| France Riots 23:10 - Oct 17 with 1261 views | Southamptonfan |
Riots across many French cities. Riots in Albania, Italy, Greece, Belgium and Portugal. The world is in chaos. High costs of living across many countries in the EU, not just here. People can't afford their own homes. The services are not coping. Diesal and petrol is a crazy price. Countries in debt. Spending billions on wars that are nothing to do with us. Not sure rejoining the EU will make anything better. Europe certainly doesn't seem to be awash with money. [Post edited 17 Oct 23:16]
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| France Riots on 00:21 - Oct 18 with 1145 views | Gennaro_Contaldo |
Trump and Putin and their shtty wars have done wonders for the world economy. |  |
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| France Riots on 00:34 - Oct 18 with 1131 views | Southamptonfan |
| France Riots on 00:21 - Oct 18 by Gennaro_Contaldo |
Trump and Putin and their shtty wars have done wonders for the world economy. |
Yep, totally unnecessary wars. | |
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| France Riots on 00:55 - Oct 18 with 1108 views | Joiedevivre |
But Alistair Campbell says without the undemocratic 0.1% growth machine EU we’re missing 6% economic growth based on dodgy pre-Brexit “predictions”  |  | | |
| France Riots on 01:03 - Oct 18 with 1095 views | Joiedevivre |
Honestly though, the debt (long term) is the biggest issue - alongside fuel (short term) - which we face, which you’re right to point out. Our government’s just kick the can down the road to steal that awful cliche.
There was a piece in the economist the other week on this. Will the bond market burst I believe it was titled. Very interesting reading. Britain is one of the worst for this sort of fallacy, whereby we can go on spending whatever we want without increasing taxation. One example would be how Labour wants a care service. Paid on debt. They’re completely unserious.
As a young person, the idea of a welfare state geared towards a much smaller base (the young, based on lower birth rates) paying the older, much larger group, is terrifying. Either the young will eventually be taxed heavily or we’ll be paying a mountain of debt - greater than even thinkable currently - in my future. It’s depressing. [Post edited 18 Oct 1:06]
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| France Riots on 07:55 - Oct 18 with 884 views | jopreston |
Another very important factor has been missed; the elephant in the room. The mass migration and movement of people from Africa and Asia in the Europe has put welfare and services under far too much pressure to fast and thus it all starts to collapse. Do Gooders and Virtuous types will flatly deny this but it is 100% fact. Our systems and infrastructure cannot cope with this many people coming in and taking benefits, hospitals are strained, housing is full. |  | | |
| France Riots on 08:33 - Oct 18 with 842 views | Jellybaby |
| France Riots on 01:03 - Oct 18 by Joiedevivre |
Honestly though, the debt (long term) is the biggest issue - alongside fuel (short term) - which we face, which you’re right to point out. Our government’s just kick the can down the road to steal that awful cliche.
There was a piece in the economist the other week on this. Will the bond market burst I believe it was titled. Very interesting reading. Britain is one of the worst for this sort of fallacy, whereby we can go on spending whatever we want without increasing taxation. One example would be how Labour wants a care service. Paid on debt. They’re completely unserious.
As a young person, the idea of a welfare state geared towards a much smaller base (the young, based on lower birth rates) paying the older, much larger group, is terrifying. Either the young will eventually be taxed heavily or we’ll be paying a mountain of debt - greater than even thinkable currently - in my future. It’s depressing. [Post edited 18 Oct 1:06]
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Controlled demolition of the fiat currency. If you have any money put it into something tangible. | |
| I wholly disapprove of what you say and will defend to the death your right to say it. |
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| France Riots on 09:35 - Oct 18 with 759 views | saintmark1976 |
| France Riots on 01:03 - Oct 18 by Joiedevivre |
Honestly though, the debt (long term) is the biggest issue - alongside fuel (short term) - which we face, which you’re right to point out. Our government’s just kick the can down the road to steal that awful cliche.
There was a piece in the economist the other week on this. Will the bond market burst I believe it was titled. Very interesting reading. Britain is one of the worst for this sort of fallacy, whereby we can go on spending whatever we want without increasing taxation. One example would be how Labour wants a care service. Paid on debt. They’re completely unserious.
