Undefeated Steak Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Hopefully someone can quote it into here as I'm on my phone but I'd like to throw Gus's epic political stance post into here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted January 24, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted January 24, 2017 Here it is. A pleasure to read, not because I completely agree but because itĀ is refreshing to see a political post from someone with a thoroughly considered point of view with rationales and explanations for the conclusions reached, as opposed to dogmatically re-stating ideologemes. Ā Right, as a pre-amble to this I think it is probably important to outline some of my upbringing, if only as it probably enlightens so of my political opinions now. I was born in a single-parent family, parents were never married, Mum was in her early 20ās and at Uni. We had no money, lived in shit estates/her multiple abusive boyfriends houses. I shared the same room as her until I was 10 because we had no money. She graduated, worked incredibly hard despite this and made a success of herself and me. I went to a Grammar thanks to her (and Christ, it really is the preserve of the middle-class, I was one of two in the entire year with divorced/not married parents!). I worked fucking hard, despite the grim situation vis her boyfriends at home and went to a good Uni, where I got a good degree and I now have a good job. Anyway, the idea of pulling yourself up by the bootstraps is burned into me. However, I realise not everyone can do so. Just thought it was probably worth mentioning some of this shit first-off. Ā My political position is essentially centrist/pragmatist and naturally pessimistic. I adhere to the Reinhold Niebuhr school of though that man is fundamentally flawed (though not through seminal guilt or religion) and that there is no teleological endpoint to politics as hoped for by Marx and other voices of the left. Itās about doing the best you can out of the situation in front of you and hopefully improving things while you do. Generally, Iām more economically conservative, though I always think pragmatically approaching economics is better than dogmatically holding onto economic ideals. Iām wholeheartedly liberal (progressive-whatever) when it comes to social issues like gay marriage and the like and feel that the state should basically fuck-off when it comes to this sort of issue. I believe in equality of opportunity, but not equality of wealth. I know many will point to how you need the latter to reach former. But I do not believe either is actually achievable in any realistic society, again I am not an optimist, a view supported (in terms of wealth distribution at least) by almost every historical example ever. A view that I guess comes back to my belief in the fundamental negativity of mankind. I believe in both nature and nurture, the state can help people, but there is no point hoping that government alone will turn Frank Spencer into Albert Einstein. Ā Right, economics. I believe we need a graduated income tax rate with the top line being 50% (5% higher than now). I personally think that there should be further graduations despite the fact that it would complicate personal tax. You simply canāt soak the rich because you will raise less tax overall as evidenced by the Laffer Curve, which is a pretty robust economic model that shows how a middle-approach to taxation results in the most revenue being raised (the rich donāt then feel the need to use off-shore firms/emigrate as much). I realise some people on here might like the idea of hammering bankers etc. I get that. But it is not going to raise more revenue and it will end up hurting the people who need the help of the state. So, where do you go? Luxury goods taxes work to an extent, but again you have the issue of just being overseas, consumption taxes hurt the poor more than the rich and now we move onto business. Ā On Cooperation tax, looking at the current situation with Brexit/Trump, we have keep it low if we have any anchoring in the current world. Again, this may not please some people on here, but with uncertainty about how much of our financial services will remain in the country and Trump/Republicans hell-bent on slashing corp tax rate, that way you will collect the most revenue is by having more business on a low rate. This also will help to keep jobs in financial services from moving abroad. Whether you like it or not, financial services are utterlyĀ integral to our wellbeing. Blame Thatcher opening the markets or whatever, but itās true to letās deal with it. A corollary to this, when Brexit problems have shaken down, I would heartily recommend looking again and having a higher rate again. Ā Tax loopholes. Try to close more of them sure, set up a Royal Commission or something. But every government in 50 years have talked about this and have only seen a dribble of money come back because you canāt do it totally in a globalised world. Imagine the breached hull of a ship, you plug one gap, another springs. Iāll but irrespective of your thoughts on it, the above is reality. Itās not the magic bullet presented by many people unfortunately. On globalisation, before only saying how shit it is, also worth pointing to how it's been considered in academia as having halved the number of people living in the $1 a day definition of global poverty within about 40 years. That's a staggering achievement. It's got huge flaws, but it also has dragged more people out of unmitigated destitution than anything else in human history during a similar time frame. Ā Ā My economic āconservatismā is believing that you canāt just spend forever and itās about letting reality dominate what you want to happen. I believe people onĀ the further left and right constantly fall into āHumeās Forkā, or the gap between ideas and reality. Itās all very well, in many cases accurate, to decry cutting public services, but you will hurt people far more in the long term by spending forever. Spending loads on public programmes will supercharge the economy and result in longer term contractions and inflation (which disproportionately hurts the poor). Whether you agree or not, I hope it at least elucidates on why I donāt think raising taxes on the rich loads will do anything other than hurt the most vulnerable in society. