General politics discussion thread

[David]

Ive never defended bankers pay, but then ive never complained about the good times this country have had on the backs of their success either.

The good times? I don't personally know anyone who experienced these "good times". In fact, I think you'll find that those who are paying the price for their mistakes now are the same people who weren't on the list when the wealth from the good times was being dished out.

[Van Dammer]

Ive never defended bankers pay, but then ive never complained about the good times this country have had on the backs of their success either.

The good times? I don't personally know anyone who experienced these "good times". In fact, I think you'll find that those who are paying the price for their mistakes now are the same people who weren't on the list when the wealth from the good times was being dished out.

 

Yeah, none of those people benefited from the boom period in Britain, the fact that it created extra jobs and propped up the economy. Having wealthy people earning high salaries only benefits those people and nobody below that.

 

Ill take it as a compliment that its your general thing to only pick out the odd sentences in posts.

Edited June 21, 2011 by Van Dammer

[mikey]

Becoming a pilot is fucking expensive. We're talking six figures just to get anywhere near commercial level.

[David]

Ill take it as a compliment that its your general thing to only pick out the odd sentences in posts.

I already told you, I'm not going over old ground that I've went over countless times already with others like you.

[bobbins]

Anybody want to explain to me why the Greek's would rather their country go bankrupt then accept the austerity measures put forward by thier Government?

Because austerity isn't a solution to any of their problems, it's just a way for the IMF to ensure that the banks all get their money back by further exploitation of the working people. The only way for the Greeks to get out of debt is through growth or default, but the IMF isn't going to invest in growth. The IMF want to keep unemployment high so that wages are forced to the floor. It's all a plan to make it easier to extort the Greek people and exploit their assets. It will do literally nothing to help the Greek people, of course they're opposed to it. There's only so much you can squeeze until it all falls apart. They've been trying this deep austerity for months, it's made everything infinitely worse, so they're going to do more of the same.

 

Why not go bankrupt? They'll have to restructure their economy, maybe pull out of the Euro, but that's a better option than these impossible cuts, and it's a chance to create a system where the rich actually pay tax. And even if they refuse the austerity measures, it's very unlikely that the global powers would really let them go bankrupt, with all the knock on effects and massive bank losses. They'll be cashing in big with the interest repayments built on the back of the slave labour of the people, they're not going to throw away this opportunity to grab the plunder of one of the greatest ancient civilizations just because the Greeks are playing hardball.

Edited June 22, 2011 by bobbins

[JNLister]

The BBC is noting the cost of the Olympics in 2004 as contributing towards the debt problems. That's encouraging.

[Kenny McBride]

The Olympics is not always a lot of fun.

[Van Dammer]

Yeah Beijing and Sydney are fucked. I think major cities with major economies are fine, you cant compare Atlanta, that's always been a shithole.

[Kenny McBride]

So which of Beijing, Sydney, Atlanta and Athens aren't major cities? Also, there's the whole Montreal disaster. It took the city 30 years to pay off the cost of the Olympics. I don't know so much about any others, but there are horror stories about virtually every Olympic host city, winter and summer, of the past 30-40 years.

Edited June 22, 2011 by Kenny McBride

[Loki]

Athens?

[David]

Is anyone watching Sky News? Listening to the so-called financial experts who represent the banking industry arguing desperately against Nick Clegg's idea of giving shares in the banks that were bailed out to members of the public is amusing me this morning.

 

For anyone not in the know;

 

A giveaway of government-owned shares in RBS and Lloyds, worth hundreds of pounds to British taxpayers, is being proposed by the deputy prime minister.

 

Nick Clegg has set out his plan in a letter to the chancellor, George Osborne, in which he says such a move would create 46 million shareholders and allow a form of collective ownership of the banks.

 

Previous sell-offs of shares in state utilities attempted by the Thatcher administration were derided as gimmicks or short-term tax giveaways since the mass of shares were either immediately sold on or resold to the big pension funds within two years.

 

Conservatives are likely to argue that denationalisation of the banks, brought into semi-public ownership in the years following the banking crash in 2007, should either be used to reduce the deficit, provide tax breaks or even restore public spending. In practice, the shares are not likely to be sold in the short term since the banks' share prices have not yet recovered and they are not ready for sale.

 

Speaking during a trade mission to Brazil accompanied by an array of cabinet ministers, Clegg said: "Psychologically it is immensely important that the British public feel they have not been overlooked or ignored. Their money has been used to the tune of billions and billions and billions to keep the British banking system on life support and they have absolutely no say at all in what happens when normality is restored."

 

Critics will contend that people will have no more say if they own a tiny individual shareholding than if the government collectively owns a larger share. But Clegg claimed his plan would reduce public mistrust in the financial sector.

 

The mass distribution of shares could mean that everyone on the electoral roll or on the national insurance register would receive an estimated 1,450 shares in RBS and 450 shares in Lloyds. Such parcels would be worth

[patiirc]

The BBC's news/politcal team seems to be falling apart, is this all over cuts/ move to Broadcasting Hose? The latest is Laura Kunessberg fucking off to ITV to become Business Editor in September. This comes after Matt Frei fucked off to Channel 4 a few weeks ago

 

Its all very odd, they have already had Alistair Yeats retiring, and a few others leaving as well.

[Van Dammer]

David what is the source of that article?

 

I dont really see the benefit of giving away shares in the nationalised banks, is there really an upside? Other than good PR for the Lib Dems of course.

Edited June 23, 2011 by Van Dammer

[David]

David what is the source of that article?

It's from the Guardian website I believe.

[Loki]

They should give away stock options to the public, not stock itself. If you give stock to the general public, you'll get what happened in Russia in the 90s where very quickly individuals or companies will buy up all the shares and take control of the "public" banks.

 

The "nationalised" banks should be completely restructured - new CEOs with the brief to run the banks as services rather than profit-making companies, with a brief to providing cheap and transparent banking facilities for the British public and small businesses, with dividends a distant second. That would force other private banks to compete in terms of rates and reforms of banking charges and would improve the whole system in this country.