As a young person, the idea of a welfare state geared towards a much smaller base (the young, based on lower birth rates) paying the older, much larger group, is terrifying. Either the young will eventually be taxed heavily or we’ll be paying a mountain of debt - greater than even thinkable currently - in my future. It’s depressing. [Post edited 18 Oct 1:06]
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Government Debt :-
We currently have the second lowest Debt to Gross Domestic Product Ratio of the G7 advanced economies at just less than 100%. Current highest Japan at just over 200%, lowest Germany at just over 80%.
At the end of the Second World War our figure was just over 250% yet we managed to build the N H S and millions of houses for public occupancy. We also owned and had control over our basic needs such as Water, Energy, Railways and Telephones.
Makes you wonder what went wrong in the meantime doesn’t it ? [Post edited 18 Oct 9:44]
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| France Riots on 12:03 - Oct 18 with 574 views | Ifonly |
| France Riots on 09:35 - Oct 18 by saintmark1976 |
Government Debt :-
We currently have the second lowest Debt to Gross Domestic Product Ratio of the G7 advanced economies at just less than 100%. Current highest Japan at just over 200%, lowest Germany at just over 80%.
At the end of the Second World War our figure was just over 250% yet we managed to build the N H S and millions of houses for public occupancy. We also owned and had control over our basic needs such as Water, Energy, Railways and Telephones.
Makes you wonder what went wrong in the meantime doesn’t it ? [Post edited 18 Oct 9:44]
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It's true that we had massive debts after WWII, but you can't really compare the country at that time to now. Everything is so different e.g.:
- The "NHS" means something completely different now to the 1950s version. In the 50s healthcare was about 3.5% of GDP. Now it's 11.5%. If we only spent 3.5% of GDP on healthcare we'd solve our financial problems overnight!
- Other spending was also drastically less. In the 50s unemployment was effectively zero and no one was claiming the sick for ADHD.
- Taxes went up, but only to 33% of GDP compared to 37% today. Attitudes to taxes were very different though. People accepted them because there was a spirit of national unity and the country needed to be rebuilt. Today there is no spirit of national unity and if you put up taxes on the wealthy they just leave the country because emigration to lower tax countries is so easy today. That's something that hardly existed at all in the 50s. | | | |
| France Riots on 12:38 - Oct 18 with 540 views | Southamptonfan |
| France Riots on 12:03 - Oct 18 by Ifonly |
It's true that we had massive debts after WWII, but you can't really compare the country at that time to now. Everything is so different e.g.:
- The "NHS" means something completely different now to the 1950s version. In the 50s healthcare was about 3.5% of GDP. Now it's 11.5%. If we only spent 3.5% of GDP on healthcare we'd solve our financial problems overnight!
- Other spending was also drastically less. In the 50s unemployment was effectively zero and no one was claiming the sick for ADHD.
- Taxes went up, but only to 33% of GDP compared to 37% today. Attitudes to taxes were very different though. People accepted them because there was a spirit of national unity and the country needed to be rebuilt. Today there is no spirit of national unity and if you put up taxes on the wealthy they just leave the country because emigration to lower tax countries is so easy today. That's something that hardly existed at all in the 50s. |
I would be interested to know just how much we and other EU countries spend in foreign lands. What are we giving to Ukraine, to the Israel war, Iran war. What foreign aid are we giving?
The people in the UK, France and many countries in the EU feel that they are suffering themselves, and huge amounts of money are going to others suffering, but what about looking after the people in our own countries first instead of being last in the queue?
Ofcourse there are rich people, and people feel they should give more back, be taxed more, but as you say, they have the money to leave the country. They will just get in their private jet to their private island and leave. Immigration is definitely another issue. People feel that as soon as a boats of people turn up on our shores, luxury coaches are waiting hours before they arrive, whizzing past the homeland homeless on the way. Germany have already voted in a far right party in a large sectio of their country. There are a lot of tensions.
Too much is being spent on non necessary things in the NHS as you make reference to. It should be a place for emergency.medicine. Not changing gender, etc.
The petrol prices, well again it is the actions of individual leaders that have made life unbearable for normal.people. Leaders just want to.look good, flex their muscles but have no thought for the people. [Post edited 18 Oct 13:04]
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| France Riots on 12:48 - Oct 18 with 513 views | 1885_SFC |
| France Riots on 00:21 - Oct 18 by Gennaro_Contaldo |
Trump and Putin and their shtty wars have done wonders for the world economy. |
I wake up every day hoping that both of those evil, totally deranged arseholes have been assassinated during the night.
