Okay , I declare an interest - I was a member of AWeb's revered and distinguished budget panel . I have never paid so much attention to a budget before . Although chancellor bashing is something of a national sport , given the hand he has been dealt , he not only delivered some decent tax breaks he gave a robust showing.
Perhaps you would rather be living in the Eurozone where the only aspirational aspect to life is not to have your savings confiscated..................
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Replies (23)
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Osborne delivered a good performance? Really?
Being better off than southern Europe is hardly a basis for the claim that Osborne delivered a good performance. Our economy is in a hole and people, including the head of the OBR, seem to be saying that cutting back welfare state is not the way out; inequality is increasing, which is not a good thing. A good performance would not be my conclusion.
Performance
The only ground I will concede is his failure to sort business rates but given the hand he had been dealt I think credit where it's due
Hugh Dalton - a better performance?
Chancellor in 1947 passed market sensitive information to a journalist before delivering his speech; was discover; resigned.
Well Done George
Give the bloke a break, he did well this time.
Those who propose more spending are in cloud cuckoo land. Do they not understand the amount of money per day that our nation's debt is increasing by? Its terrifying.
Slowly, slowly we will recover from the awful mess the last lot got us into. It will take years and years but I fear that the present government will be kicked out in 2015. This will lead us once again into a mess.
If your own household was in such dire trouble the first thing you would do is cut back on your spending - its no different with UK plc.
Budget discipline
At last , somebody who agrees with me and brings the analogy to the household scenario - "simples ! "
With regards to the leak - I am unclear who did the leaking , but these days I don't think there such a thing anymore . Everybody seems to believe they have a right to know everybody elses's affairs - that's one reason I am not on Facebook
Osborne is spending far too much.
Regarding the mess we are in, we would be in the same mess if the Tories had been in power in the preceding years. They are not taking a different approach to regulating the banks, they are not applying capitalist principals and letting the weak fail, and that is even with the knowledge of what happened!
I agree there is no more money to be spent so it is mad that we are spending it on tax cuts (50%-45%) and tax give-aways for rich (Vodafone, Amazon etc).
I get sick of Tories
Always closing hospitals wards & hospitals. It always happens, and is THE major reason I don't like them!
Maggie shut loads of wards and waiting lists for operations became years long. Dave said the NHS would be safe, but our local hospital (recently expanded and modernised) is now open part-time, and our 'accident & emergency' is to be closed. We will have to travel a further 12 miles for this, and now Yorkshire (which is a pretty big county) isn't going to have any specialist centres for children or heart patients. Those patients and parents will have to travel to Tyneside!
More & more NHS is being put in the hands of private health care, who will take the brass, but won't take responsibility when things go wrong (ie. PPE breast implants). There will be millions lost in back handers, 'commissions' and rake offs. It stinks!
I get sick of the Labour party too.
So do I, but I hate the Labour party for pretty much the same reasons.
Let's sack the lot :)
Any good alternatives around?
The Green Party
The Green Party. I have not voted for any of the three biggest parties since Bomber Blair became leader f the Labour Party. I figure that the Labour Party was once a minority party, but as people saw its support grow, they decided it might have a chance of getting elected, so they started voting for it. That is my view with the Greens. It is a long-term view. Have you considered them Shirley? I think you'd like them.
I'm a socialist at heart ....
... but I would consider anyone, and everyone.
@ShirleyM
The Greens are quite left wing Shirley.
I am an ...
... anarchist :o)
With the Tories the immigration flood gates would not have opened to turn on the benefits tap.
I don't have a problem with benefits per se, as long as the money stays in the UK, but it is gushing overseas so has no benefit for the UK economy, even with hospitals etc there are so many foreign doctors and nurses the bulk of whom's pay goes "back home" and is not spent revitalising our economy.
In a nutshell I believe this is the biggest problem, BoE have turned on the taps with quantative easing, but no one has put the plug in the bath! It is not just eastern european migrants, there are plenty of asian property holders raking in housing benefit and paying little or no tax on the income which goes off abroad.
If I vote at all next time, UKIP are in with a shout of my vote if we get a candidate.
