The Autumn Statement

[John Drake]

This isn't just a British problem though, its happening globally to most of the major economies. The sum may be high but as a percentage its still less than most of the other major economies in Europe. Of the Big economies only Germany has a lower percentage but like the UK that's also growing.

Brexit or no Brexit result it would have gone up.

 

Ah, so the Tories simply lied about reducing the deficit for the past six years then.

 

At least that's clear now. 

 

But they will still have their cheerleaders claiming they can be trusted with the economy.

 

Honestly, if this car crash was happening under a Labour Chancellor, the people making excuses on behalf of the Tories would be spitting fire about mismanagement and profligacy.

[JohnM]

Cheerleaders? Dont you mean voters?

[Just Browny]

Cheerleaders? Dont you mean voters?

 

I assumed he meant the sort of folk we get on here who knock out several dozen posts a day lifted directly from the Conservative Home lines-to-take page.

[John Drake]

I assumed he meant the sort of folk we get on here who knock out several dozen posts a day lifted directly from the Conservative Home lines-to-take page.

 

Yes, this, although not just on here, they're everywhere across the media telling us how good the Tories are at running the economy, despite all the available evidence to the contrary.

 

The Tories promised to eliminate the deficit in a single Parliament but it is ballooning on their watch, despite all their austerity measures.

 

They used to blame Labour. Now they blame Brexit. But they enabled Brexit!

 

Time people stopped making excuses for them, IMO. They're inept.

[Bedford Roughyed]

The UK can sustain relatively high levels of debt.  So says the chancellor.  Thus wiping the last 6 years of tory policy in one stroke.

[Bedford Roughyed]

[Griff9of13]

The boomers strike again. Fully functioning NHS their entire lives.

Fully functioning welfare state during their working lives.

Free education all the way to degree level including maintainence grants.

And now picking up the lions share of the DWP budget.

All things that the millennials can only dream of.

[gingerjon]

The UK can sustain relatively high levels of debt.  So says the chancellor.  Thus wiping the last 6 years of tory policy in one stroke.

 

Even in a particularly bland interview this morning Nick Robinson almost accidentally landed a punch just by quoting a bit about national debt that was in the 2015 Tory manifesto.

 

They referred to it as morally wrong then.

[Bedford Roughyed]

[JonM]

The boomers strike again.

 

Not forgetting the triple lock pension. I think it was necessary - the state pension was probably too low, but the net effect is a quite big re-distrubution of wealth from the poor to the rich. The over-65's own a little shy of 90% of the UK's wealth. Hardly surprising, given that they've had decades to accumulate wealth, and looking at incomes would give a very different story, but anything the government does to help pensioners works out (on average) to be helping the rich.  The NHS budget is (obviously) disproportionately spent on the elderly too and Pensions & Health are by some distance the two biggest spending pots the government has.

 

Not sure any of this matters, though. The boomers voted themselves very generous provision in the past and borrowed from the future, in the expectation that the economy would grow fast enough to pay for it. Can't really go back and undo that from here.

[mickhornet]

You sound very jealous of  pensioners. I cant think for a moment why ? How far off are you.from drawing

your oap.

[Trojan]

The UK can sustain relatively high levels of debt.  So says the chancellor.  Thus wiping the last 6 years of tory policy in one stroke.

Either the last six years have sunk us even further in to the brown stuff, or Brexit is going to sink us further into it.  Which is it?  As for global conditions, how come they didn't apply when Gideon was panning the last Labour government?  He's messed it up.  We're paying the price, and slippery Phil and Tess are trying to blame anyone but themselves.  No change there then.

[Griff9of13]

You sound very jealous of pensioners. I cant think for a moment why ? How far off are you.from drawing

your oap.

Not jealous at all. Just pointing out that they are the most selfish generation we've had in recent history. They've managed to have a wonderful life (on the whole) but have taken every step they can to deny the same for their children and more importantly grandchildren.

Boomers are the first generation who's offspring will enjoy a worse standard of living than their parents and grandparents. We're going backwards.

