Bolitics The New Condem Government

[blandy]

Tory MP Stephen Dorrell has just taken a job with KPMG, a company that aims to bid on a £1 billion NHS contract, but he is refusing to give up his parliamentary seat. He admits his new job is “incompatible” with his role as an MP, yet refuses to step down until May 2015. 6 months of being in two incompatible jobs, one paid for by us, but which he refuses to resing from.

He spent 4 years previously as the chair of the Health Select committee, which helped expand the NHS privatisation. Now he's got a job with a company taking advantage of the "reforms" he chaired.
 

What an utter turd.

[smetrov]

As long as global interest rates remain at an all time low, our economy will stumble on at 2% growth every year.  I can't see anyone ever dealing with our debt and deficit problem. It is too big now to manage.

 

Why would the tories want to cut the defict in a hurry ?

 

Its the best thing to ever happen to them, it got them elected , and enables then to pursdue policies they have always wanted to pursue

[Awol]

As long as global interest rates remain at an all time low, our economy will stumble on at 2% growth every year. I can't see anyone ever dealing with our debt and deficit problem. It is too big now to manage.

Why would the tories want to cut the defict in a hurry ?

Its the best thing to ever happen to them, it got them elected , and enables then to pursdue policies they have always wanted to pursue

They have cut the deficit, but they haven't eliminated it - which was what they pledged to do.

That said the policy of Brown and Balls last time round was to actively increase it!

[snowychap]

What total amount is being missed in lost tax revenue by tax cuts for flying kids abroad to go skiing?

£390 million over the course of the next parliament according to HM Treasury table of Autumn Statement policy decisions.

source: OBR Economic and fiscal outlook – December 2014 p.212*

This is the Office for Budget Responsibility's latest Economic and fiscal outlook published on 3 December 2014.

...

*Edit - poor eyesight.

Edited December 4, 2014 by snowychap

[chrisp65]

 

tax cuts for buying property, tax cuts for the high earners, tax cuts for flying your kids abroad on their skiing hols and promises of severe cuts to public spending in part due to a lack of tax revenue

 

tories couldn't have wished for a better economy for their basic principles to look legit

 

Easy to just say these things, back it up please. What total amount is being missed in lost tax revenue by tax cuts for flying kids abroad to go skiing? 

 

 

Well, for the first bit, does it really need backing up? It's been all over the TV and the newspapers for a couple of days so I didn't think I'd have to back it up with any proof or references.

 

As for the second part about the total lost revenue, do you know what? I didn't know what the figure was until Snowy posted it up. I wasn't attempting to work out the sums and I certainly don't believe charging kids extra to fly to Switzerland will save the planet. But I know this much, they shouldn't be reducing the tax on foreign holidays for children when they are telling people they need to cut basic services.

 

Why should we be laying off librarians and replacing them with volunteers whilst reducing tax on people buying £900,000 houses? Why should we make little lulu's holiday cheaper whilst telling people they need to pay an extra £14 for the second bedroom in the house they can't move out of?

 

I don't need a graph and a pie chart to know that's appealing to their core vote to retain power rather than looking after the whole country.

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

land value tax.

 

make it so.

[snowychap]

I think the economy is going well in the UK.

Is it?

Is it going well for quants in London?

Or is it going well for 'the City' that is still hugely benefiting from the cheap dollar of QE, FFL and so on?

Or is it going well for the south east of the country that is still being well fuelled by a property price boom?

How much experience of the UK economy outside of the square mile do you actually have, Conor?

[villaajax]

CVByrne is in the 1%

[snowychap]

CVByrne is in the 1%

No he isn't. And that's what is most worrying.

[villaajax]

True, it's that "I'm alright" mentality.

[bickster]

Seriously do they never learn?

House prices are already obscenely expensive. Having had our economy nearly completely collapse on irresponsible bankers lending money to people that really couldn't afford the mortgages, thereby inflating the housing market beyond recognition, it eventually and predictably went bang. So what do they decide to do to garner votes from their core vote?

They decide to make stamp duty fairer and in so doing create another housing bubble. Its going to make houses even more unaffordable for your average Joe, they are creating generations of people who will never own their own home.

I could go on but everyone knows the rant but these scumbags are just wilfully irresponsible dickheads, they should be trying to slowly bring house prices down not sending prices soaring ever higher whilst on the other hand managing an economy which sees more and more people staying on low wages for what probably will be a life time.

They are words removed.

[snowychap]

Sajid Javid has a friend.

[snowychap]

"Sell off the gold so we had no reserves to fall back on."

Who on earth is this absolute idiot that has been allowed on to the QT panel?

[villaajax]

I preferred Sajid Javid when he was in WestWorld.

[Risso]

I think the economy is going well in the UK.

Is it?

Is it going well for quants in London?

Or is it going well for 'the City' that is still hugely benefiting from the cheap dollar of QE, FFL and so on?

Or is it going well for the south east of the country that is still being well fuelled by a property price boom?

How much experience of the UK economy outside of the square mile do you actually have, Conor?

If the crowds of people shopping in Manchester this week are anything to go by, there are people up there who aren't exactly on the bread line.

[omariqy]

What do you expect to see in a shopping centre in a major city?  Queues for the food bank? 

 

100% agree on bickster's point re house prices. 

[blandy]

They decide to make stamp duty fairer and in so doing create another housing bubble. Its going to make houses even more unaffordable for your average Joe, they are creating generations of people who will never own their own home.

I kind of agree with your post, but the thing about the bit quoted is that I find it hard to criticise them for, as you say, "making something fairer". A more graduated variation of stamp duty, where the more the house costs, the more % tax paid on it goes up doesn't seem like an evil thing to do. I kind of think that most normal people moving from one normal house to the next would appreciate paying less stamp duty, while rich folk moving to new mansions pay more.

 

You might be right, and Estate agents might just put up the price of the houses to rake more cash in for sellers and themselves (or they might not). But the move in itself I don't think will result in the overall "cost" of buying a house going up.

In the long term if the country can be weened away from treating houses as money/assets, then it might be a good thing.

 

I still loathe them mind. But just not for the above reason.

[omariqy]

How do you get house prices to a lower level?  In London new flats are built all the time with the tag affordable housing.  None of them are.  I think there were some built near the Arsenal ground and a 2 bed flat was something stupid like £550k. 

[CVByrne]

Love how I'm somehow evil for asking questions haha. No care given to the fact I am all for higher taxation to be spent on public services. That these tax breaks for buying expensive property in my view is essentially political corruption. 

 

I'm working on a regulatory project which is to stop banks traders from proprietary trading and betting on the market. New regulations to stop that. I worked in Risk management before that in Ireland. 

 

But as I work in the City, I cannot have an opinion that is anything but lower taxes, cut spending etc.. as the view has to be if you earn a high wage, or work in financial sector you have to be grouped together as the bad guys

 

My problem with the extreme left is that I worked my ass off to get to where I am now. I grew up in 1980's Ireland in Northside Dublin which was poorer than almost anything people experience now. But I just applied myself and ended up where I am through hard work and importantly free 3rd level education payed for by the state

 

I am all for many things that would be very "socialist" to put a label on an opinion. Three things,

 

1) Health, quality healthcare is a human right and it should be funded by taxation. 

2) Free 3rd level education, the best people should have no barriers to getting to the best universities. 

3) State pension, nothing angers me more than the thought that our elders might be living in poverty.

 

 

But I work in the City so I obviously really just want tax breaks for my Helicopter. 

Edited December 5, 2014 by CVByrne

[colhint]

so a champagne socialist then