Bank Of England Says People Need To Accept They Are Poorer

[Guest]

1 minute ago, El Cid said:

I understand that after the war they built loads of council houses ect.

So was the country poorer after the war, probably, but it didn't stop them investing in public services, or was that many years later?

We have either got to accept that we are poor and not living as long, or increase taxes.

Well said.

The very thing we need to do, being in a similar position to 1945, is start  investing, start rebuilding and get business going again properly.

We did it once and we can do it again but these 13 year failures just won't have it.

 

[harvey19]

4 minutes ago, Organgrinder said:

What a silly post, even from you.   There have always been people who regard themselves as thinkers, but still see everything as either black or white and therefore miss most of it by trivialisation.

 

Do you seriously think that everyone  in the country has the exact same academic ability and so should attain lots of qualifications?  You are way off the mark there.

Do you think that everyone who is brilliant academically,  is just as good with their hands and could become a master craftsman?        Way off again - some can't put a shelf up.

Despite all the academic levels that people could strive for,  do you not realise that someone, has to sweep the streets, someone has to empty the bins,

someone has to clean toilets and someone has to wipe frail and disabled peoples bottoms. Would you make those people work hard to get a degree first before they do those jobs.

Do you seriously think that every one of us could have these all splendid qualifications and we could all be scientists, heart surgeons or whatever.

Who do we employ to do the menial tasks and those tasks, not so menial such as working at a sewage works etc. 

All these jobs have to be done so that the highly qualified can concentrate on their well paid professions.

Bearing that in mind, shouldn't those people earn a wage they can live on for doing those jobs so that the very clever people don't have to do them?

 

 

You are agreeing with me.

[Chekhov]

14 hours ago, Mister M said:

The only person on this forum who is over reacting to Covid is you.

Just move on.

>>Just move on.<<

 

How can we "just move on" when you, and, apparently, many others, still think we did the right thing by suppressing society and the economy and therefore we will do it again ?

Quite apart from anything else  this whole thread is about the fact the country is poorer and we have to accept it. And the main reason, though not the only reason, is the government (with full blooded support from Labour) suppressed  the economy for months on end whilst paying up to 11 million people to sit at home on their backsides.

Well the bill is in for that now. You think we should forget about it, and, unless I have the wrong end of the stick, you're a Labour supporter so you want the Tories to be blamed for the present poor economic situation, forgetting that Labour were egging them on in their suppression of the economy and society all along.

[harvey19]

1 minute ago, Organgrinder said:

Well said.

The very thing we need to do, being in a similar position to 1945, is start  investing, start rebuilding and get business going again properly.

We did it once and we can do it again but these 13 year failures just won't have it.

 

Stop buying cheap goods from abroad then.

[Chekhov]

13 hours ago, RJRB said:

And 80 years down the line there is no absolute truth on many aspects of WW11 and there never will be.

Historians and military buffs will continue to argue argue on the rights and wrongs of policies, campaigns, battles for ever and a day.

So read as voraciously as you wish but your knowledge  will only reflect  the research and views of others.

This is very true, I am often struck by the differences, subtle an d not so subtle, of different historian's theories and conclusions about WWII. The most common is the RAF saved this country from invasion, when in actual fact it was more the Royal Navy and the English Channel. Fighter Command just ensured beyond doubt that the German's wouldn't even try.

[Chekhov]

15 hours ago, Mister Gee said:

When they’re so far down that rabbit hole it’s an extremely difficult ask.

And you are also so far down a rabbit hole, just a different one.  You think that most of this dire economic situation is down to "the Tory government's incompetence (but not their Covid suppression policy, which you agreed with)".

You are wrong.

4 hours ago, Annie Bynnol said:

   Your claim  to "...read about WWII voraciously" without knowing about the plight of hundreds of millions of civilians is no surprise, given your history of  selecting sources that fit your beliefs rather than inform. 

   You do not need to concern yourself about giving advice as anybody who advises that there is no risk in crossing 125mph railway tracks is not really someone to take notice of. 

    Have you ever engaged in debate? All I hear are your beliefs.

Crossing a 125mph railways is safer than crossing many roads, and I mean legally crossing them (not motorways, which is illegal).

Why do you continue to argue that black is white ? Just off the top of my head, three incidents which have actually happened to me, illustrating how ludicrous is the current obsession about not crossing the tracks. :

 

1 - I was out on a hike and found myself on the wrong side of a railway line with no crossing for a mile or so each side. The most dangerous part of crossing that railway line was climbing the 'effin fence. Actually walking over the line was significantly safer then crossing Penistone Rd outside B&Q.

 

2 - I was on the wrong platform to catch a train and I could hear it coming round the bend (contrary to advice from elsewhere, you can hear a train coming from a long way off...). To get to the other platform via the nearby road bridge would have taken so long I might have missed it, or at the very least, had an incredibly stressful time.  And the trains were only running hourly and I'd then have missed my connection etc etc. So I jumped down from the P/F walked over and got up on the other one.

 

3 - My three year old son threw my mobile phone onto the track at Doncaster station. The staff actually managed to retrieve it with a litter picker, but if the picker hadn't been long enough I was told they'd have left it there. Well they might have been happy to do so but I soddin' would not.

