective, the European Council will give a positive or negative vote in December on whether Moldova can start EU accession negotiations.

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syms-things-5 · 2 years

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Case Histories - Chapter Eleven

An Andy Barber AU fic (based on BBC’s ‘The Split’)

Previous Chapter Here / Masterlist Here

Synopsis: A talented small-town family lawyer, Grace Atherton, gets the opportunity of a lifetime when she is offered a job at prestigious Boston law firm, Rothman and Hale. She decides to give up the relative comfort and ease of her current working situation in favour of following a dream she’s had since she was a young law grad, to the detriment of her family life and marriage. She soon comes into contact with old mental and one-time flame, Andy Barber. As gifted as he is handsome, it becomes clear he’s been keeping an eye on her burgeoning career from afar. Just how much will this decision cost her?

Series Warnings: Strong language, cheating

CHAPTER ELEVEN

For some unknown reason, right around the beginning of Summer, people liked to separate from their spouses.

It may only be a temporary separation but it was almost like there was an internal clock slowly ticking away in the heart of the nation’s middle classes. About half-way through the year and with the heightened addition of the hot summer sun possibly adding to feelings of discomfort and pressure, a chain reaction sets off that provokes a crisis of conscience in couples everywhere. Literally, everywhere.

It was 50-50 as to whether the separations were triggered by more husbands than wives (although Grace had her theory that it skewed more towards the former thanks to mid-life crises exacerbated by the stereotypical choices of top-down sports cars and the allure of a good, old-fashioned golf course) but nevertheless, it was a very real, very tragic, very expensive phenomenon. Law Firms up and down the country would prepare themselves for it. They would hire more staff (it was indeed true that May-into-June was an ideal time for a job switch if you were in the legal profession) and poaching caused panic all over the place.

If Grace had her time at university all over again, she would have focused on this topic for her final thesis. She could have made a fortune on the public speaking circuit, written a New York Times best-selling book-cum-self-help-Bible, and retired with millions in the bank at the grand old age of 32. She would have gone on Oprah. She would have been New England’s answer to Brené Brown.

“God, I love the smell of divorce in the morning,” sighed Jack, comfortable, happy, hands stuffed firmly into his pockets as he surveyed the locked meeting rooms that surrounded him.

“Well, aren’t you the old romantic.” smirked Grace. She followed his eyeline and could see figures busily moving around behind the frosted glass that helped privatise rooms from the rest of the public.

“You know, this may surprise you but I have never been one for marriage myself.” He started.

Grace couldn’t work out if he was being sarcastic or not. Of course Jack didn’t “do” marriage. In her mind, she filtered back through some articles she had read about him before she joined the company and she was sure she had read the words “most eligible bachelor” on more than one occasion.

“I simply do not understand tethering yourself to one person for the rest of your life. It speaks of a fear of dying alone if you ask me and quite frankly, that thought has never bothered me. You come into this world alone, you exit alone.”

Grace paused as she tried to figure out a suitable, witty response, but she was coming up short.

“Maybe one day you can explain it all to me.” He turned to face her, bringing her back into the conversation with him.

“Sure thing.” Grace nodded, half-smiling a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. How the hell was she going to do that? She didn’t completely understand it herself.

“Now here is a man who agrees with me, right Andrew?” Jack called over as Andy strode towards them with purpose.

“Agree with what?” he asked, puzzled by the two of them staring back at him, expectantly.

“That marriage is a complete waste of time? Isn’t that what you said once?”

“Um…” He glanced between Jack and Grace. “Well, not entirely. Some people manage to make it work. It just requires a certain skill set and the right person.”

Jack furrowed his brow in bewilderment, suddenly not recognising the man stood in front of him.

“You’re going soft in your old age, Andy.” Jack said, jokingly. “I hope you manage to remain as stoic and cold-hearted for the next few weeks at least while we bash these agreements out. There’s seven on your desk from this morning alone so I’d get cracking with the team and see where you land. Keep an eye open for Mark Shallcross, too. He’s on the war path and doesn’t want to budge on his offer of alimony so that might give us a few hours in court.”

“Jesus, Jack, care to tone down the cynicism for a minute?”

