“An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one.”
– George Mikes
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July 9, 2024 — We tune into the drama today, mid-battle. Our “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly [hero] with a poor memory” is fending off a slew of frontal attacks, not least of which come from the “elites” within his own party. From the Reason Roundup:
“I’m getting so frustrated by the elites,” the sitting president, who has been in politics for 52 years, said on MSNBC. He clarified that he wasn’t referring to the hosts but “the elites in the party who, they know so much more,” he added, emphasizing the last few words in a mocking tone.
“I don’t care what the millionaires think,” he added. He had a fundraising Zoom call with that precise demographic later in the day, of course.
Mr. Biden certainly looks the grumpy part. And has a point.
In addition to the mainstream media trying desperately to get viewers by chasing down reports made by a top alzheimer’s physician who has visited with the president 10 times, top advisors to “down ballot” democrats are getting squirmy.
And… If you’re in the camp who believes that the Clintons and Obamas still hold court among the more influential democratic donors… the 81-year old’s fear of his party’s elites is not unfounded.
The Clinton’s historically-famed attack dog, James Carville, suggested yesterday that the Clintons and the Obamas should lead discussions on a suitable replacement for their embattled comrade.
David Axelrod, now a CNN commentator, backed Carville up. He reportedly predicted yesterday that Joe Biden is more likely to “lose the 2024 election by a landslide than narrowly win following his disastrous debate performance.”
“Tom Brady won a Super Bowl three years ago, and he’s out of football, OK? Why? Doesn’t detract from his greatness or what he’s done,” Axelrod, said on CNN Sunday. Axlerod was a chief adviser to Obama for both his successful runs at the Oval Office in 2008 and 2012.
In response to these turncoats Biden chose to cancel a meeting with Senate democrats yesterday afternoon.
“There are only two reasons to cancel such a meeting,” tweeted billionaire investor Bill Ackman in response to the news. “One, that @POTUS Biden is not even willing to listen to calls for his stepping aside, or two, that the president has finally recognized that the time has come.
“I would bet on #2.”
The plot could get weirder still.
“The oddest primary season in modern times may take an even stranger turn,” observes erstwhile progressive champion Matt Taibbi, as calls for Joe Biden to step down as presumptive Democratic nominee grow louder.”
Taibbi picks through a proposal by “well-connected Democrats” – Georgetown law professor Rosa Brooks and venture capitalist Ted Dintersmith – who’ve backed what they call a “blitz primary”. Taibbi:
The plan “would involve Joe Biden stepping down as presumptive nominee within weeks. He would then team with Vice President Kamala Harris to announce a new ‘positive only’ intramural campaign for the nomination among the ‘six candidates who receive the most votes from delegates’.”
Oh, the drama.
The action unfolds as both France and the UK have managed to take grand strides toward the political left in their own national elections.
Last week, amid the tabloid fodder America celebrated its 248th Independence Day. An investment analyst may consider the American experiment the greatest spinoff of all time.
Today, the United States has a nominal GDP of nearly $29 trillion. The United Kingdom? $3.5 trillion.
Of course, GDP isn’t always the best measure of a country’s success, especially given the benchmark is a very malleable fiat currency backed by a mountain of debt whose sum must not be named.
Still we’ve noted over time that many industrialized nations have seen slow economic growth in recent years. The Eurozone as a whole, for instance, hasn’t grown in real terms in over 15 years.
Britain’s decline on the global scene started with the end of World War I – as with many other European nations, they were simply bankrupt and exhausted. Fighting World War II, at one point alone against the forces of facism, further added to those debts.
Since then, the United Kingdom has taken a slower path. And it’s structurally set up so that it may never pull ahead on the global stage again, as our intrepid managing editor, Andrew Packer, reports from London today. Enjoy ~~ Addison
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Two Cheers for British Efficiency
Andrew Packer, Grey Swan Investment Fraternity
“If the Tories manage to win this election, I’ll eat my flag.”
So says Nathan, our Tour Guide as we cross in front of Victoria Tower, which houses the bell known as Big Ben.
It’s July 4, the day of the U.K.’s referendum. The weather is downright American today, too.
It’s also America’s 248th birthday … and the U.S. is just one of over 60 countries that have declared independence from Britain. (It’s really one of Britain’s top exports.)
We peer down an open doorway at the Treasury building, beyond which we can see 10 Downing Street, home of the Prime Minister. Or could, if it wasn’t blocked by a moving van.
Our tour guide explains that on the eve of any election, the Prime Minister has to pack up and be ready to move out.
And so it went.
Less than 24 hours later, after 14 years in power, the U.K.’s conservative party took their largest drubbing in over a century, with a new PM moving right in.
And despite there being 650 total seats in the House of Commons, the process was over within a few hours of the closing of the last polling station.
There’s a lot America can learn from Britain’s election process.