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but I truly believe that. Ā Basically, I always ask of policies heavy with good intentions two things. 1. Where is the money coming from? 2. If you can't really answer 1, will it hurt people more long term? Ā So, where does the axe-fall? Public services to an extent, yes. But it also means being more clever about tax-raising and also making it politically easier for Councilās to raise additional revenue on an authority wide basis. I canāt be arsed to do a line-item review of where I think you can and canāt cut. So Iāll outline what I think of a few bits of more interest for people. The NHS. I hate that you canāt have a proper conversation on this. I think that we need some emergency tax-levy, a longer term plan on funding, the combining of normal and social care, an honest conversation about elements of where the private sector can help (procurement being one area) and (when you can have that conversation) you can set up proper legislation to ensure that private companies donāt take the absolute piss, which they will, unless you can have that bipartisan debate about something so important. Everyone has their heads buried in the partisan sands on this one. Guys, the NHS is fucked under the current model. A large part of my job is around trying to push for the usage of big data in the NHS. It could save an enormous amount of money, seriously, an absolute boat load. The conversations from people high up in the NHS are so sad at the moment. The Conservatives lie about the funding issue, increased tax and Labour lie about the need for efficiency and some private involvement (introduced by Blair, yes I know loads of people think he was a Tory). It is by getting over the hurdles I feel you can get some kind of solution. Ā Welfare. Again, centrist. Not everyone on benefits is taking the piss and not everyone on benefits isnāt either. The stupid thing is, welfare like benefits payments is such a small relative part of public expenditure and yet is talked about endlessly. I didnāt agree with disability cuts (ATOS was a load of utter wank), but also agree with sanctions for people who couldnāt be arsed to go to Job Centre meetings. Not everything is a Daily Mail spread or a film by Ken Loach. A better degree of case-by-case evaluation needed, but there is stuff from left and right I agree upon on this. Ā There needs to be a fundamental review of state money for old people/pensions. Itās utterly guilded at the moment. The Triple-Lock Policy was catering to constituent in the worst way. As public sector workers get fuck all, the young canāt get a house etc. Old people getting bumper rises is just insulting. Millionaire octogenarians getting a Winter Fuel Payment/free bus pass is just wrong. I donāt have answers on all this, probably a greater degree of means testing, but itās an area which must be addressed and an area which could potentially produce a lot of totally reasonable savings. Slightly linked into this. Social care probably needs to start being lumped in with NI, even if it means an increase in it. Again, combine social care and the NHS for goodness sake. Ā Education. If anyone particularly wishes to know what I think about primary/secondary then ask, but Iāve been rambling on forever. On higher education, I totally agree with the government decision to boost apprenticeships and stop making practical jobs a negative. One of the most myopic decisions made by Blair was arbitrarily deciding that āx numberā go to Uni. It makes a degree worth less, it saddles people with debt (due to numbers, we canāt grant everyone), it makes courses that should be vocational accredited uni courses (Surf Studies to use an extreme example). The road to hell is paved with good intentions and all that. I very much believe in a plurality of options in education in general where possible. Options that arenāt just uni. Ā Look if anyone wants anything else from me, just ask. Iāve banged on way too long. I am not going to bother responding if you approach it like Hallicks or Mike in all honesty. I really, genuinely appreciate some of you guys who totally disagree with me approaching it in a slightly more constructive way. Ā So in closing. Agree or disagree on substance, challenge what I think with stats, facts, when youāve talked friends, whatever. But donāt make sweeping statements like āyou hate poor peopleā of me. I can honestly say the most important thing in my life is public service. My entire adult life and career has been based upon the aim of improving life for some people, even if only by a tiny iota. Itās why I did a degree in Politics, is why I worked for an MP when could have earned more money elsewhere, Itās why I applied for a job that is half-lobbying in the public sector whenĀ I could have earned more in private, Itās why I intend to run for Council, Itās why I challenge my own views constantly through reading the stuff I mention in the Reading Thread, Itās why I spend nights laden with insomnia trying to make sense of my opinion on issues, Itās why I have spent countless hours canvassing support for people who I think are the kind of decent men and women we need in local government irrespective of their position on some things. Ā More to the point. Iām willing to change my view and not be tribal. Itās why I said was a Conservative earlier on. I identify as a centrist. Iām a member of the Lib Dems and have been for a while and if you hate what I believe in fine, but donāt hate me as a person just because Iām not a lefty, or because I voted for a Conservative member of Council in the past. I want many of the same ultimate goals. Female equality, tolerance, internationalism, democracy, pluralism of opinions et al. I just may have a different view of how you reach some of these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Chest Rockwell Posted January 24, 2017 Moderators Share Posted January 24, 2017 Yep, +1 for sure. I will also not pretend I understood it all, but hey.. That's how you learn, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted January 24, 2017 Share Posted January 24, 2017 Yeah but in true greasy politician ways, he never did answer why he hates the poor though, did he?