The UK Government is telling us we are going to have to tighten our belts and things are going to be uncomfortable for a while and to quote Dave Cam, cuts are coming that will 'change the British way of life'.
Sounds ominous and he cut my legs away from under me as i got out my tub and got ready to thump it regarding cutting Defence and how we should be reducing soldiers not nurses or teachers. He then said he was going to cut defence as well and that shut me up good and proper.
There are two things that raises my hackles about this belt tightening episode we are about to undertake.
The first is that the banks and bankers have not been sufficiently walloped for my liking and are now rolling in money and paying out bonuses again. They caused it, let them suffer the worst of it and if the staff threaten to go abroad, let them. It isn't as if they did such a bang up job working here, let them go destroy Americas or Japans economy. Plenty of others willing to step up.
The second thing is that the Tories make it sound as though the problems are down to Government Department waste, overpaying benefits or expensive public services. He is even giving us a say in which public services we want cut or reduced which makes it seem even more that the problem all along has been the public wanting our cake and eating it.
It wasn't, it was the financial sector so if you are going to whack us in your upcoming emergency budget, make sure you whack the people who caused it even harder because people might be more willing to accept library's closing and more of a wait at the hospital if they know the banks are being made to squeak.
3 comments:
hanz,
i dont think the UK's or the world's economic problems are due to the banks. yes, they wrecked the investment markets but they didn't cause the unemployment.
1. the war on terror is costing a lot of money and is non-productive.
2. us (we the people) blowing off our savings and investments in exchange for THINGS like iPods, flat screen tvs, new cars, bottled water, etc. is a big problem because when we ran out of our money and other peoples money (loans) we had to stop spending which led to many business failures and unemployment.
3. goberment pensions for people that live 25 and 30 years beyond their retirement date, funded by tax payers, that only go up regardless of economic conditions, is a problem.
4. education system that readies people to be goberment employees (overhead expense) instead of business owners and capable workers (revenue generators) is a huge problem.
5. goberment intervention, on behalf of unions, to keep outdated businesses and industries afloat is a huge problem.
it isn't jus the banks dude...
q
1. Good point, you never hear it mentioned how much the war on terror has cost.
3. I know there are plans to extend the pension age which probably makes sense as we are living longer. I still think the pension people must make a fortune though, would be interested to know what percentage of people pay in more than they receive though.
hanz,
in the usa people pay in much less than they receive... that is why the social security and medicare programs are running HUGE deficits.
example: my grandpa got more back from social security in the first year than he paid into it his whole life - no exaggeration!
also, if young ladies from mexico come across the border and have their baby in the usa, mom and baby get payments until baby turns 18 years old - how nice.
q
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