Everybody knows that common knowledge is always wrong

[unbeliever]

There are several very important things that everybody seems to know, which are wrong. Public opinion ultimately drives government policy and so many people are wrong on these things that we as a country have made and continue to make seriously harmful bad decisions.

I keep hitting up against these repeatedly on this forum, and I'm fed up with countering the same nonsense over and over again. So here it is all in one place.

 

1. Energy is expensive because of corporate greed.

This is outright nonsense. The energy companies make a few percent profit on the gas and electricity they supply. Maybe that's too much, but it can't account for the fact that energy costs twice as much in the UK as it does in the US.

Your energy is expensive because of wind turbines, solar panels and the absence of fracking. This is a fact.

The scientific consensus that you've been told about, that all this is necessary to save the world doesn't exist. There is a consensus that man made global warming is real, but no consensus about how fast it is. There is a vast amount of spin going on in what is the most important debate of the age and as a result we're making stupid decisions for political reasons.

Your energy bills will rise and rise until you tell your government to use either fossil or nuclear to provide you with energy and no amount of tinkering with the organisation of how hyper-expensive green energy is organised is going to make a noticeable difference.

Oh and Fracking is about as dangerous as putting on a hat, and there is enough fossil fuel scattered around the earth to power mankind for generations.

 

2. Greedy bankers in the USA caused the 2008 crash.

The government was running a record deficit in 2006 during a long period of strong growth. Even Keynes, the father of socialist economics, would have called you a muppet for even considering such a thing.

The UK banks were extremely badly regulated by the new regulator, the FSA which Gordon Brown created to take over much of the regulatory work of the BoE. They did an terrible job and allowed several UK banks to lend lots of money on risky things with nowhere near enough reserve capital.

Then when it started to go wrong, they went almost overnight to extremely tight regulation in these areas which was impossible for the banks to implement without destroying healthy businesses. When that made it worse, taxpayers money was used to buy shares in the weakest banks at inflated prices, much of which we'll never get back.

 

3. Public spending has been cut and more cuts are planned. So called "austerity".

This is the worst in my view. Total public spending in the last Labour year (2009/10) was £669.7bn and in the last coalition year (2014/15) it was £732bn. That's a 9.4% increase. A similar rate of increase is planned for this parliament. I really don't see why I should need to say any more on that.

 

4. We could fix everything if we taxed the rich more. They're all avoiding tax and paying less then regular people

The top 10% of earners pay 50% of income tax.

When we put the tax rate for the super-rich up very high in the '70s, they left and we got less revenue.

When France put the tax rate for the super-rich up very high in the last few years, they left and France got less revenue.

No amount of hypothesising about what ought to happen when we put taxes up on the rich is going to get you anywhere. We know what happens. It's always happened and it always will happen. They leave.

I know you wish it wasn't that way, but it is. Ignore that at you're considerable impoverishment.

 

 

All these things are not opinions but facts. It only takes a little bit of armchair research to confirm them. Why on earth do the same people have to be told over and over and over again?

Once you've found out that you were wrong, I don't expect you to apologise, but how can your conscience bear repeating that which you now know is wrong?

Does your opinion on such important matters become part of your identity or something? Is it like trying to change religion? Would your head explode? Would you cease to exist? What is it?

 

Before anybody points out the the title is paradoxical, it's intentional.

Edited August 21, 2015 by unbeliever
spelling

[choogling]

yes i know its common knowledge

[SnailyBoy]

It's full of opinions

[adrea]

Your energy is expensive because of wind turbines, solar panels and the absence of fracking.

 

How much more of a families income is spent on today's cleaner energy compared to the percentage of household income spent in the past on dirty energy. Cheap isn't always the best option.

[*_ash_*]

TJC mustn't be online.

[onewheeldave]

 

4. We could fix everything if we taxed the rich more. They're all avoiding tax and paying less then regular people

The top 10% of earners pay 50% of income tax.

When we put the tax rate for the super-rich up very high in the '70s, they left and we got less revenue.

When France put the tax rate for the super-rich up very high in the last few years, they left and France got less revenue.

No amount of hypothecating about what ought to happen when we put taxes up on the rich is going to get you anywhere. We know what happens. It's always happened and it always will happen. They leave.

 

Good Riddance.

[WiseOwl182]

Agree with most but not sure about the energy companies.

 

If wholesale prices go up, bills go up very quickly and often in double digit percentages. Suppliers blame the rising wholesale costs. Then when wholesale prices go down, the saving takes a while to be passed on and is often only in low single digits. The excuses for this then contradict why prices rose so quickly before - now we're reminded how energy costs are more than just wholesale costs and how it's all bought up front anyway.

 

One last point on the margins - remember, the end consumer supplier may claim to make only 5% profit, but they often pay their parent company for producing the energy at inflated prices to reduce their profit. These are companies who measure profit in the £billions.

[*_ash_*]

Good Riddance.

 

That's what a lot say on here.

 

It's also the same ones who constantly complain about cuts, and government financing.

 

I watched programme last night on The Dagenham Ford factory... the same things were said on there - 1 in 4 days lost to strikes, because even though the money was good, the job was boring and repetitive. They were all cheering with the unions when they won their battle, the company closed most of its function 2 years later and moved abroad. Good riddance eh?

 

Good riddance to a once 30k jobs.

[Mister M]

I didn't think Keynes was the father of socialist economics, I thought that was Karl Marx. Keynes advocated a mixed economy between public and private. That sounds more under the social democratic or even liberal democratic paradigm to me. But I suppose if you occupy an extreme and dogmatic position; every other position must look extreme to you

You've picked a number of highly contentious areas of public policy, and claimed you're right and others (including Nobel Prize winning Economists) are wrong.

It must be very frustrating for you to have to argue against people who don't have opinions, just the ability to continuously reach the same erroneous conclusions. I'm glad you've taken time out of your life to tell us all that you're the font of all knowledge though. We're most humbled

Thanks for pointing out that the title was paradoxical, we would never have been able to work it out for ourselves.

Edited August 20, 2015 by Mister M

[Anna B]

These are simply your opinions.

 

Are we expected to agree with them because of that?

 

I don't.