Ā Eh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Sergio Mendacious Posted January 24, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted January 24, 2017 +1 ā nice to see a shout out for the Laffer Curve, in only because I think it will lead some people to look into it, and see that it's part of the shaky foundations of supply-side economics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted February 21, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted February 21, 2017 This one from Ian. (Chest would've done, but he's on mobile.) For some reason, my copy missed the quote tag details, but it's in the Drastic Job Change thread. Ā Ā Ā Ā I was getting treated like shit by my boss at Toy Master years ago. This fat cunt fell over pissed and broke her arm just before Christmas so basically the woman who is supposed to be in charge of the maddest period in a toy shop was out of the game and we had to do so much work. The heater was knackered as well, and I swear it was fucking freezing in the place. Beyond the acceptable conditions, but we struggled on freezing our bollocks off. So much was wrong in this place.Ā Anyway after Christmas, her attitude totally changed with me for no reason. Come to find out, she's a bully and the person who was there before me was on the sick because of how anxious she was. The security guard told me she used to really have a go at her all the time. Anyway she was giving me the odd bit of shit. None I didnt mind taking. I'm not thin skinned in real life (only on here!) But one afternoon she had a right go at me about something and I was fuming as I was going home. Ā So my final day comes (I didnt expect it to be my final day), and it was just me and the assistant manager that day. I'll never forget because it was February 14th and fat arse was off that day because she was spending time with her boyfriend who was literally fucking her (he'd spend all her money on weed). I mean there's no way anyone would go out with this whale unless there was add ons. Piss licking bulldog face with the personality of Jay Strongbow at a funeral. So I was wearing my fleece that day because I've got asthma and I'm freezing cold and dont want to die and all that. Its a black fleece that I had previously worn for months, but now its a problem because she wants someone to fuck with and the only staff there are the assistant manager (who is bipolar and has already went nuts at her) and her boyfriends sister. Who I liked and was chatting to on facebook at the time, so if there wasnt a potential shag in it, that bitch would have hit the skids because fat arse hadnt informed head office about hiring her lad's sister and I've got no pride and would have happily got her the sack if this game of human chess went down that road. So who is going to get it? Me obviously. The only one doing any work. Ā Around 10.30am the boss comes in doesnt she? She's going to get her hair done next door and spend the rest of the day spending all her money on the Boy From the Black Stuff. First thing she does is say "what have I told you about wearing that, get it off." So I went up stairs to the locker and instead of removing my fleece, I put my leather jacket on and came down to the shop floor. She said "what you doing?" I replied "I'm off home, you can fuck off with this shit." And slightly kicked the Hornby train set display and they all came crashing down. Which wasnt meant to happen, because I half expected a bill through the door for damages as the weeks past. I didnt realise until I saw the security guard in town that he'd said "Aye, she had work all day because you had to have two in the shop all the time." So the knowledge of fucking up her valentines day raised a smile, I'll not lie. Bare in mind, I've spoke to people in mental health circles and they seem convinced this was a bit of a breakdown, but at the same time I never felt more free than walking away from that job. The shop is closed now. It went under not long after and is now another toy shop. With nicer owners so I'm told. She eventually got demoted and then sacked. Ā Needless to say, I had the last laugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members mim731 Posted February 21, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted February 21, 2017 +1. Superb story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators PowerButchi Posted February 21, 2017 Moderators Share Posted February 21, 2017 I preferred it when he told it a couple of years ago, with the bit where Ian was saying he kept saying "You're not making a mug out of me" during the whole thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members PunkStep Posted February 21, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted February 21, 2017 +1 from me too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Chest Rockwell Posted February 21, 2017 Moderators Share Posted February 21, 2017 +1 of course. Now you mention that line Butch, I feel like I have vague memories of it. That sounds familiar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slapnut Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 That story with the quote Butch is on about is in the excellent personal low points thread in Gold for anybody interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBacon Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 +1 for Ian as well. I've just had to leave the room because of it. I'm currently in the garden crying and trying not to be loud whilst smoking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members FLips Posted February 21, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted February 21, 2017 Yeah I said in the thread I'm sure he told it before and he had. Still funny like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members FLips Posted February 22, 2017 Paid Members Share Posted February 22, 2017 Thought this was funny as in on-topic regarding a Montreal Screwjob Porn Parody. Ā Ending spoiler: Ā Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted February 22, 2017 Author Awards Moderator Share Posted February 22, 2017 I'll +1 that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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