Immigration
It's the wrong type of immigration , a bit like the old BR excuses with the snow . a lot of ex-commie places and dodgy banana republics must be laughing all the way to the bank , our bank to be precise. That's what socialism gets you, be it red or green or orange.
UKIP . now there's an option . The BIG question is , once we get out of Europe what will they call themselves ?
Rubbish!
If socialism is responsible for the immigrants, then capitalists are responsible for the bank crashes. I doubt there is much difference in cost to the UK! Swings & roundabouts, but the capitalists wouldn't have any businesses at all if it were not for the socialist aspects that keep their workers healthy, well fed, able to travel, etc. How many capitalists pay their workers minimum wage and expect the socialist aspect to top up their wages so they can survive and keep on working to rake in the profits for the capitalists?
It takes two to tango. One cannot survive without the other. The problem is when the balance swings too far to one side.
Capitalists
I don't disagree !
Both right ...
... any "ISM" is bad!
Apparently we now have the most people "employed" in the private sector since records began.
Don't suppose that could have anything to do with the fact the population is the largest it has been since records began!
Immigration is good to fill skills gaps, but not when it undercuts the existing skill base.
This is blind capitalism at its worst, short term you make a profit as you reduce your labour costs, long term you kill your market as disposable income reduces to buy your goods, or, competition forces your prices down so you end up back where you started.
At the moment we have rampant capatilism by the banks and rampant socialism by the government and none of the moderation that is needed
120 billion deficit
for at least the next 3 years - not quite the time to get that cigar out yet....if this were a household we probably would have lost our house already - the options....only one...go out and get more income (cos inevitably there is only so much fat you can cut before you hit bone) 0 and income in this case...is that swear word growth......
Cut to the bone
This is exactly the type of advice I have been giving for years in my debt charity.
Banks - Custodian .v. Market Player
Under normal circumstances if you give your money to someone for safe keeping you would not expect them to use it for speculating in high risk areas; so why are the rules different when it comes to banks
Surely speculating with client money is not the function of the banking system, however attractive the idea of quick profits at someone else's expense may be? We are all quite capable of gambling/speculating/trading on our own behalf if we want to, so the very fact that most people do not risk their own money in this way must mean that they are not comfortable with the risks involved
What is wrong with banks adopting the Client Money .v. Deposit approach?
Client money - cash in you accounts is segregated from the bank's own assets and held in trust accountsDeposit - banks hold money as a banker and not as a trustee
Why are bank customers not given the choice of how the banks hold their money (client .v. deposit)?
Taking this approach to banking would allow customers to determine their own exposure to the banking system and moreover would permit the Government to withdraw their compensation scheme (£85,000) for those who chose to accept the risks involved with allowing banks to handle their money as deposits
And anyone who chose the Deposit approach would absolutely 'barking' because the carry all the risk and at 0-3% interest very little of the upside
Why has Mr Osborne not addressed this issue - as a fundamental approach to the banking system?
Osborne's Approach to Banking
It's a mystery. Could it be something to do with where his personal financial interests lie?
Immigration.
Good to get the in-depth analysis of socialism from Fying Scotsman. Could we have the numbers supporting the stuff about immigrants, or a reference for them? I must admit, I always thought the amount we paid immigrants in benefits was insignificant, but would obviously change my mind if there were figures showed me to be wrong.
Benefits to immigrants
Brevity is my speciality . I have not run through the official statistics but there seems to be little if any contrary views that I am aware of, to news on the subject.
You will be aware that EU citizens can turn up and submit a claim even if they have been living outside the EU for years. I know this to be true in several instances of people I have contact . And of course free NHS treatment , the health tourists . Again I know of students who visit the dentist before returning home at holiday time to their foreign homes.
It could be that we are not too generous but simply too disorganised to root out the visitors from the system. You try getting free treatment abroad on holiday and see how far you get ! I said this once before and Iwill repeat it. My nephew had an accident when visiting from aborad . My brother , who is extremely British , advised the 2 hospitals involved that they were tourists and had insurance. Nobody was interested in the slightest.
So perhaps you are right - it's not our generosity it's our indifference and incompetence