“I am not cynical in the slightest. I’m perfectly normal. It’s everyone else who is the problem. You can spin it however you like but marriage is simply not worth the hassle. Imagine being married and being miserable for large chunks of your life. Or worse still, meeting someone that is better for you. Then what do you do? You end up paying us hundreds of thousands of dollars to save the rest of your bacon. So, tell me, what would be normal in this scenario?”

Jack walked off back to his office so the two of them knew it was a rhetorical question. Grace was slowly learning about Jack’s foibles but they often came at inopportune times so she didn’t always realise they were happening until long afterwards.

Grace and Andy looked at each other, perplexed. She shrugged at him and he chuckled, and the pair of them walked towards the front desk to see what else and who else was awaiting them both.

“Is it really going to be as busy as they say? I mean, I know it’s a ‘thing’ at this time of the year and everything, but still.” She chanced the question at him. The look in his eyes gave her all the answers she needed. “Shit.”

“Shit….”

“Right? It’s madness and I don’t know if it’s just me or-”

“-No, I mean shit.” He interrupted her. “Christine.”

Grace quickly turned to look up at him before practically performing a 180 and seeing Andy’s ex-wife vacate the elevator.

Christine spotted him almost straight away despite being on the other side of the expansive foyer. Andy would stand out in most settings but, still, it was like Christine was magnetised by him.

“Hi Andy.” She approached them both cautiously but with a soft, familiar smile, pushing the strap of her blue handbag further up and onto her shoulder.

Grace wasn’t 100% sure if Christine had registered her standing beside them as she eventually stopped just a couple of feet from Andy. Andy didn’t say anything at first and it was at that point Grace realised she was the dreaded elephant in the room in this scenario. She hated that feeling.

“I’ll…” Grace did what she did best and tilted her head in the direction of her office before slipping away from the pair of them as subtly as possible.

She glanced back at them both just before they disappeared completely from her view as she entered her office. It didn’t look like he had moved a muscle from where he had been stood when she had been nearby. He was likely surprised and concerned in equal measure by her visit but whatever he had been feeling, he didn’t seem to be showing it in his body language. He always had a knack of hiding his true emotions and it had irritated the hell out of Grace on more than one occasion.

Nobody moved or even spoke in what felt like an age it seemed. Christine tucked her elegantly straightened, long, white-blonde hair behind her ear, keeping a hand gripped onto the strap of her handbag like it was a comfort blanket of some sort.

Grace wondered what had brought her here. Maybe a case? Maybe some distant family news she thought he would be interested in or needed to know about for some reason? Maybe seeing him again for the first time in a long time all those weeks ago brought back some fond memories she wanted to explore again. Grace supposed she could sympathise with that mentality.

When Grace spied her again sitting quietly in the lounge an hour or so later, she wasn’t altogether surprised although it was odd to find her sat alone. Grace tucked her hair behind her ear and cleared her throat so as to alert Christine that someone else was in the vicinity. Christine looked up from the article she had been reading at the table and they exchanged polite smiles before she returned her attention to the paper in front of her. Grace didn’t think she had recognised her so she set about making a cup of tea, assuming that would be the end of that.

“I take it he’s told you about me?”

Grace turned around, unsure of whether she had just heard what she thought she did.

“Um…”

“I’m the ex-wife? It seems like you two work closely together quite a bit so I just figured I’ve come up in conversation once or twice.” Christine asked, interested to know what Grace may or may not know about her history with Andy.

“Oh, not really, no.” Grace gave as non-committal an answer as she could but fully expected Christine not to believe her.

Christine sighed. “I suppose that shouldn’t surprise me either, actually. Probably doesn’t want to rake up past memories. I think the last memory he probably has of me is me screaming across a table at him in a restaurant in Paris.”

“Well, we’ve all done that.” joked Grace.

Christine chuckled appreciatively. Her shoulders slumped a little so they appeared less…tense? Was that how she was feeling? She looked down at the newspaper on the table but Grace could tell she wasn’t able to focus on the words.

“It’s Grace, right?” she asked after another quiet moment passed by.

“Yeh, it is. We met at the de la Salle hearing.” Grace was sure Christine could tell she was taken aback by hearing her name coming out of her mouth.

“I remember you. Sophie was very grateful for…everything you said to her. It really helped her a lot.” She smiled at her. “I take it you have children?”

“Two, a boy and a girl.”

“Yeh, I thought you sounded maternal. You have a warm energy about you.” She smiled again. “You don’t often find that with lawyers.”

