Protectionism shows its ugly face

I hate protectionism! It never seems to do any good to anyone, but the unions love it and the voters seem to love it too. I find it incredibly short-sighted to “buy British” to keep British workers going in industries that are clearly not competitive. Why not teach these people new skills instead or revamp the businesses so they can get on by themselves in the world. In Denmark protectionism has always been favoured to help the farmers and the ship yards. In the end they had to give up protecting the ship yards because it became ridiculous to keep pouring money into it when ships were built much cheaper in other parts of the world and giving people there jobs, who did not have access to any kinds of benefits or to learning new skills. Unfortunately the same thing cannot be said about the farmers, who are still being massively subsidised by EU.

I Buy British when it’s fruit, meat and vegetables of good quality, because I believe that the shorter distance these foodstuffs have covered on their way from the good earth and onto my dinner table, the better for the planet. It’s certainly not to protect British farmers. If they can’t produce something of quality at a fair price I’m not going to buy it, not if he’s my neighbour!

Anyway, that’s what all the talk has been about in Davos today – read this summary of the protectionism discussions in Washington Post.

On an entirely different and quite silly (but cute) note, here’s something a friend sent me today. Be patient while the page loads, it takes a little while. And then move your mouse around. And, not least, try holding it still. I’m glad that yet another mystery of “how things work” has now revealed itself!