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The solution to a unfavourable business environment is…

The best way any government in the UK can bring prosperity is not by being ‘pro-business’ but rather by being ‘pro-market’. Labour sneeringly loathes both business and markets, the LibDems do not understand either and the Tories do not grasp that there is even a difference.

The solution? Try to do your business in Hong Kong, Singapore or New Zealand if you realistically have such a choice.

15 comments to The solution to a unfavourable business environment is…

  • Paul Marks

    Agreed Perry, agreed.

  • Jeff Evans

    Yes. The natural goal of “Business” is not competition, it’s monopoly.

    I arrived at this conclusion when working for a company who one day announced a great deal; they had sold all their local newspapers in north-east England to another company, in return for all the other company’s papers in the north-west.

  • Laird

    “and the Tories do not grasp that there is even a difference.”

    I think that’s a key point which is usually overlooked. Well said.

  • Mr Ed

    I sometimes wonder if the ideological basis of the Conservative Party is the beliefs that the Labour Party is horrid but basically right, and that the Liberal Democrats are too nasty and too wishy-washy to be in power, hence the Conservative Party simply believes in it being in office, and in not upsetting the Left too much other than by being in office, and that is the summit of its ambitions and wishes.

  • CaptDMO

    U.S., may not apply elsewhere.
    Let’s see, I can be the Senior Class President, or..OR, I can be the sneaky bastard…um….consultant, with “friends” in low places, playing both ends against the middle.
    What to do….what to do…..?

    Uh oh, “a friend” told me that Elite institutions are FULL of “Senior Class Presidents”, they fetch the coffee, deliver memos, and pick up the dry cleaning.

  • Larry Sheldon

    The best way any government in the UK can bring prosperity is not by being ‘pro-business’ but rather by being ‘pro-market’.

    Or just get out of the way….

  • Regional

    In Astraya the allegedly pro-business Prime Minister introduced a program to punish businesses that hired whimen.

  • pete

    Politicians work in a well-funded nationalised industry.

    They have a public sector mindset.

  • hennesli

    Indeed. capitalism and free markets are not synonymous, though many, including libertarians, often fail to recognize the distinction between the two.

  • Runcie Balspune

    Good post. Having an amateur interest in this subject, whenever I am reading a article or book, or listening to a podcast, about economics, the issue of the difference between business and markets consistently appears and is reinforced as stated above. If a politician still cannot understand then they are clearly not paying attention to any economic conclusions, and in the case of those PPE graduates, it is wilful negligence. It is a great pity because in today’s world economics is an essential part of the issues of the day.

  • Myno

    The solution? Try to do your business in Hong Kong, Singapore or New Zealand if you realistically have such a choice.

    Query: I’m used to seeing Hong Kong and Singapore as exemplary markets, but NZ? I’m used to associating NZ with progressive socialism of the typical sort. Is the suggestion to place business activity in NZ mostly for your Brit audience, or is this a more global suggestion?

  • Brad

    For most, the sides of aisle of government is supposed to be a fight between business and labor (unions). It’s neither, it should be for the free choice for consumers, who after all, are the body politic at large that create governments, sell their labor, and buy products.

  • John Galt III

    In the US it is the same. We have 50 states with different tax laws and regulations. You incorporate in Delaware so that frivolous lawsuits are thrown out. If you want to sue a company in Delaware you must go to a court of law. In many other states companies roll over and settle as the laws defending corporations are weak.

    There are 22 states with “Right to Work” laws. You can unionize a company but employees do not have to pay dues, so unions don’t bother to unionize much in these states.

    There are also (7) states with no personal income tax and no corporate income taxes.

    Take a guess which states grow faster.

    Think Texas

  • Julie near Chicago

    JG III,

    Guess which state is the latest Go-to Haven for disaffected Californians who really really want to live someplace with both a degree of safety and a halfway decent economy, and who naturally get to work sprucing the place up to physical, social, and political acceptability as soon as they get there.

    I am also encouraged to know that the Dems have made it their Project of the Decade to Turn Texas Blue in the next six months or two.

    Kim, save us! Please, please save us!

  • Paul Marks

    John Galt III – Texas does have a business franchise tax (and so on).

    South Dakota is example of a lower taxed State – but Texas is better than most States.

    But what you say about companies being taken to the cleaners by the tort law system……

    That can not be true – after all the evil Corporations control America (and the world).

    This must be true – the “libertarian left” told me so.