Move Fast, Put the Issues First
First, it’s quick and easy.
Once in power, a Prime Minister has up to five years to call for an election. They can do so at any time, but once announced, it must be held within 60 days.
In the United States, we’ve turned our election process into a never-ending litany of fundraising. Even the Presidential primary season has become a circus that starts right after the latest midterm election.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) reports that during the first 12 months of the 2024 election cycle, Presidential candidates collected $374.9 million and disbursed $270.8 million.
That doesn’t mean much against the federal debt. But it’s a big enough line-tiem of spending that could be put to just about any other myriad of better uses.
Limiting American elections to a 90-day period before election day could cut down a tremendous amount of wasteful spending by the political elite.
Second, moving fast puts the issues first, not the candidates. That may be as much a detraction as a benefit. But voters still have plenty of time to learn who they prefer on the issues.
Just as in the U.S., U.K. elections attract all sorts of interesting characters at the local level. But we don’t need to see reality TV stars in our faces for 18 months before making a decision or not.
Finally, the U.K., a nation likely more bureaucratic than democratic, was able to count the votes for 650 seats and declare the winner in less than 24 hours.
In the U.S., some contested seats don’t get a final count for weeks later. And the prolonged counting in several Presidential election contests over our lifetime make it easy to give rise to claims – real or false – about the integrity of our election system.
Just the Two Cheers, Thanks
While I can commend the speed and efficiency of Britain’s election system … America still does a lot of things better. So it’s just the two cheers, chaps. Sorry ‘bout that.
Britain is, like many other industrialized nations, so developed that its institutions seemingly exist to protect and insulate themselves from any change.
The process of how a thing is done seems more important than whether or not the thing gets done. The sheer amount of safety signage throughout London comes off as downright patronizing to any American tourist.
That may be why it took a take-charge leader like Winston Churchill to push Britain forward in times of war. But those days are long past.
The efficiency that Britain’s elections show simply don’t trickle down to other parts of British life.
Innovation isn’t in the country’s vocabulary anymore. Even 110 years ago, during the first World War, Munitions Minister Winston Churchill had this to say about the development of the tank, which started to break through years of stalemated trench warfare once it started to be used en masse:
“The tank was a British invention. This idea, which has revolutionized the conditions of modern war, was a British idea forced on the War Office by outsiders. Let me say they would have just as hard work today to force a new idea on it. I speak from what I know.”
While I’m enjoying my stay here, there’s a melancholy feeling I get.
Maybe it’s from the sense of awe of seeing a building that’s stood for twice as long as my country has existed.
Maybe it’s the notion that, like the ancient Roman ruins that run through the country, this could be America’s fate some day. Not to end in a bang, but gradually, and with too many roundabouts.
Today, the United Kingdom is what you get when you cross a DMV with an antique shop.
America may have more growth and innovation, but a look across the pond could also be a look into a not-too-distant future if we lose that innovative edge, whether because of a softer culture, or because of a decline in world standing (likely starting with the U.S. dollar).
The U.K. now has a conservative party who just lost power because it middled about too long on Brexit, and offered no real values about its country that it would like to conserve.
It now has a liberal party majority, who will likely do much of the same. And a myriad of third parties, who sometimes get a few seats here and there based on specific issues.
And round and round it goes. The process, while speedy, will continue, irrespective of outcome.
But it was refreshing to see the fast turnaround time on the election. It’s the kind of moment that, for just that fleeting instant, makes you think democracy can sometimes work … and that even empires have great moments while they’re on the decline. ~~ Andrew Packer, Grey Swan Investment Fraternity
CONTINUED BELOW…
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CONTINUED…
So it goes,
Addison Wiggin
Founder, The Wiggin Sessions
P.S. “I see you’re back in the ‘And So It Goes’ bag,” writes long time reader John B. “Linda Ellerbe would roll over on her rainbow blanket.”
“But, could I suggest that you contact the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra for permission to use their 2023 jazz hit “And So It Goes” as background music on your intro and outro segments in your podcasts.
“It’s classic and the ending is the kind of sound we could only wish to hear as Joe Biden resigns from the race. A sigh of acquiescence, dignity and reality then fade to a long hold on a trumpet and sax note. Quite different from the Stones tune ‘Little Tits and Ass’ that he seems to be vibing to in his churlish rejection of reality.”
P.P.S. How did we get here? An alternative view of the financial, economic, and political history of the United States from Demise of the Dollar through Financial Reckoning Day and on to Empire of Debt— all three books are available in their third post-pandemic editions.
(Or… simply pre-order Empire of Debt: We Came, We Saw, We Borrowed, now available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble or if you prefer one of these sites:Bookshop.org; Books-A-Million; or Target.)
Please send your comments, reactions, opprobrium, vitriol and praise to: addison@greyswanfraternity.com
