Iain McMillan and Scotland PLC

It's that time of year when we reflect on what's happened over the last 12 months and Das Herald Sturmer isn't going to let a good nat-bashing opportunity go to waste:

Put economy not politics first, CBI chief tells SNP

Yes, Iain McMillan gets to dress up his unionist bent as economics once again. Not so long ago he was slapped down by his own members for being overtly anti-SNP. It escaped this propagandist that many of his own members were independence supporters.

As for the substance or lack thereof:

I guess the introductory paragraph is balanced enough as it exposes McMillan's obviously transparent agenda:

McMillan chose to use his customary “New Year message” to ramp up his criticism of the Scottish Government on several fronts and to question the sincerity of its commitment to the economy and business.

Let's get this straight, Iain McMillan represents his big corporate clients. His recent swipes at the SNP were based on them not supporting things like private prisons. Let me tell you something about them. In the USA were you have private prisons people invest in terms of bed occupancy. The longer the bed is sure to be occupied the bigger the return on investment. Thus we have corporate representatives like McMillan pushing the government for longer jail sentences. Crime pays eh? That kind of corrupt world is exactly where people like Iain McMillan will take Scotland.

Something else irked McMillan:

..he highlighted his annoyance with Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s remarks at the SNP conference about never putting private profit before public sector need.

Eh, aren't businessmen supposed to ask for government to be as removed from the economy as possible? When you have government manipulation in the economy then there is no 'free market'. Of course people like McMillan see citizens as mere capital, neo-feudal debt slaves. There only for the ability of labour.

The reason the economy here and in the US is nose-diving is because giant, blood-sucking squids are sticking their funnels into anything that smells of money and that happens to be the public purse. Special interests now dominate the US government. Britain is going down the same path. Combining government and industrial interest is called fascism according to Mussolini. People like McMillan are not really businessmen, they want everything - it's power.

When the price of a currency is assured by government these megalomaniacs can't help but try to control political parties and governments. Their uncontrolled greed means they have no interest in markets - just money.

When these people have increasing power over government like they do in the US you end up going to war because big business makes a fortune out of it and getting flu vaccines because big pharma companies make a fortune out of it; you get wars on terror because they sell security systems and weapons. If you don't stop them they'll destroy countries and even the world. This is the kind of 'businessman' Iain McMillan is, even though he doesn't know it. These people have to be watched and very closely. Government and big business should be kept apart as much as possible in a democracy! Or even in a capitalist economy!

The bankers in the US and UK are bringing down the economy because of their greed and influence over government. Business 'leaders' like McMillan don't espouse 'capitalism' - they just want as much of your money as they can stuff in their Swiss bank accounts. And while millions slip into poverty they lick their lips at the thought of cheap labour and profits that can be made out of rising crime - remember those prison beds..?

When governments get involved in business they distort the market. They prevent a fair playing field as special interests gain leverage. McMillan should be told this and sent packing. Businesses will not be efficient if government interferes in the market place. His advice should be for the SNP to do as little as possible, to get out of the way.

If McMillan understood economics he would be going for Gordon Brown's throat. By reducing interest rates Brown and Mervin King have flooded the economy with cheap money. This has prevented savings and investment from taking off. The expansion of the credit supply has destroyed the real economy and yet McMillan attacks the SNP over a public spat with one of his members, which is no angel!?

McMillan criticises the SNP for halting infrastructure projects. Eh, if one of his members had problems with cash-flow would be be advising them to spend more money? No! Since when did capitalists start becoming Keynsian? Again, economic illiteracy and plain old greed. Government should never spend 1 penny more than it makes. If it does you move towards hyper-inflation and currency collapse which is exactly where Brown and Obama are taking the Western world.

It seems our 'business leaders' have no clue about the economy. Until they do, they really shouldn't be lecturing governments about what their job is. Go read some economics Iain and then come back and say something useful..