[tonyXIII]

Not jealous at all. Just pointing out that they are the most selfish generation we've had in recent history. They've managed to have a wonderful life (on the whole) but have taken every step they can to deny the same for their children and more importantly grandchildren.

Boomers are the first generation who's offspring will enjoy a worse standard of living than their parents and grandparents. We're going backwards.

 

Paragraph 1 is a crock of you-know-what.

 

Paragraph 2 is down to the governments of both hues screwing up the economy for the last 40 years. (By screwing up, I mean dismantling manufacturing and sinking all our capital into the financial industry (sic))

Help me! I'm beginning to feel like Theresa May - it's not my fault, it's someone else's. I need to go and lie down.

[Griff9of13]

Paragraph 1 is a crock of you-know-what.

Paragraph 2 is down to the governments of both hues screwing up the economy for the last 40 years. (By screwing up, I mean dismantling manufacturing and sinking all our capital into the financial industry (sic))

Help me! I'm beginning to feel like Theresa May - it's not my fault, it's someone else's. I need to go and lie down.

But who keeps voting for it?

[saddleworth]

£7m tax payers wad given towards the refurb of Wentworth Woodhouse.....

I'd soon see that spent towards social regeneration of a desperately deprived area.... but hey ho.... a lot of locals appear happy with our own version of Buck house is finally getting a wash....

The place has been dropping to bits for years, Robin. You cant beat being connected with the arty-f###y crowd. Guaranteed financial hand outs. Si thi.

[Bearman]

Not jealous at all. Just pointing out that they are the most selfish generation we've had in recent history. They've managed to have a wonderful life (on the whole) but have taken every step they can to deny the same for their children and more importantly grandchildren.

Boomers are the first generation who's offspring will enjoy a worse standard of living than their parents and grandparents. We're going backwards.

Yes.

When I was a child we had no sweets as they were still on ration. No coal it was in short supply, so we got dressed and undressed under the bed sheets. We breathed on the windows to melt the ice on the inside to see what the weather was doing.

We went to school through smog so thick you could taste the coal in your throat. TB was rife and the cure was to sleep outside in the fresh air in sanatoriums miles away from home.

Polio was a child killer and again was rife.

Going to the toilet in the night meant going outside in the rain. The bath was brought in from outside and the whole family shared the water.

No tv just the wireless which was full of people talking with plums in tbeir mouths.

Then we grew up, married and bought our homes paying 17% interest rates.

I worked every bit of overtime I could scrounge. I either walked to work, cycled or went by bus. When I did get a car I spent as much time underneath them as in them.

To this day on any trip around the country I point out to my passengers the places where I broke down and fixed my car with sellotape, wire and crossed fingers.

Despite that we managed to bring up our kids.

Free University grants? In my dreams, NONE of my peers at school went to University no one could afford it. It was our children that benefited.

Im lucky now. I'm nearly 69, self employed,still working 3 days a week paying my taxes as I have all my life and have contributed far more than I have taken out.

Selfish Generation? IF I chose to sit back and take a bit back I think I'm entitled.

I certainly dont OWE anyone or need to feel ashamed of my efforts.

[Robin Evans]

Ah but you got to drive a humber super snipes, chrchman no1 fags, spangles, TW3, beatles n stones, world cup winners, beating the aussies, and got caned....

Try tellin young ins today that n they'll not believe you...

[Saintslass]

Ah, so the Tories simply lied about reducing the deficit for the past six years then.

 

At least that's clear now. 

 

But they will still have their cheerleaders claiming they can be trusted with the economy.

 

Honestly, if this car crash was happening under a Labour Chancellor, the people making excuses on behalf of the Tories would be spitting fire about mismanagement and profligacy.

They haven't lied about reducing the deficit; the deficit has been reducing.  It's the debt that is getting ridiculous, but that trend began in 2008. 

[Saintslass]

Not jealous at all. Just pointing out that they are the most selfish generation we've had in recent history. They've managed to have a wonderful life (on the whole) but have taken every step they can to deny the same for their children and more importantly grandchildren.

