The Decline And Fall…………..

………….Or What Happens When There Is Not Enough Bread To Pay For The Circus.

Once upon a time there was a central banker who had thought up a new scheme which would ensure that everyone would get filthy rich. He took his idea to the Emperor who was greatly impressed. “What do you need from me to make this work ?” asked the Emperor.

“It’s very simple.” replied the banker. “Place £1 on the first square of my exchequer board in the first quarter, the following quarter place £2 on the next square, the third quarter double the sum once more and place £4, and keep on doubling the amount each quarter ad infinitum.”

“And this will ensure everyone gets filthy rich ?”

“Absolutely” replied the banker, “It will ensure perpetual growth, we’ll all get stinking rich.”

“Excellent ! here is your first pound from my very own pocket.” the Emperor declared.

After ten years the Emperor called the central banker back to his palace. “I know we’re all getting stinking rich, just as you said we would but this next quarter we’ve got to place over £1 Trillion on your exchequer board and in just another two years we’ll have to place over £140 Trillion.”

“Errrrm” pondered the banker “We could always print more pounds, I suppose………………………………”

OK, a frivolous illustration but my point is that the money has run out, or to be more accurate the economic system is unsustainable and only has the illusion of stability by the use of complex accounting tricks, more akin to alchemy than mathematics. The modern day philosopher’s stone doesn’t turn lead into gold but gold into paper or tungsten. The spot price of gold has been contaminated but that is the subject of an altogether different topic…

This article is about what happens to our society when the money runs out. Has anyone else noticed that since the beginning of the financial crisis the UK has been dogged by a number of seemingly unrelated crises ?

You see, before the ponzi scheme became apparent there was just so much money sloshing around that nobody delved too deep into corrupt and deviant practices. Even those on state benefits had Sky satellite dishes crucified to their council house walls, we could all afford to eat Tuscan sun-dried tomatoes marinated in a pesto infused vinaigrette with our Scottish kiln smoked salmon, the nameless elves from China shipped container loads of the latest must have branded trainers, clothes, and electrical goods, all at very affordable prices.

But then………..Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and credit bubble.

You see, you don’t understand just how many people were being paid off with all that money and as long as enough trickled down to you, you never thought about asking.

The police are a very good example. Ever since Margaret Thatcher realised in the early 1980s that as long as you could keep the police onside you could just about screw over any other group of people in the UK, the police have had extremely generous working practices and financial arrangements. Most police officers probably wouldn’t agree but that says more about the amnesic affect of thirty years of preferential treatment, which now appears to them to be a right. There was a time before that when policemen, firemen, and medical staff all recognised each others social contribution as being similar but to pay for the police arrangements the firemen and the nurses had to make sacrifices.

Some might suggest that it is extremely brave of this government to try and ensure that the ‘we’re all in it together’ mantra applies to the police also. I would suggest that they are only doing it because they literally have no alternative. It’s not brave to do what has been forced on you, regardless of how brave a face they put upon it. I only mention the police example because the ‘Plebgate’ incident indicates clearly what happens when you don’t pay them off.

But by far the worst leeches were the bankers, businessmen, crooked politicos, civil servant mandarins, defence contractors, media moguls, and basically everyone who went to the right school, or belonged to the right family, who felt they had a god given right to be kept in the circumstances that their parents had become accustomed to. A bonfire of the quangos is a bonfire of patronage. They all had to be paid off in some way before you got your share.

Their payment ensured their complicity and silence.

And like the decadent Romans before them, not satisfied with all that money could buy, they thought they could take what they had no right to take.

There is a difference between Law and Justice. When the law applies equally to all it can often be just but justice is not law, justice stands above the law and can stand outside of it.

So, what happens when there is not enough bread to pay for the circus ?

The people cease to be distracted.