Peace Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 A nice model for the US. He said that 490,000 public sector jobs would be lost over the four-year savings program and the size of government departments in London would be cut by one third. Public spending would be cut by a total 83 billion pounds, or around $130 billion, by 2015. Payments to long-term unemployed who do not seek jobs would be cut, he said, saving 7 billion pounds a year. Additionally, he said, a new 12-month limit would be imposed on people drawing long-term jobless benefits and measures would be taken to curb benefit fraud. Mr. Osborne said an increase in the official retirement age from 65 to 66 would start four years sooner than planned, in 2020, saving 5 billion pounds a year. Britain has already said it will restrict once-universal child benefit payments to people earning less than around $70,000 a year. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/21/world/europe/21britain.html?partner=rss&emc=rss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magox Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 I think this is a great model to possibly follow. I have a bet with an economist friend of mine regarding austerity and it's potential pitfalls and successes. The risks are that these austerity measures will be so severe that the economies of these countries which are already on shaky ground won't be able to absorb these cuts. I argued that it would indeed cause more pain in the short-term but would allow these countries more of an opportunity to flourish over the long-term if applied correctly. There definitely has to be a fine balance as I pointed out to Joe, you don't want to impose draconian austerity measures because of the fragility of their fiscal future and the impact it could create to job growth in which it could very well cause an even worse outlook for their national debt and public finances due to decreased tax receipts. Cameron ran on austerity and the national debt and he is following through with it, much like Chris Christie from New Jersey. I hope it works out for them, the true test will be over the next couple years. I do believe that Europe (which are going through their own austerity measures) will be in for a protracted slow down for quite some time, but long-term I think this is the best way to solve their issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 I think this is a great model to possibly follow. I have a bet with an economist friend of mine regarding austerity and it's potential pitfalls and successes. The risks are that these austerity measures will be so severe that the economies of these countries which are already on shaky ground won't be able to absorb these cuts. I argued that it would indeed cause more pain in the short-term but would allow these countries more of an opportunity to flourish over the long-term if applied correctly. There definitely has to be a fine balance as I pointed out to Joe, you don't want to impose draconian austerity measures because of the fragility of their fiscal future and the impact it could create to job growth in which it could very well cause an even worse outlook for their national debt and public finances due to decreased tax receipts. Cameron ran on austerity and the national debt and he is following through with it, much like Chris Christie from New Jersey. I hope it works out for them, the true test will be over the next couple years. I do believe that Europe (which are going through their own austerity measures) will be in for a protracted slow down for quite some time, but long-term I think this is the best way to solve their issues. Depressing thing is the left can't push us towards big government fast enough. It will take generations to first realize the mistake in philosophy and then correct the mess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary M Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 (edited) Depressing thing is the left can't push us towards big government fast enough. It will take generations to first realize the mistake in philosophy and then correct the mess. One Big Ass Mistake America I think the realization has already been reached!!! Edited October 20, 2010 by Gary M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 One Big Ass Mistake America I think the realization has already been reached!!! Hopefully by enough. Thing that worries me is there are plenty of people that think its the governments responsibility to look after them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDBillzFan Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 Hopefully by enough. Thing that worries me is there are plenty of people that think its the governments responsibility to look after them. Or, who conner likes to refer to as, the "unimportant" people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 (edited) I do believe that Europe (which are going through their own austerity measures) will be in for a protracted slow down for quite some time, but long-term I think this is the best way to solve their issues. OK, so why can it work for them and not for us? Edited October 20, 2010 by joesixpack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magox Posted October 20, 2010 Share Posted October 20, 2010 OK, so why can it work for them and not for us? Joe!!! Come on Man! I know you are capable of understanding the difference between a reasonable austerity measure and a draconian one. I have argued on this board a bazillion times that we need to cut, just that you have to do it an intelligent fashion with regards to the possible unintended consequences of taking such action. This one, from the British appears to be reasonable. Look at what they are proposing and what you layed out. Night and day difference. You want to cut defense spending by 25%. They are doing by 8%. You want to raise S.S to 75, they are talking about 67. You want to eliminate the Education department, they do no such thing. You want to cut Medicaid for over half of the recipients, they want to make minor modifications to theirs. No comparison. Do you see the difference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 I was just going to start a topic on this -- Bravo George Osborn and the rest of the coalition gov't for putting forth a plan that is courageous enough to pull England back from the edge of madness. Spending Review in Summary Too bad we are closer to emulating France at the moment; pushing limitless expansion of gov't for no discernible reason other than to sell out to union thugs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magox Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 I was just going to start a topic on this -- Bravo George Osborn and the rest of the coalition gov't for putting forth a plan that is courageous enough to pull England back from the edge of madness. Spending Review in Summary Too bad we are closer to emulating France at the moment; pushing limitless expansion of gov't for no discernible reason other than to sell out to union thugs. I found this part to be interesting: Banks - A permanent bank levy will be raised taxing bank's balance sheets. I believe they understand that populism does play a role. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britbillsfan Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 I believe they understand that populism does play a role. Have to have some crumbs. The UK relies on banking a lot more than most of the world, largely because it was just about the only part of the economy not savaged by the fiasco of the 1960s/70s (when 98% tax on investment income and powerful unions effectively destroyed UK manufacturing industry) so I imagine when it all clms down a bit the banks will be a little less harshly treated than it appears right now. Blair/Brown really shafted the finances of this country. If they had not been such a couple of numpties then UK public finances would have been strong enough to pretty much cope with the crap of the last few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 numpties Say again last transmission? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britbillsfan Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 idiots. cretins. morons. twits. arses. twonks. fools. imbeciles. incompetents. failures. lackwits. eejits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pine Barrens Mafia Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 twonks Thanks for the additions to my insult vocabulary! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 idiots. cretins. morons. twits. arses. twonks. fools. imbeciles. incompetents. failures. lackwits. eejits. Nice. I need to start working 'twonks' into my vocab. And 'eejit' is a good one, though 'conner' is a perfectly suitable synonym. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanker Posted October 23, 2010 Share Posted October 23, 2010 idiots. cretins. morons. twits. arses. twonks. fools. imbeciles. incompetents. failures. lackwits. eejits. Glad you didn't add nankies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted October 23, 2010 Share Posted October 23, 2010 idiots. cretins. morons. twits. arses. twonks. fools. imbeciles. incompetents. failures. lackwits. eejits. PPP roll call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britbillsfan Posted October 23, 2010 Share Posted October 23, 2010 PPP roll call. You win! :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Booster4324 Posted October 23, 2010 Share Posted October 23, 2010 PPP roll call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
/dev/null Posted October 24, 2010 Share Posted October 24, 2010 idiots. cretins. morons. twits. arses. twonks. fools. imbeciles. incompetents. failures. lackwits. eejits. Okay so you're supposed to learn something new every day. Today I learned what a "twonk" is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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