Grace wasn’t sure what to say to that. Over the years she had become well aware that her methods were sometimes seen as unconventional; unconventional being another word for ‘kind’. Whatever it was, Christine was clearly astute until Grace remembered she had been married to Andy for a certain amount of time and she had no doubt gathered first hand that some lawyers were colder than others. Grace didn’t have sympathy for Christine listed on her bingo card for that day.

“Do you know...?” Christine started before something suddenly caused her to think twice. “Actually, never mind.”

“No, go on.” Grace encouraged, turning to face her fully as she dipped the teabag in and out of her mug. It was strong enough already but she didn’t know what else to do with her hands.

Christine sighed and considered speaking again before rolling her eyes at herself. “This is going to sound like High School but do you know if he is seeing someone?”

Grace hoped her facial expression didn’t give her away. “What?”

“Y’see?! It’s fuckin’ High School all over again! Christ, I must sound so pathetic right now.”

“No, you don’t sound like that at all! Sorry, I just wasn’t sure what to… I mean, I don’t know, really. I’m probably not the best person to ask.” Grace fumbled her way through a reply. “Do you think he’s seeing someone?”

Christine stared at the empty seat in front of her for a moment as she tried to organise her thoughts. It was clear she had some views on that question but wasn’t sure what to say to the almost-complete stranger standing near her who was listening to her speak about things she likely hadn’t even vocalised to a life-long best friend before. Or someone she knew even just one degree better than Grace.

“It was just something he said. Before. I wasn’t sure how to read it, that’s all.” She dismissed it and turned the page as though she was indicating to Grace that their conversation was over, but a thread had clearly been pulled.

“Maybe that’s something you need to speak to him about?” Grace wasn’t sure how to vacate the room much less find a way of courteously ending the conversation without looking like she was about to run away. “Are you waiting around for him?”

She seemed like she hadn’t heard Grace’s question but, soon enough, they made eye contact again.

“No. I just felt a little faint before so I thought I would sit in here for five minutes. It’s probably just the heat, though. Although that was about…” She checked the watch on her wrist. “Half an hour ago so, yes, I suppose I should be thinking about leaving.”

“Don’t leave on my account if you’re not feeling well? I can get someone to call you a cab if you need one?”

“No, it’s fine. Some fresh air will do me good.”

There wasn’t a lot spoken between them after that. Grace offered to call her a cab once more but Christine declined it once more as well. She checked her phone before chucking it into the side pocket of her handbag, and gathered up the paper before nodding her a goodbye.

Whatever it was that had transpired, whatever it was that had led to Christine sitting by herself for this short time, Grace had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last she would see of her. And, as odd as that made her feel, what right did she have to know about their relationship anyway? About what was or was not going to happen?

Those were the thoughts she found whirling around her brain for the rest of the afternoon.

She sat in her office staring at some notes she had made the night before while supervising Sam as he made them all dinner. Nothing quite like summarising a $10million settlement for a three-month long (or should that be short?) matrimony as her innocent, beautiful son made some mac ‘n’ cheese.

A direct message popped up on the bottom right corner of her screen and she inwardly groaned. She rubbed at her eyes with the tips of her fingers, steeling herself to move from the relative solitude of her office.

“What’s up?” She asked Andy as she poked her head into his office a few minutes later.

He turned in his chair to see her in his doorway and placed the file he had been skimming through on his desk in front of him, letting out the air from his puffed out cheeks.

“You think we’ve been too hasty on this McLaughlin case?” He asked her outright.

“No.” She shook her head but still pondered his question in case there was some minor detail they had both omitted from their memories. “He pretty much admitted to all of the affairs, even the ones he couldn’t explicitly remember. It was a bit odd but you said yourself that it was cut and shut.”

He tapped his fingers on the file papers on the desk. “Yeh. Yes, you’re probably right. I just can’t shake the feeling that we could have saved him a bit more cash, y’know?”

Grace shrugged. “I’m sure he’s comfortable. He seemed pretty happy with the settlement at the time unless you’re thinking about raising an appeal on his behalf?”

He shook his head unsympathetically. “No, I’m not thinking that. Sorry, ignore me, it’s been a weird day.”

Grace forced a smile through her closed mouth. She nodded before turning on her heels to leave his office again.

