More EU devastation to UK Jobs!

[threegee]

One thousand more jobs to go - some of them in the NE - due to Chinese dumping of steel.

What does the USA do about this?  It applies swingeing tariffs on dumped steel to protect US jobs until the dumping stops and normal fair trade can resume.

What does EUCam do?  He offers platitudes whilst another major industry slips away.  He can't act without the permission of our German overlords, and such permission will never be forthcoming. This wouldn't align with Merkel's view of how things must be.

And, what does the EU-centric, EU-funded, BBC tell us about this?  Well, whatever you do don't mention the EU dimension to our job losses, as it would blow a hole straight through our propaganda about EU membership being good for jobs.  Keep on repeating the lie about three million jobs being dependant on our membership of a political union, and we'll put through this bad patch - until, the next bout of EU damage to our economy.  Sad that a once national treasure has been so subverted that we now get more objectivity from Al Jazeera or Russia Today!

[mercuryg]

I was under the impression we import far more steel from EU countries than from China? 

[threegee]

That could easily be true, but you need to argue that with the unions who are demanding government action on Chinese imports depressing world markets.  The unions must know that the government can't do the necessary within the EU framework.  So.. both the Tories and the unions are either kidding themselves or kidding us - you choose!

This is currently labelled as one of those "wicked" issues to which there is no easy solution.  But it's certainly not one of those; like the resurrection of our fishing and other "strategic" industries there is a very straightforward solution: leave the political EU!

Trade and politics do not mix, and the Common Market was sold to the British people as a free trade area.  It's time to call the politician's bluff and get back to fundamentals.  As you imply, we have a trade deficit with the EU, and they depend on our contributions to keep the whole political project afloat.  We call the shots here, and if you meekly accept the EUphile's argument that we are in any way dependant on the EU for survival, you dramatically sell our great country short!

[threegee]

Merc's comment prompted a bit more research.  It seems that German steel is preponderantly specialist steel (stainless etc), and Chinese is the basic stuff.  So, we are mostly talking apples and oranges there.

Chinese imports to the UK have quadrupled over the last few years, and are set to drive even higher.  They of course have the advantage of low energy prices - largely from new coal-fired power - whilst we are stuck with Miliband's wind mills.  Even if wages were similar we still couldn't compete.  But the real clincher is huge Chinese subsidies to their industry to maintain full employment whatever it costs.  We shouldn't be accepting this and need to retaliate, if we don't retaliate we are sending the message that we are an easy touch on this and other things too.  Of course the USA has retaliated in a big way - which makes our own situation even worse.

The problem won't go away as the Chinese have huge stockpiles of finished products they need to liquidate and those stockpiles keep on getting bigger.  So long as we provide the prospect of an open door they have an excuse not to cut back, and if they can entirely trash what's left of our industry that's another reason to keep on overproducing.

So the unions are dead right and EUCam needs to do something.  What both they and Cameron won't accept is that the only thing we can actually do is to ignore EU directives.  Inside the EU we'd face huge fines for doing that, so once again the only lasting solution to a major British problem is OUT!

Interesting that even Ronnie Campbell has been forced to this conclusion, and has recently joined Kate Hoey's Labour MPs for Out campaign. He's written to pal Corbyn urging him to allow a free vote.  I assume our own Lavery is simply too dumb to think this one through, but one can always live in hope.  How about showing some real solidarity with British working people Mr Lavery?  You could easily show us that you aren't actually the fully signed up party place-man that everyone assumes!

[mercuryg]

Ok, so the Chinese have loads of cheap steel, and it impacts on our (barely existent) steel industry. Can we afford to compete, even without EU strangulation or whatever?

[threegee]

Looked at that way the Germans (only a tad over 2% of world output) and indeed the entire EU might as well pack it in.  We've 18,000 workers still left and any government with an ounce of foresight would draw a line in the sand right now!

It's a strategic industry; which means that without it we have none of that mythical "influence" that politicos are so keen on parading before us.  Sooner or later there will be a monopoly supplier to put the squeeze on us, and the politicos who let this happen will have either gone into hiding, or be sunning themselves at their dachas whilst contemplating their memoirs!  We'll need to stump up an inflation adjusted £40 a copy to read about how other politicos in their party (totally against their earnest advice) got it all so horribly wrong.

[webtrekker]

Well, we need steel, no matter where it comes from. 

 

We need it to manufacture the billions of pounds worth of armaments we ship regularly to the likes of the Saudis for a start. 

[mercuryg]

"Looked at that way the Germans (only a tad over 2% of world output) and indeed the entire EU might as well pack it in. "

Which is partly the point, and no, I'm not being tongue in cheek. Hard as it is for those employed in the industry, the simple fact is the UK - and Europe - is no longer a major player in the manufacturing trade. We simply can't compete, and that's been true for some time. I'm all for subsidies to keep people in work, but there has to be a line drawn in teh sand, and sadly not the one you are looking for. When it comes to the point where the people who buy the steel the industry produces can't afford to remain loyal to home produce, things need to be looked at carefully. Business is not charity.

 

[Malcolm Robinson]

Well what a thread!

 

Do we really have a free market fundamentalist like GGG advocating subsidies whilst (I presume) a left of centre guy like merc advocates letting the market decide. 

(I know merc but for the purpose of accusing GGG of adapting spin to get over a political point!!!!!)

[mercuryg]

It looks that way!

[threegee]

2 hours ago, Malcolm Robinson said:

Well what a thread!

 

Do we really have a free market fundamentalist like GGG advocating subsidies whilst (I presume) a left of centre guy like merc advocates letting the market decide. 

(I know merc but for the purpose of accusing GGG of adapting spin to get over a political point!!!!!)

Free markets require that there's a level playing field, and that's always the job of governments.  This government is failing lamentably in that.  The Gordon Brown/Blair governments just screwed the country over in a different way.  They are all obsessed with things that - in a historical context - will be shown to be fads, and have neglected the fundamentals.

The present glut in steel won't last, but it will last beyond the time-horizon of our politicos.  Way back all political parties would consider the long term national interest - the near certainty that a foreign power would use dominance in this or that to hold us to ransom.  A government would maintain strategic stockpiles to give us breathing space whilst the country worked on the supply problem.  Presently our politicos struggle to see as far as the next election let alone past it!

When you dig into the subject of present day strategic reserves things can become quite disturbing, and it's a fertile ground for conspiracy theorists.

Quote

Just two companies, Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), are estimated to control roughly 75 percent of global cereals trade (the trade that takes place in the world rather than domestic markets).  Each firm depends on its knowledge of supply and demand to make a profit; no one considers this information part of the public domain—rather, they go to considerable lengths to keep what they know secret. The resources and experience available to these firms exceeds that of most governments, anywhere, and dwarfs the capacity of the vast majority of developing country governments.

http://www.iatp.org/

Does that sound to you like a free market situation?  Yet, our globalising elites have allowed this to develop for whatever reason.  It would be wise not to dismiss absolutely all of the conspiracy theories without giving them some thought, and it's not hard to imagine the likes of Tony Blair flitting around the world in his private jet having a finger in the pie somewhere.

The point I'm making is that losing our steel industry - whoever we concede control to - if a fundamental error of government.  It's not just about the last 18,000 jobs, it's about leaving our country wide open to being exploited for economic, political, and even military purposes.  Not an issue of free markets, but a clear issue of defence of the realm.

[Malcolm Robinson]

Defence.........like having most of our infrastructure and monopolist companies in foreign hands now?  

 

I'm listening to your argument GGG and transposing coal for steel.