Archive for February, 2009
Posted by michael on February 8, 2009
I have just listened to Darling on tv.
He seems to keep saying ‘i have made it clear’ but doesn’t seem to want to say what he has made clear!
He seems to have stated that only the bonuses of those involved in the toxic losses shoudl not receive bonuses. That was also how the following news summary interpreted him!
In the case of RBS, which was bailed out from total collapse by taxpayer money, how can any bonuses be paid?
All the spare money available in RBS, if there is any at all, should be used to repay the taxpayers before any bonuses at all are paid!
Sorry, but the RBS staff only have jobs because of the taxpayer!
Posted in Blogroll, credit crunch, UK Economy | Leave a Comment »
Posted by michael on February 8, 2009
According to reports from the news media the banks, in particular RBS, are preparing to pay huge bonuses to staff.
It is inconceivable to any normal person that an organisation that has just been bailed out by the taxpayers of the UK, is prepared to pay bonuses to staff.
The taxpayer has provided a huge amount of money to save the jobs in the banks. They have not provided money to pay bonuses and any money available for bonus payments should be used to reduce the amount of money provided by the taxpayer.
It is a shame that the ordinary hardworking bank staff should suffer as a result of the failure of the management. But that is what has to happen! The directors and the management of the banks have failed their staff and should pay for this failure with their jobs.
But there seems to be very little recognition of the incompetence of these people. Those who made the decisions about investing in these toxic assets should be sacked. How can anyone trust their judgment again?
The government has just announced an independent investigation into how banks are managed. Why? Don’t they know already? Did they put all these billions of pounds into bailing out the banks without specifying how the banks were to use the money?
An independent investigation would seem to me to be the government failing to take control and failing to manage the situation.
Posted in Blogroll, credit crunch, economy, UK Economy | Leave a Comment »
Posted by michael on February 7, 2009
It is being reported that the Royal Bank of Scotland is planning to pay out huge bonuses to it’s staff.
If this is true and it is allowed to happen then it would be the final proof of the helplessness and incompetence of New Labour.
Who else would bail out a UK bank with billions of public money, yet end up being totally helpless and unable to act when the bank uses the bail out for bonuses!
RBS should have been allowed to go bust!
It should be closed down now and the assets sold off. The government should get back all of the bailout money and use it for the good of the public, not to line the pockets of greedy and ungrateful bankers!
Posted in Blogroll, credit crunch, economy, recession, UK Economy | Tagged: bailout, bank, banker, bankers, brown, government, greedy, labour | Leave a Comment »
Posted by michael on February 7, 2009
I came across a statistic today which I am very unhappy about.
25% of our council tax is now spent funding town hall pensions
It is almost unbelievable the government of the UK would allow so much of our council tax to towards pension benefits for a minority of the people who work in our council offices.
We need competent staff to run our councils in an efficient and capable manner. But if 25% of our council tax is required to pay to have efficient councils then I would suggest that we could dispense with these people and have very inefficient councils and we would save a lot of money on our council bills!
Posted in Blogroll, council tax, tax, UK Economy | Tagged: abuse, bureaucrat, bureaucrats, council tax, government, household, local taxes, official, pension, pensions | Leave a Comment »
Posted by michael on February 7, 2009
I was quite surprised when Gordon Brown introduced the 2.5% VAT cut. I looked around and saw many shops promoting 20%, 30% and even 50% off. So what what difference would 2.5% VAT reduction make?
After all it was only the VAT that was being cut by 2.5%, and VAT is not charged on most food items.
The cost to the UK (that is all of us!) was going to be £12 billion. Was it really a good way to spend £12 billion?
The Conservatives did not support this action.
Neither does the French President Nicolas Sarkoz. He said the UK’s VAT cut had “absolutely not worked”. ”Britain is cutting taxes. That will bring them nothing. Consumption continues to decrease,” he said.
But the Conservatives said President Sarkozy was just the latest foreign leader to criticise Gordon Brown’s policies.
Now we have to see what Brown does. Is he going to claim that this policy is working.
Or is he prepared to drop the policy before it costsus tax payers even more money.
Or is Brown not able to own up to making a mistake? In which case the taxpayers can foot the bill of £12 billion just to avoid Brown owning up and saying ‘I got it wrong’!
Posted in UK Economy | Leave a Comment »
Posted by michael on February 5, 2009
Anyone who thinks that this government has any care or consideration for those it supposed to govern may be interested in the following:
News this month that the DWP plans to force the partners of the poorest sick and disabled claimants to carry out specific work-related activities, chosen by voluntary and private sector Pathways agencies, or lose benefits. It’s part of the provisions of the latest welfare reform bill that we’re still working our way through and one that has received little attention so far.
The ‘poorest sick and disabled claimants’ will be as described – those who are genuine and who are in the greatest need. There is very little scope for exageration by people who are falsely claiming benefits.
Yet this government focuses their attacks on the carers of these people. A carer only qualifies for Carers benefit if they care for at least 35 hours a week. Are the government now expecting the carers to work extra hours on a voluntary basis?
Who looks after the sick and disabled person whilst the carer is doing voluntary work elsewhere? Will the government provide paid professional people to stand in for the carer whilst they are out doing voluntary work?
Posted in benefits, credit crunch, debt, economy, recession, UK Economy | Tagged: attack, benefits, disabled, dwp, poor | 2 Comments »
Posted by michael on February 1, 2009
Gordon Brown has compared himself with Titian. Fascinating personal admission.
This great painter reached the age of 90 when he finished his last painting. He said ‘I am finally beginning to learn how to paint’.
Brown quoted this and said ‘that is where we are’. Now he may be talking about all the leaders at the World Economic Forum (which was where Brown was speaking) or just himself.
In either case he is saying that he does not know what he is doing with regard to the ongoing financial crisis. In fact we seem to have to wait for another 34 years before Brown ‘begins to learn how to handle this financial crisis’.
He could at least try to give the country some hope of fixing the economy soon!
Posted in Blogroll, credit crunch, debt, economy, Euopean Union, labour, recession, UK Economy | Tagged: brown, credit, credit crunch, debt, economy, government, labour, recession, UK Economy | Leave a Comment »