“Grace?” He stood up from his chair. “Could you…shut the door for a second?”

She turned back to view him warily. He walked slowly around the side of his desk before leaning back against it, his hands nervously fidgeting with something in the pockets of his trousers. She did what he asked but she wasn’t exactly thrilled about what was likely going to come next.

“I’m sorry about Christine earlier. I wasn’t expecting...”

Grace shook her head hoping it would stop him in his tracks. “Don’t worry about it.”

He looked her over but she couldn’t work out what he was thinking. Likely, he was wondering why she appeared to be so casual about his ex-wife’s sudden presence.

“There isn’t… there’s nothing there. For me.”

“OK.” She blinked. “It’s not really any of my business.”

“I just didn’t want you to think there was.”

She nodded again. She suddenly felt like she was stood in front of a Principal who was giving her some unwanted advice about something she had been forced to discuss out loud.

“Right. Well,” he tried his hardest to mask his irritation at Grace’s apparent indifference.

He looked around his office at nothing in particular. Grace scratched at the back of head.

“I’m still sorry if it made you feel uncomfortable.”

“Andy, it’s fine, honestly. You guys were married for heaven’s sake, you have a history. It’s perfectly reasonable for you two to maintain a relationship, even after…everything.”

Andy huffed to himself. “I wouldn’t say we have a relationship exactly, of any kind. In fact, we hadn’t spoken in years before de la Salle. I wasn’t sure why she came by the office today either. Still not sure what she was after even now after she’s left.”

Grace wasn’t sure if he knew Christine had lingered around in a quiet part of the floor before she left earlier that afternoon, but she decided she wasn’t going to be the one to share that little titbit with him. It wasn’t exactly her place.

“What she was after?” She asked him.

“Yeh. She’s, er, getting married again.”

Grace was snapped suddenly by his admission. Reviewing his casual stance still leaning back against his desk, he didn’t appear to be upset or even remotely saddened by the news she apparently gave him just a few hours ago. If anything, he seemed surprised.

“…And she wanted to know what I thought.”

“About the marriage?” Grace approached.

“Yeh.” He nodded at her, matching her perplexity. “I didn’t understand either. I mean, we haven’t spoken in so long, not properly at least. I wasn’t aware we had to notify each other when we started seeing other people. Christ, I owe her a lot of visits.”

Grace rolled her eyes at him. Andy never asked for permission to do anything so of course it would make perfect sense that he wouldn’t think of giving someone the common curtesy of something so minimal and thoughtful, like ‘keeping in touch’.

“She was likely just giving you the heads-up in case you found out from someone else. Boston can be a small place.” Grace said. “Did she tell you about him, the new guy?”

“She said he’s nice, he works in marketing, I think. Oh, and he likes horses.” He shrugged like he wasn’t sure why Christine made a point of mentioning that specific detail.

“That’s cool.” She chuckles and he rolls his eyes in agreement. “It’s always good to find a man who like animals. And it bodes well for becoming a parent, I suppose, if she’s thinking about kids and the future and everything.”

“Thanks, I’ll remember that.” He speaks softly. He looks down at the floor and brushes his foot over the soft carpet below before snapping back into the room. “Why are you being so nice about her all of a sudden?”

“Why would I not be nice about her? Or neutral at least. I don’t know her.”

“S’pose.” He said. “She wanted to know if we had made a mistake. In breaking up.”

For the second time in as many minutes, Grace was rendered almost speechless.

“Oh. Right.” She nodded after what was far too long a pause for either of them to be comfortable with. She wanted to know what he said to her next but evidently, he was waiting for her to ask him that question instead. “What do you think about that?”

He shrugged almost nonchalantly. “There’s only so many times you can tell a person you weren’t right for each other, that you weren’t going to make the other one happy, y’know? I don’t particularly enjoy breaking people’s hearts, despite what you might think of me. I don’t think she deserves that shit again.”

Grace nodded and looked down at the floor by his feet, to avoid looking at his face.

“So, I told her I hope she’ll be happy and I hope the wedding goes well.” He spoke again, in a slightly more cheerful tone this time. “I mean, what else is there to say?”

It was a rhetorical question, she knew that, but it didn’t stop her trying to come up with words that might bring this awkward conversation to a close. As it happened, he did it for the both of them.