I'm still hoping. |  |
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| France Riots on 12:53 - Oct 18 with 496 views | saintmark1976 |
| France Riots on 12:03 - Oct 18 by Ifonly |
It's true that we had massive debts after WWII, but you can't really compare the country at that time to now. Everything is so different e.g.:
- The "NHS" means something completely different now to the 1950s version. In the 50s healthcare was about 3.5% of GDP. Now it's 11.5%. If we only spent 3.5% of GDP on healthcare we'd solve our financial problems overnight!
- Other spending was also drastically less. In the 50s unemployment was effectively zero and no one was claiming the sick for ADHD.
- Taxes went up, but only to 33% of GDP compared to 37% today. Attitudes to taxes were very different though. People accepted them because there was a spirit of national unity and the country needed to be rebuilt. Today there is no spirit of national unity and if you put up taxes on the wealthy they just leave the country because emigration to lower tax countries is so easy today. That's something that hardly existed at all in the 50s. |
So in your opinion Ifony, what’s gone wrong ? | |
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| France Riots on 13:59 - Oct 18 with 399 views | Jellybaby |
| France Riots on 12:48 - Oct 18 by 1885_SFC |
I wake up every day hoping that both of those evil, totally deranged arseholes have been assassinated during the night.
I'm still hoping. |
They would only be replaced by new warmongers. It's the modus operandus of the ruling classes - propping up the military industrial complex while culling the masses. Has ever been thus. | |
| I wholly disapprove of what you say and will defend to the death your right to say it. |
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| France Riots on 14:06 - Oct 18 with 392 views | Ifonly |
| France Riots on 12:53 - Oct 18 by saintmark1976 |
So in your opinion Ifony, what’s gone wrong ? |
I think the key things are:
- Demographics. We used to have a large number of young and healthy workers supporting a small number of elderly and sick. That's been slowly reversing as the baby boomers, like me, have grown old.
- Climate change leading to expensive energy. Climate change is real but the policy response of our governments, of both types, has put us at a severe disadvantage to other countries by making energy too expensive. Energy is fundamental to economic growth and our taxes on petrol, gas electricity etc. are massive.
- Poor productivity growth, mostly caused by a lack of investment over many years, but particularly since the financial crash 2008. This is widely agreed on by left and right.
- The "housing ladder" and national obsession with home owning. Successive governments have had policies deliberately designed to push up the value of houses, with disastrous results. It's a stupid policy that was always going to end badly. If people saved up to invest in businesses e.g. via pensions or a "national share" instead of houses, we would all be better off. Germany doesn't have an obsession with home owning and is better off because of that.
- "Made in China". I hate Trump but one thing he has right is the damage that China has done by seeking to own the world's manufacturing, leaving millions of people in the west on the scrap heap. The west should have put concerted pressure on China to change policies - and still needs to.
- Values. Young people used to be taught the value of work. Now they are taught about entitlements. Tbf, this is partly because the stupid policies referenced above have robbed them of jobs and opportunities, leading to inter-generational conflict (as in France). [Post edited 18 Oct 14:14]
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| France Riots on 14:32 - Oct 18 with 347 views | saintmark1976 |
| France Riots on 14:06 - Oct 18 by Ifonly |
I think the key things are:
- Demographics. We used to have a large number of young and healthy workers supporting a small number of elderly and sick. That's been slowly reversing as the baby boomers, like me, have grown old.
- Climate change leading to expensive energy. Climate change is real but the policy response of our governments, of both types, has put us at a severe disadvantage to other countries by making energy too expensive. Energy is fundamental to economic growth and our taxes on petrol, gas electricity etc. are massive.
- Poor productivity growth, mostly caused by a lack of investment over many years, but particularly since the financial crash 2008. This is widely agreed on by left and right.
- The "housing ladder" and national obsession with home owning. Successive governments have had policies deliberately designed to push up the value of houses, with disastrous results. It's a stupid policy that was always going to end badly. If people saved up to invest in businesses e.g. via pensions or a "national share" instead of houses, we would all be better off. Germany doesn't have an obsession with home owning and is better off because of that.
- "Made in China". I hate Trump but one thing he has right is the damage that China has done by seeking to own the world's manufacturing, leaving millions of people in the west on the scrap heap. The west should have put concerted pressure on China to change policies - and still needs to.
