When there is no contestability whatsoever, perhaps a disrupting referendum is the citizens' only option

Sir, as a Venezuelan it is with great interest I read Martin Wolf’s “Appeals to the will of the people threaten parliamentary democracy” December 9.

In my homeland, the majority of the vote established a de facto dictatorship but now, when that same dictatorship has lost its majority, it fights back against a recall referendum right, even though that right is imbedded in our Constitution.

But forget crazy Venezuela and let’s consider slightly less crazy countries. Does not parliamentary democracy also require a very high degree of contestability?

Sir, for more than a decade now, I have tried to get anyone even remotely related to bank regulations to answer some very basic questions, to no avail. Even influential columnists like Martin Wolf do seemingly not dare to pose those questions either.

In cases like this, what are “We the People” to do. Perhaps a referendum to recall all bank regulators is our only option? Otherwise…must we go on a hunger strike?

PS. Is it so impossible to have parliamentary dictatorships?

@PerKurowski

Kenneth Rogoff, a referendum on well explained bank regulations, would do the world immense good

Sir, Kenneth Rogoff writes “Brexit-style votes are the last thing a faltering world economy needs” July 2.

But he also refers to Professor Bruno Frey, who “for example, argues that the threat of referendums helps break up coalitions of entrenched politicians engaged in monopoly behaviour inimical to public interests [and] that referendums produce healthy debate and a more informed electorate.

And how I wish we could hold a referendum on our current bank regulations. Here the questions:

“Do you agree with that those who already find it hard to access bank credit because they are perceived as risky, like SMEs and entrepreneurs, should find that even harder because bank are told to hold more equity when lending to them than what they must hold against assets perceived as safe?”

Or: “Do you agree with that those who already find it easier access to bank credit because they are perceived as safe, like governments and the AAArisktocracy, should find it even easier when banks are allowed to hold much less equity when lending to them than what they must hold against assets perceived as risky?

And the against campaign would remind the electorate that the most important social function of banks, the reason why we taxpayers support them, is to allocate credit efficiently to the real economy, which includes lending to those “risky” that can help the economy to move forward so that it does not stall and fall.

And the against campaign would remind the electorate that all major bank crises have always resulted from excessive exposures to what was ex ante perceived as safe and never from exposure to what was perceived as risky.

And the against campaign would force the for forces to answer many questions. Like these

PS: UK’s decision to enter EU, 1975, was also subject to a Brexit type referendum. The result 67% * 65% = 43.5% for YES

@PerKurowski ©

A Universal Basic Income, a Societal Dividend, needs always to be slightly small, so as never risk being too large.

Sir Ralph Atkins and Gemma Tetlow report that “Swiss vote against basic income provision” “Welfare systems” June 6.

I support Universal Basic Income, for me it is a Societal Dividend, but I would have voted NO in the referendum. 2.500 Swiss Francs, about US$3.500 monthly, about 50 percent of the Swiss GDP per capita is way too large for a “Basic”. In Switzerland, something like $1.000, perhaps expressed as a percentage of GDP or of average or median salaries, would be a much more reasonable level at which to start this social experiment.

And of course the idea of those working not getting the UBI plays directly into the hands of those arguing that UBI could cause people to work less.

So what is a Societal Dividend or a Citizen's Dividend of that kind proposed by Thomas Paine? Here is my personal take on it.

It is a basic amount transferred to anyone independent of having been able to capitalize on society’s strengths and accumulated assets, like having been able to get a good job.

It could be seen as an effort to grease the real economy by combating the natural concentrations of wealth.

It could be seen as a substitute for many those redistribution efforts that because of their complexity, is bound to attract the profiteers.

It is a well-funded transfer, no funny money, from citizens to citizens, or from natural resources inherited by an Act of God, but not depending on government favors. It could therefore be seen as an effort by citizens to become more independent of that populism and demagoguery that often lies behind all societal redistribution.

Also the way it is funded, can help to align the incentives for other societal causes, for instance if with carbon taxes, with the efforts for a better environment.

But a Societal Dividend should never ever be so large so as to risk de-capitalizing the Society or induce generalized lazyness.

@PerKurowski ©

PS. In other words the Swiss UBI referendum was set up to fail... probably by some anxious redistribution profiteers L

Should an 81 years old Scot, have had more right to vote on Scotland independency than a newborn Scot?

Sir, on your first page September 19, we saw the photo of a Jock Robertson, who from how he is dressed is undoubtedly a Scot, and who says: “I have waited all my life for this vote”.

He is 81 years old… and my first though was, I am sure he might deserve to vote, and I am truly happy for him… but, really, should an 81 years old Scot be allowed to vote for on the future of Scotland, when all those under 16, and who will be much longer affected by the outcome cannot?

And it is not that I suggest new born should vote… but I wonder if Jock Robertson, exercising a voting right in the name of perhaps a young grandchild of his, would vote the same as he voted his own vote.

In these baby-boomers’ days and when so many of those 18 to 25 year olds do not seem sufficient interested in elections so as to look up from their I-pads, I have often thought that democracy would be much more dynamic and responsible, if mothers, or fathers, were allowed to vote in the name of their children…

And I say this also because then perhaps we would be able to have governments who do not accept the risk aversion of regulators, and which have banks not financing the future but only refinancing the past.

In 2006 I published an Op-Ed in Venezuela that stated: “Whenever on television we see a desperately poor mother telling how she has been let down again by politicians, it just evidences that her voice and her vote does not count enough.

If that mother, or father, besides speaking in the name of her or his own voting rights, were also speaking on behalf of the votes of their children, her or his voice would carry much more power.

Since it is the young who will benefit, or suffer, for a longer time from what governments’ do or not do, they not only should have a vote but also perhaps have more votes than adults. In some countries, especially those who demographically are in the process of becoming real baby-boomer dictatorships, the lack of representation of youth can have serious consequences.

We see all around us how the short-term interest reigns, we even hear now about accounting in real time, while problems that are perceived as of a more long-term nature, such as protection the environment [and lack of jobs] accumulate everywhere.

To assign a voting right to the newborn, can be the most effective way to remind all other voters that there are also who are interested in what might happen in eighty years time.”

In summary, if the average life is eighty years, a new born should have 80 votes (exercised by his mother or older brother) someone like me would have 16 votes left, and someone over eighty should count his blessings and be glad if he is allowed to keep one as a memento. I do not want to owe the world to my children, I want to assure their rights as stakeholders and make it all more of a joint venture.

http://onechildonevote.blogspot.com