“I want you to come to Chicago with me next week. For the conference.”

Her eyes widened in shock but he remained as cool as ever as though he hadn’t just posed a completely impractical suggestion.

“That’s not going to be possible. With work and everything, I can’t just up-”

“Yes, you can. Nadine can take on the Phillips and Carlson cases, I know they’ve been dragging for a little while-” Oh wow, flirting and criticising her work in the same sentence. Nice. “-and anything else can wait a day or two. If we fly out Thursday morning and come back late Saturday evening, you’ll be back before anyone realises you’ve gone. It’s easy.”

He wasn’t blinking which was a thing he did when he was arguing with someone, like being trapped under the sheer weight of his intense stare would likely cause his opponent to cave at any moment. She’d shudder to think how many times it had worked in the past, and on whom, like it was almost working on her now.

“No, it’s not easy. I can’t up and leave with no warning, Andy. Even if work wasn’t an issue, I have the kids to think about. I’m sorry.”

“What if Jack asks you to come with me?”

“What?” She narrows her eyes towards him.

“This thing is a pretty big deal, Grace, it only happens once every two years. There’ll be some speakers there I know you’ll wanna see, like that lady with the cats on the front cover. Sadie…?” He clicks his fingers repeatedly until Grace can’t bear it any longer.

“Sadie Carmichael.”

“Sadie Carmichael!” He grins. “I remember you tried making me read her thesis on animal custody in divorce.”

“Yeh, and you kept falling asleep.”

He gets up from his desk and stalks towards her but mindful of leaving a foot between them so as not to crowd her back against the office door.

“I promise I won’t fall asleep this time.”

She does give him the satisfaction of thinking it over a tiny but before she declines him again, leaving him to back away from her.

“Just…think about it. Please?” He presses. “The kids could have a couple of nights with Dan, and I get to spend some time with you.”

“I thought this Chicago thing was a pretty big deal? Won’t you be wanting to schmooze with everyone?”

He purses his lips before smiling at her. “It has to come to an end at some time, right?” He bites his bottom lip in contemplation and regards her again. “That’s one thing I realised today, when she asked if I thought we made a mistake in ending our marriage. I knew instinctively that we hadn’t, it was almost an automatic feeling in me that it was right and that I didn’t regret leaving, but it doesn’t stop me feeling regret for other things I’ve done, or didn’t do. Things that I wanna make right…”

“Andy…”

“Just…a couple of days and then we can figure it all out afterwards.” He placed his hand in hers, hanging by her side. “I promise.”

#chris evans #chris fic #fanfic #andy barber #au #andy barber x original female character #andy barber x oc #case histories #chris evans fic #evans fic #writing is hard

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eaglesnick · 10 months

Text

No Society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable” Adam Smith

The Metro had this headline yesterday.

"Rishi Sunak is demanding “restraint “ on pay - what a joke.” (Metro: (13/07/23)

The Metro goes on to point out that although pay may be going up, people are becoming poorer, especially those that work in the public sector, because inflation is far outstripping pay awards.

“Pay may be going up, but people are undeniably getting poorer. They’re feeling financially hopeless and helpless. Yet now, the Government and the Bank of England are joining forces to imply it’s all your fault for daring to ask for higher pay in the middle of a cost of living scandal." (Metro: 13/07/23)

Multi-millionaire Sunak could of course, have followed the Metro's demand that he tax the rich a little more to help restore public sector pay and to encourage recruitment and retention within our public services. But Sunak is not going to increase taxes on the rich. After all, why would he when he and his wife are members of the Times Rich List with a combined wealth of £529million?

Sunak, for the tax year 2021/22, paid only 22% tax on a total income of £1.9million. If you or I had earned that amount of money we would have been paying a tax rate of 45% on earned income over £150,000. The reason Sunak and his fellow multi-millionaire friends do not pay that higher tax rate is because much of their money comes from UNEARNED income: unearned income in the form of capital gains is only taxed at 20% no matter how many millions that happens to be.

“The super-rich pay lower taxes than you …because the forms of income they often rely on are taxed much lower than the income of a typical person who has to rely on a salary.” (views-voices.Oxfam.ork.uk: 18/01/23)

Some will argue that calls to tax the rich fairly are merely the politics of envy. I would argue it’s more a question of morality than envy but lets leave that discussion aside for now. Lets look at Sunak’s claim that public sector pay rises are inflationary and that is why they have to be restrained.