- Values. Young people used to be taught the value of work. Now they are taught about entitlements. Tbf, this is partly because the stupid policies referenced above have robbed them of jobs and opportunities, leading to inter-generational conflict (as in France). [Post edited 18 Oct 14:14]
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Some excellent points.
In addition, I’m of the opinion that our current situation has been exacerbated by Thatcher selling off vast numbers of council built propertied at knock down prices for electoral advantage,under her Right to Buy scheme. Resulting now in many of those houses being owned by private landlords.
Selling of essential services to the private sector hasn’t helped either, witness the current situation at Thames Water.
Personally I’m pleased to have been a baby boomer like yourself and certainly wouldn’t want to be starting out now. | |
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| France Riots on 15:59 - Oct 18 with 272 views | kingslandstand1 |
| France Riots on 12:48 - Oct 18 by 1885_SFC |
I wake up every day hoping that both of those evil, totally deranged arseholes have been assassinated during the night.
I'm still hoping. |
You're not alone, but not likely to happen
If only their mid-term elections actually meant he had to stand down. Surely the Yank public realise what an ar5ehole he is.
That video of the poor lad and the tiger was the lowest of the low. And that from a man in his position |  |
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| France Riots on 16:00 - Oct 18 with 270 views | kingslandstand1 |
Surely we don't want to rejoin Europe when you see all that is happening over there at the moment | |
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| France Riots on 16:50 - Oct 18 with 225 views | Southamptonfan |
| France Riots on 16:00 - Oct 18 by kingslandstand1 |
Surely we don't want to rejoin Europe when you see all that is happening over there at the moment |
It does make you wonder doesn't it kingslandstand1. The lies we must be fed in all respects. How can rejoining the EU be the golden ticket, when the.people in a.large number.of EU countries are rioting about the cost of living, terrible education, services collapsing etc. | |
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| France Riots on 17:51 - Oct 18 with 161 views | Ifonly |
| France Riots on 14:32 - Oct 18 by saintmark1976 |
Some excellent points.
In addition, I’m of the opinion that our current situation has been exacerbated by Thatcher selling off vast numbers of council built propertied at knock down prices for electoral advantage,under her Right to Buy scheme. Resulting now in many of those houses being owned by private landlords.
Selling of essential services to the private sector hasn’t helped either, witness the current situation at Thames Water.
Personally I’m pleased to have been a baby boomer like yourself and certainly wouldn’t want to be starting out now. |
I agree with you on Thatcher's Right To Buy (and Osborne's Help To Buy) - but not on the privatisation of businesses. From what I see, privatisation was a success overall. Nobody would ever dream of saying that the likes of BT, BA or BP should be owned by the government today. They operate much better in the private sector and it's a fact of life that the private sector is more efficient than the public sector.
Where privatisation has been difficult is where they still act like government departments, because the companies are local monopolies and don't have any competition to keep them on their toes. Water companies are a prime example. In those cases it's the regulator's job to keep them on their toes and the water regulator has fallen down on the job. OFWAT has the power to agree the performance targets, the level of investment, returns, dividends etc. and punish the companies when they don't deliver. OFWAT hasn't used those powers well and successive governments haven't regulated the regulator.
But there's no reason why they can't do the job well. The CAA regulates the airport owners, which is much like regulating the water companies, because they are local monopolies too. But you never hear cries that the airports need to be re-nationalised. That's because they're regulated better.
There will always be some problems, but people forget what the problems were like when all of this was run by the government. Importantly, they also ignore all the additional debt and taxes that would be required if the government had to fund the investment needed by these businesses. Since privatisation there has been massive investment in all of these businesses that just couldn't happen in the public sector. That's led to massive improvements in operational efficiencies and that ultimately means better services for customers. | | | |
| France Riots on 18:18 - Oct 18 with 137 views | saintmark1976 |
| France Riots on 17:51 - Oct 18 by Ifonly |
I agree with you on Thatcher's Right To Buy (and Osborne's Help To Buy) - but not on the privatisation of businesses. From what I see, privatisation was a success overall. Nobody would ever dream of saying that the likes of BT, BA or BP should be owned by the government today. They operate much better in the private sector and it's a fact of life that the private sector is more efficient than the public sector.
