Is Globalisation A Busted Flush?
Global leaders are caught in a dilemma: they face growing pressure at home to safeguard jobs and businesses, yet they know full well that if national considerations become paramount, our future is indeed bleak. It was the retreat into protectionism that blighted the 1930s, helping to create a worldwide slump and triggering political instability that led ultimately to WWII.
Who should we follow - Gordon Brown or Sir Alan Sugar. The PM says he’s “fighting hard” to halt a return to beggar-thy-neighbour trade policies and stresses the grave dangers of financial isolationism. But protectionist forces are already rampant. Spain’s industry minister has called on his compatriots “to shop Spanish”. In the US, pressure mounts for Buy America clauses in stimulus packages. And here, Sir Alan is telly Daily Mirror readers to “stuff the EU for a while until it suits us”.
But there’s every reason to be wary of such campaigns (which, when applied aggressively, are illegal anyway). Above all, they’re counter-productive.
We should avoid inflaming nationalistic counter-blasts from trading partners, particularly since, thanks to sterling’s weakness, British goods ought soon to be among the cheapest on international shelves. Buy British by all means, but beware the backlash.
There’s no reason why we should shun the grass-roots approach entirely. Britain’s localities need the power to drive their own regeneration.
The best means of achieving this might be a complete rethink on the role and use of the Post Office. The PO is a trusted brand, with a big but steadily declining branch network. Yet it is a massively under-used banking asset. Rather than privatising it, and further running down the network, why not turn each branch into a local finance hub, which would act as a vehicle for local investment and savings, and stimulate local economies?
Royal Mail has a £7bn pension deficit, but the PO is free of toxic debt. If the Government can underwrite hundreds of billions for the private banks, it can surely refinance £7bn for a public one.
We need a new parallel banking system. The Post Office is the obvious platform on which one could be built.