“Rishi Sunak has said he would make the "responsible" decision on pay increases for public sector workers, in order to control inflation.” (BBC News: 26/06/23)

Commentating on a £5billion increase in public sector pay, the financial journalist Andy Verity said on BBC news yesterday:

“£5billion pounds may sound a lot but, when the total spending in the economy is expected to be £2,200billion this year, it amounts to an increment of barely a fifth of one percentage point” (Andy Verity: BBC News:13/07/23)

Many economists dismiss the idea that public sector pay rises add to inflation' as the public sector does not increases charges to reflect higher staff pay as happens in the private sector. But lets leave that argument aside as well. If a pay rise to match inflation was given for ALL public sector then economists estimate this would cost the Treasury an additional £23.5billion.

However, if you take into account what the government has already agreed to pay, and then also take into account the 30% in higher taxes and VAT receipts the government will claw back, then the total bill is below £10 billion. (Phillip Inman, Observer: 11/12/22)

This figure is twice the cost talked about by Andy Verity but it still only amounts to TWO FIFTHS of a percentage point of total UK spending.

The sad truth is we are governed by a rich elite who put their own wealth and well-being before that of ordinary working people. For Sunak and his friends, the public sector is seen as a missed opportunity for them to make even more money than they already possess. The NHS in particular holds the potential for some individuals to make billions but first they will have to privatise it. What better way to do that than to starve it of funds, underpay and undermine its workforce, and run it into the ground.

#Uk politics #rishi sunak #millioniers #taxes capital gains tax #unfair #inflaton #false arguements #NHS #public sector pay #rich #privatisation

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thessalian · 2 years

Text

Thess vs Talking Points

I know that the UK doesn’t get all that much play in international news. I don’t blame anybody. The US tends to dominate, and for international news there’s generally Ukraine to focus on. So I don’t go running around screaming WHY ISN’T ANYONE TALKING ABOUT THIS?!?

I just talk about it.

I talk about how much profit the electric companies are raking in while we try to set up ‘warmth banks’ in libraries and the like but can’t because over a decad of Tory austerity is making it impossible for those libraries to stay open under normal circumstances, never mind get enough funding to have the heating on. How food banks are shutting down not because they’re not needed but because people can’t afford to donate to them, and how those that are open are having to turn away donations of far too many things (root vegetables, in the main - some of the cheapest healthiest ways to eat) because people turn them down for not being able to afford the energy needed to cook them. About how PM-to-be Truss keeps saying that corporate tax cuts will benefit everyone by encouraging corporations to keep their prices low, when we all see how they use tax cuts not to make their goods or services more affordable but to do stock buy-backs and enrich themselves at our expense.

Speaking of PM-to-be Truss, I talk about how she’s not exactly giving specifics about how she wants to scrap labour laws, but has stated that she plans to “deregulate aspects of the economy” because she insists that “UK workers are the laziest in the world” and “we need to be competitive in the global market”. When you consider that we already have the stingiest workers’ rights in Europe, you can imagine how much worse it can get. I see scrapping the 48-hour work week and holiday entitlement, because she’s already hinted as much. I see further reduction of maternity and paternity leave, and even stingier rules about paid sick leave, and probably stingier statutory sick pay too. I also see a crackdown on the labour unions, because she’s outright said that’s what she wants to do. While she says it’s all about “not disrupting things for normal people”, what she means is “people being unable to get to work costs our rich corporate donors money and meeting the strikers’ demands would cost them more money so let’s shut this shit down so that the plebs will sit down, shut up, and eat the shit we’ve given them”. Given that Truss has literally said that it’s entirely fair to prioritise the most well-off in society when it comes to tax cuts and economic graces ... you can see where the people rate in her view.

I talk about the Elections Bill. I talk about how we’re going to have voter ID introduced, and yet we still have heard nothing about how to apply for the free voter card we’ve been told we can have. About how senior railcards are seen as valid photo ID but student railcards are not. About how expensive passports are and how slow and backlogged the passport office has been since the end of the Brexit transition period - not to mention how they’re using the state of the passport office to insist on it needing to be privatised.

I also talk about the Elections Bill in the context of “it puts the Elections Commission more closely under government control”. Presumably because the Tories watched Trump try to get people to throw the election in his favour and were smart enough to set the legal procedures in place to do it properly.

