Hmmm ??

Many commentators are making the comparison between the 1930s and the current times. These comparisons are in my opinion valid given the Stock Market Crash and the impact it had on the real economy and where we are at the moment.

The fear is that we end up following the path of the 1930s. This path led us to fascism and World War Two. England is currently gripped by strike fever because of a fear of foreign workers. Gordon Brown in a moment of extreme political madness told a conference a couple of years ago that he wanted to create “British jobs for British workers”. This was an extremely stupid thing to say.

Not only is it factually wrong (as members of the European Union, we have signed up to the free movement of labour), it also panders to the protectionist sentiment. It shows a politician at the height of his power seeking the refuge of scoundrels (otherwise known as patriotism!)

Across the globe, politicians from the left and the right are pandering to protectionism and are going to try and erect trade barriers. This is a negative sum game. We all end up worse off through global trade being rolled back.

I understand the sentiment driving protectionism. It is the same as racism. It is easy to blame your job loss on foreign workers based abroad (protectionism) or taking your jobs by coming over here (racism).

As entrepreneurs, our driving belief is that wealth can be created and that business is a win-win game. Our success does not depend on someone else being deprived. We should all be campaigning actively against any measure of protectionism from any source.

As a final note, we have Sir Alan Sugar leading a campaign now to buy British. If you really needed proof of how stupid protectionism is – there it is!

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