 

>> Have you ever engaged in debate? All I hear are your beliefs.<<

 

You certainly don't all I hear from you are beliefs, e.g. that crossing a railway line is extremely dangerous.

And you do not answer direct questions, like is it reasonable for 3 million secondary school pupils to be forced to wear masks to save one life ? (yes or no will suffice)

Edited May 2, 2023 by Chekhov

[Mister M]

28 minutes ago, harvey19 said:

Other factors to consider are covid, mass immigration, Ukraine etc.

The price of housing is a major .

We are no longer a manufacturing country  in relation to years ago.

The reality of life is that some people will always be poor and others always rich, not the way we would like things to be but it will always be so.

The majority are better off than generations ago and living in better conditions with more material goods.

Wealth and income inequalities existed way before covid, mass immigration, and Ukraine etc. 

What I am saying is that for so many years we have had governments that not only do not care about such inequalities, but for a while at least in the 1980s and 1990s, had whole think tanks telling us why inequality is good. 

Yes some people will be richer than others, and some people will be poorer. 

As I've said, there is ample evidence that inequality is distorting not only the economy, but areas of our national life such as health, education, housing.

Is it really too much to ask Governments who celebrate capitalism red in tooth and claw, (but are quick to pump money in to the banking sector to bail them out, or who are quick to hand out lucrative tax payer funded contracts to mates); actually started thinking about why they're there?

Many people will have more consumer durables as these have come down in price markedly. But is that it? Is that all people care about, and should care about? 'Throw the proles the latest gizmo', and that's it, they'll be happy. I know the right wing are fond of criticising people's poverty of expectations, but that's just going for the lowest common denominator.

26 minutes ago, Chekhov said:

>>Just move on.<<

 

How can we "just move on" when you, and, apparently, many others, still think we did the right thing by suppressing society and the economy and therefore we will do it again ?

Quite apart from anything else  this whole thread is about the fact the country is poorer and we have to accept it. And the main reason, though not the only reason, is the government (with full blooded support from Labour) suppressed  the economy for months on end whilst paying up to 11 million people to sit at home on their backsides.

Well the bill is in for that now. You think we should forget about it, and, unless I have the wrong end of the stick, you're a Labour supporter so you want the Tories to be blamed for the present poor economic situation, forgetting that Labour were egging them on in their suppression of the economy and society all along.

 

[Chekhov]

4 hours ago, Mister M said:

One thing I did expect was the Government to seriously address the absolute blight of income inequality in this country. The gap between rich and poor while noticeable in better times, was impossible to ignore in the austerity years.

During the last 5 years we've heard how it's the people in the jobs, we usually take for granted, the cleaners, transport workers, shop workers, carers, teaching assistants keep this country together, who are the social glue which bind this country together. 

It will be interesting to see so soon after they were praised by all and sundry, the boot going in, while the wealthiest get ever richer without any comment from the policy makers.

You cannot do anything about that, we live in a free market economy, it's about supply and demand.

Other economic systems have been tried, rather unsuccessfully I seem to remember......

 

But, even if the Govt wanted to they cannot do anything because they're skint, having spent £400 Billion trying unsuccessfully to try and  suppress Covid in the whole population (incl amongst the great majority who were at relatively low risk from it....).

Edited May 2, 2023 by Chekhov

[Mister M]

1 hour ago, Chekhov said:

>>Just move on.<<

 

How can we "just move on" when you, and, apparently, many others, still think we did the right thing by suppressing society and the economy and therefore we will do it again ?

Quite apart from anything else  this whole thread is about the fact the country is poorer and we have to accept it. And the main reason, though not the only reason, is the government (with full blooded support from Labour) suppressed  the economy for months on end whilst paying up to 11 million people to sit at home on their backsides.

Well the bill is in for that now. You think we should forget about it, and, unless I have the wrong end of the stick, you're a Labour supporter so you want the Tories to be blamed for the present poor economic situation, forgetting that Labour were egging them on in their suppression of the economy and society all along.

All countries were impacted by covid, and all comparable countries to ours had a furlough scheme, so why is it

UK remains only G7 economy to languish below pre-pandemic levels | Financial Times (ft.com)

24 minutes ago, Chekhov said:

You cannot do anything about that, we live in a free market economy, it's about supply and demand.

Other economic systems have been tried, rather unsuccessfully I seem to remember......

 

But, even if the Govt wanted to they cannot do anything because they're skint, having spent £400 Billion trying unsuccessfully to try and  suppress Covid in the whole population (incl amongst the great majority who were at relatively low risk from it....).

How is it that other countries which also have a free market economy, also have much lower income inequalities:

Britain and the US are poor societies with some very rich people | Financial Times (ft.com)

And according to figures are doing substantially better than us?

Edited May 2, 2023 by Mister M

[Anna B]

1 hour ago, harvey19 said:

House prices are one of the major factors.

Maybe so, but why is that? How have they got so out of control?

 

It's not just a shortage of housing, but private landlords distorting the market, and cutting out first time buyers.

It's homes bought as investments but never lived in. It's second home buyers when locals can't afford the most basic accommodation. It's lack of regulation and rent control. It's 'affordable housing' that's anything but.... 

 

It's a disaster.