I talk about the Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Act. About how most forms of protest have been outright criminalised. About how they can legally shut down protests for any reason, up to and including, “You’re annoying someone”. Which is, the last time I checked, the point of a protest. It also ignores data protection and confidentiality rules by demanding information about everyone (including victims and children) from whatever sources they deem fit, whether or not it’s applicable. Also gives the police greater stop and search powers - anywhere they want, any time they want, for whatever reason they want to make up. Also basically makes Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller encampments illegal. Not to mention the whole thing about forcing trans women to be incarcerated in men’s prisons, and vice versa.

I talk about the treatment of trans people in general. While a lot of people are pretty much okay with the whole concept, the government is not. The government that more or less controls our access to trans-affirming healthcare (and are behaving a lot like some US states about it). The government that insists so strongly that “biological sex is all-important” that they argue with the phrasing of “people who have ovaries” on a piece of advice about diagnosing and treating ovarian cancer. The government whose prime minister at the time (and technically still is, the rumpled pile of medical waste that he is) was proud to go on record as saying that trans women shouldn’t compete in women’s sport, and was backed by most of his government. This is the country that shaped JK Rowling; do not forget that. (Let’s face it, however much a poor single mother she was when she wrote the first Harry Potter book, she went high-octane Tory the red-hot minute she had enough money to sit on like a dragon on its hoard.)

Now, a lot of this goes against international human rights law. So I talk about the fact that the UK wants to entirely quit the European Court of Human Rights and make its own human rights laws. Given the above, how do you think that bill of human rights is going to look? We’ve already had our rights whittled down to the point where more than a few organisations are looking our way and going, “Um ... you know this is bad, right?” If we’re ever in a position where the ECHR doesn’t apply, everyone but the very rich in this country is fucking doomed.

Not that we aren’t already.

This is the country in which I now live. It terrifies me a little more every day. I don’t expect everybody to be talking about it. It’s not like anyone who doesn’t live here can do anything about it anyway. But I talk about it. I have to talk about it. I know it’s bad in other countries. I know that the US varies from state to state in how much bullshit they’re forced to eat regularly. I know Canada has its problems and Alberta’s the worst of a bad lot. I know the situation in Ukraine, and brewing issues in Taiwan, and Argentina, and Somalia, and... You get the idea. I do not diminish any of their situations. Thing is ... sometimes I just need to talk about mine. Because honestly I don’t know what else to do.

I am femme nonbinary in a country where the gender binary is all, so I’m afraid to come out. I remain in the closet about that, and about my sexuality or lack thereof, because it doesn’t feel safe. I am disabled in a country whose health service is being deliberately eroded to encourage a sell-off and turn to an insurance-based US-ish model. I have dietary restrictions that make cheap food literally impossible for me to eat, since they thicken everything with wheat flour and the last time I did a personal gluten challenge, I ended up with an upset stomach for a month and dangerously low vitamin D levels. (I must actually have coeliac, given that one of the things coeliac does is interfere with vitamin D uptake). It is only my insane pain tolerance (which allows me to work at least part-time) and the support of my parentals that allows me to survive, and also to not completely lose my shit.

This country hates me. This country hates me and everyone like me. And the Conservative party have stacked the deck so much in their favour that I have a horrible feeling that this is only going to get worse, because they’re not going away. We’ll try - gods, how we’ll try - but when they make it so hard for those without money to vote, and have the Electoral Commission in their hands ... I struggle to see how we’re going to succeed. And with protest largely off the table, I look to the future and see riots. Then again, is that really worse than the alternative - which at the moment is apathy and terror?

I’ve talked about this as much as I can, I think. Sometimes it has to be said. It just can’t be dwelled upon either. I can’t take to the streets with a Molotov cocktail and a brick. All I can do is talk. And when it gets to the point where I feel the tears threatening, I have to step away. I am of no help to myself or anyone else if I am a sobbing ball of nervous breakdown in a corner.

Just ... if you have a spare second, please send kind thoughts to the people of the UK. It isn’t a major talking point, I know, but there are a lot of tired, angry, terrified, drained, and miserable people on this little spit of land in the North Sea. They could all probably use a virtual hug. I know I could.

#Thess on politics #Thess on economics

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