A wonderful life?  The present retired have had a wonderful life?  My parents are in their 80s.  They were children at a time when the welfare state and NHS did not exist.  My mother's mum was so poor she hid from the rent man to avoid paying rent in order to put food on the table.  My parents' generation worked damned hard to get their pensions and endured a lot more than the millennial snowflakes have had to. 

 

I loathe this largely leftwing ageist spite that is presently being spat in the direction of our older people.  Give your head a wobble.  Alternatively, do some research and find out just what kind of lives our present retired have had and often still do have, and then remember how ignorant you were previously.

[Saintslass]

£7m tax payers wad given towards the refurb of Wentworth Woodhouse.....

I'd soon see that spent towards social regeneration of a desperately deprived area.... but hey ho.... a lot of locals appear happy with our own version of Buck house is finally getting a wash....

The money for the refurb of Wentworth Woodhouse is being taken from libor fines.

 

As I said on another thread, our heritage costs money to maintain. But without our heritage we wouldn't have our tourism industry and that would hit our economy hard.

[Griff9of13]

Yes.

When I was a child we had no sweets as they were still on ration. No coal it was in short supply, so we got dressed and undressed under the bed sheets. We breathed on the windows to melt the ice on the inside to see what the weather was doing.

We went to school through smog so thick you could taste the coal in your throat. TB was rife and the cure was to sleep outside in the fresh air in sanatoriums miles away from home.

Polio was a child killer and again was rife.

Going to the toilet in the night meant going outside in the rain. The bath was brought in from outside and the whole family shared the water.

No tv just the wireless which was full of people talking with plums in tbeir mouths.

Then we grew up, married and bought our homes paying 17% interest rates.

I worked every bit of overtime I could scrounge. I either walked to work, cycled or went by bus. When I did get a car I spent as much time underneath them as in them.

To this day on any trip around the country I point out to my passengers the places where I broke down and fixed my car with sellotape, wire and crossed fingers.

Despite that we managed to bring up our kids.

Free University grants? In my dreams, NONE of my peers at school went to University no one could afford it. It was our children that benefited.

Im lucky now. I'm nearly 69, self employed,still working 3 days a week paying my taxes as I have all my life and have contributed far more than I have taken out.

Selfish Generation? IF I chose to sit back and take a bit back I think I'm entitled.

I certainly dont OWE anyone or need to feel ashamed of my efforts.

Again, I'm not begrudging you and yours what you have, just pointing out that the boomer generation has voted time and again to pull up the drawbridge to deny the following generations the same benefits.

[Robin Evans]

The money for the refurb of Wentworth Woodhouse is being taken from libor fines.

As I said on another thread, our heritage costs money to maintain. But without our heritage we wouldn't have our tourism industry and that would hit our economy hard.

the woodhouse isnt open to the public other than for special events tho we can walk round the estate for nowt.

The local economy makes virtually nowt out of the woodhouse.

I did go to a gala dinner there 2 years ago. The caterers they used werent local.

[Griff9of13]

A wonderful life? The present retired have had a wonderful life? My parents are in their 80s. They were children at a time when the welfare state and NHS did not exist. My mother's mum was so poor she hid from the rent man to avoid paying rent in order to put food on the table. My parents' generation worked damned hard to get their pensions and endured a lot more than the millennial snowflakes have had to.

I loathe this largely leftwing ageist spite that is presently being spat in the direction of our older people. Give your head a wobble. Alternatively, do some research and find out just what kind of lives our present retired have had and often still do have, and then remember how ignorant you were previously.

If you'd care to read what I said I was referring to the "baby boomers" generally those born in the fities. Your parents weren't born then were they?

It was your parents and grandparents generation that drove the way to the welfare state and should be congratulated for it.

[Bedford Roughyed]

Heres a snowflake with a take on the baby boomers -

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/10/baby-boomers-havent-had-it-all-their-own-way/