Enough is enough

[Hunar]

The problem with making massive cuts is public staffing is that you suddenly make several thousand people unemployed, flooding an already difficult job market with more people, and those people you make redundant you will have to pay redundancy and then pay them in welfare benefits. On the other hand the public purse cannot carry on spending at the rates it is, and needs to cut back on the bulk. The problem is that when the choice comes to who loses their jobs, as far as I can tell it's the people on the highest wages that decide, and they won't make themselves or their well paid mates redundant, so they will make the front line staff redundant first.

Supermarkets like ADSA and Tesco announced record profits, yet they employ the largest percentage of people who require government benefits to top their wages up.

In the 70's and 80's something like 30% of the workforce was employed in manufacturing, now I believe it's less than 10%, possibly as low as 5%. That's because the cost of living in this country is so high, so the cost of the manual workforce is high, in places like India the cost of living is much lower, and so the cost of the workforce is much lower, for the same work. So many companies will move they manufacturing to a cheaper country. Now you still have the same workforce in this country, but less jobs for them to do.

We currently tax business at 20% I believe, Singapore charges 5%, Ireland charges 12.5% if I am correct, so all the buinesses that earn the big money offshore their funds to avoid tax, and run it all through places like Singapore. If we reduce the TAX bill, then they will move more or all of their money back into this country, so we will end up getting more than we do at the moment in tax. As for the wealthy people, well I am sure there are ways that you can tighen up the system to ensure they cannot avoid paying their fair share of TAX. I saw a story the other day that claimed someone earning £300k per year can pay less tax than someone earning £50k, shocking init!

No doubt there are tough choices to be made, there is a large debt to be paid off, and we are all in it together, it's just that some have to swim, others have boats, and it's the ones with the boats that make the choices on how much swimming everyone else has to do, they can off course get rid of their boats and swim with everyone else, but that would ruin the saville row suit....

Vote Hunar, **** 'em!

[Nooj]

Banks? Scum.

[SBQE2]

Chappers for Chancellor as far as I'm concerned

[redken1]

Chappers, of course you are right about the global economy-I accept that it is difficult for our government to regulate banks unilaterally, but it is not just the citizens of the UK who have finally woken-up to the banking fiasco.

As taxpayers we are stakeholders in the banks to the tune of approx £38 billion, so surely it is reasonable for the ordinary person to expect some form of protection to his/her investment.

With the greatest respect, I don’t attend protests just to “Blow of Steam” and I have never been a member of the “Pissing in the wind” defeatist club. History tells me that the working man was never gifted anything from the ruling class – the masses had to fight for it ‘tooth and nail’.

On a Friday evening some twenty years ago, I was in my local pub relaxing before the following day’s anti-Poll Tax demo in Glasgow. Whilst enjoying my pint, I was accosted by an inebriated patron who informed me, that we the protesters were, “Pissing in the wind.”

Never saw the chap in question again, but two years on I was in the same pub enjoying a double celebration. I felt a part of the long hard campaign which not only brought about the demise of the unfair Poll Tax, but ultimately led to the toppling of Prime Minister Thatcher.

The resolve of the protesters who attended last Saturday’s demo in London reminded me of the anti-Poll Tax marches. Like thousands if not millions of other ordinary people, I am ready for a fight and to piss in the wind – "The wind of change."
[smiley=thumbsup.gif]

[Chappers]

Not disagreeing with your right to be angry RK, quite the opposite. People need to fight, but my observation is that ultimately little changes. The rich have controlled the poor since the dawn of time. Wealth doesn't disappear, it just flows from one pocket to another.

The poll tax riots you mention are probably a good illustration of this. What really changed from a taxation perspective when the poll tax was replaced? A disproportionate tax on the lowest earners was simply spread out by successive Conservative and Labout governments to higher council tax, higher VAT, VAT on energy, higher NICs, lower nil rate bands and dozens of other, mainly indirect, taxes, that disproportionately tax the lower earners in society. A classic pyrrhic victory.

Re being stakeholders in the banks, the taxpayer/ BOE will make a profit on the sale of the stakes. They have guaranteed it by inflating away the debt with ZIRP and QE. That's just another way of sh1tting on the poor - the resulting food inflation being the reason the AMEA riots started in the first place. Over 14% of the US population are on food stamps now. Incredible mess Brown and Bernanke have got us all into.

Right better get on and finish some work. >

[redken1]

Enjoyed our engagement Chappers (in a platonic way of course). I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment, but as a socialist I can’t accept it (better not get in to that though). I just wish that people were more important than profit. Look forward to meeting you on a ride in the future, or perhaps you may like to join me on a bank sit-in. ;D

[Chappers]

Enjoyed our engagement Chappers (in a platonic way of course). I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment, but as a socialist I can’t accept it (better not get in to that though). I just wish that people were more important than profit. Look forward to meeting you on a ride in the future, or perhaps you may like to join me on a bank sit-in. ;D

strictly online banking for me ken

yep, be good to meet you one day. no talking politics or religion though ... ;D