The Archbishop of Enterprise Oil, Justin Welby, has explained that it is outrageous to criticise Pharisees who have a natural concern to maintain a very sensitive religious hierarchy. We also need to listen and pay due respect to the view of money-changers who would suffer severe dislocation if arrangements for conducting their legitimate business were to be subject to any violent disruption. It is, he added, perfectly natural and must not be condemned for decent people to be concerned to halt any possible influx of bloody foreigners.
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Ba’al Zevul (11.49am) “If we spent our lives selling each other shares in dogshit, that would still be a component of growth”
Under the rules of the game, transactions in financial assets aren’t included in the computation of GDP, so sales of shares don’t contribute to economic growth.
Same applies to sales of existing houses and second-hand cars (as opposed to new houses & cars).
On what Jesus would have done (and Welby’s views on immigration) remember St Matthew Ch 22 v 21: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” That was, of course, Jesus’s neat way of avoiding the trap being set for him by the Pharisees. Justin Welby fell into the trap. As Jesus noted, the coinage (i.e. budgets, housing, welfare and immigration rules)marks out Casar’s domain; but compassion is God’s business.” I say that as a Protestant atheist who regards Jesus as a Jewish atheist.
Under the rules of the game, transactions in financial assets aren’t included in the computation of GDP…
I didn’t actually say they were.
so sales of shares don’t contribute to economic growth.
I think the City and the London Stock Exchange would be deeply disappointed to hear that. Given that the financial services ‘industry’ accounts for about 8% of national income, and indeed features in at least one (of a possible four) measure of GDP, as seen in section 4 of this:
http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/sn06193.pdf
That is, a firm managing a portfolio which contains dogshit futures (and hence buying and selling them) is here regarded as a contributor to GDP. And to our trade figures, incidentally. It would be hard to exclude financial servoces – which skim their profits from transactions to which they have actually added no, or even arguably negative, value – from any definition of national economic growth.
The town where I live in Germany…
Looks like the Germans aren’t all sweetness and light when it comes to migrant influxes, either:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/13/anti-refugee-party-makes-big-gains-in-german-state-elections
Pretending that everyone likes it and calling anyone who objects racist risks the obvious response: “OK, so I’m a racist. But it’s still bloody wrong.”