Where privatisation has been difficult is where they still act like government departments, because the companies are local monopolies and don't have any competition to keep them on their toes. Water companies are a prime example. In those cases it's the regulator's job to keep them on their toes and the water regulator has fallen down on the job. OFWAT has the power to agree the performance targets, the level of investment, returns, dividends etc. and punish the companies when they don't deliver. OFWAT hasn't used those powers well and successive governments haven't regulated the regulator.
But there's no reason why they can't do the job well. The CAA regulates the airport owners, which is much like regulating the water companies, because they are local monopolies too. But you never hear cries that the airports need to be re-nationalised. That's because they're regulated better.
There will always be some problems, but people forget what the problems were like when all of this was run by the government. Importantly, they also ignore all the additional debt and taxes that would be required if the government had to fund the investment needed by these businesses. Since privatisation there has been massive investment in all of these businesses that just couldn't happen in the public sector. That's led to massive improvements in operational efficiencies and that ultimately means better services for customers. |
When I see the amount of money that exits the country to the foreign owners of our utilities I am not so sure that you are correct in your views that to the average Joe privatisation has been the success you suggest.
As ever though you are entitled to your opinion just like the rest of us, and at the end of the day we will on this occasion simply have to agree to disagree I suppose. At least we agreed on some aspects which is something. | |
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| France Riots on 18:49 - Oct 18 with 110 views | Ifonly |
| France Riots on 18:18 - Oct 18 by saintmark1976 |
When I see the amount of money that exits the country to the foreign owners of our utilities I am not so sure that you are correct in your views that to the average Joe privatisation has been the success you suggest.
As ever though you are entitled to your opinion just like the rest of us, and at the end of the day we will on this occasion simply have to agree to disagree I suppose. At least we agreed on some aspects which is something. |
The amount of profit is set by the regulator e.g. in water the return on investment is now a weighted average of 4.03% out to 2030. Everyone can form their own opinion on whether that is excessive or not, but that is well below the return that an average company would look for on new investment.
Of course the total profits look big because the investments are massive. New investment in water infrastructure is about £20 billion pa in the UK, so at 4% that adds up to a lot of profit. | | | |
| France Riots on 19:36 - Oct 18 with 79 views | 1885_SFC |
| France Riots on 15:59 - Oct 18 by kingslandstand1 |
You're not alone, but not likely to happen
If only their mid-term elections actually meant he had to stand down. Surely the Yank public realise what an ar5ehole he is.
That video of the poor lad and the tiger was the lowest of the low. And that from a man in his position |
Trump is one vindictive bastard who cares about nothing other than money, money, and more money. He's all about lining his own pockets before he gets voted out at the next Presidential election.
He said the other week that Europe needs to release billions of barrels of diesel reserves to the market - otherwise he (the US) would stop oil exports. Europe hastily agreed to do so - only for Trump to say the very next evening he was never ever going to stop oil exports anyway. WAC. The whole reason worldwide oil/diesel prices are sky high is because of him and his bodged war in Iran.
He's sh1t on Zelensky & Ukraine massively and sided with that other little nutjob Putin. The USA can now be classed as a rogue state in my eyes. He tells Zelensky to stop attacking Russian oil refineries because of the global price - does a worthless deal with Russia to halt attacks on power plants/refineries - and doesn't even tell Zelensky. When the attacks keep happening and Zelensky complains, Trump orders that Starlink be shut down over Ukraine as a punishment. Trump is literally sick in the head.
He's nicked Venezuala's vast oil reserves - and Greenlands minerals. He's blockaded Cuba. Who knows his next target? And this is all happening in a desperate measure to do well in the upcoming midterms. The fraud is a (failed) businessman - never a politician. He's obsessed with money for himself and his family. My bet is he is in the Epstein files too and one day, fingers crossed, the truth will prevail.
I hate the way he has turned his back on Europe and especially Ukraine. Instead he has cosied up to that poison dwarf Putin for some unknown reason. His posting of that tiger killing that poor lad just typifies the state of the blokes' head ; totally fu@ked up. | |
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| France Riots on 19:47 - Oct 18 with 65 views | 1951saint |
My biggest bugbear is why doest the taxpayer have to pay for public sector pensions. I have mates ex cops who retired at fifty get final salary pensions get part jobs have a great life when some pensioners on state pensions really struggle, | | | |
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