Kudos to Britain if they pull this off

[DC Tom]

idiots. cretins. morons. twits. arses. twonks. fools. imbeciles. incompetents. failures. lackwits. eejits.

 

Only a people historically enemies of the French could have so many colourful synonyms for "idiot".

[Britbillsfan]

Only a people historically enemies of the French could have so many colourful synonyms for "idiot".

Nah, I hear fans of the Bills have an even wider variety.

[OCinBuffalo]

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.

Read. Learn. Do not repeat in this country, idiots.

 

Anybody says "raise capital gains tax", get out your tack hammer, hit the retard, repeat.

 

(I'm trying out my new "made-for-simpletons" writing style)

[Britbillsfan]

To be fair they were not the only reasons. But they were two huge ones. Large Shipping Containers and reduced trade tariffs kind of killed British manufacturing as well. But the fact British goods in the early 70s were technologically backward, badly built & designed (buy two and you might have enough parts to assemble something which works), looked crap, were expensive AND were delivered late (if at all) had a lot more to do with it.

 

And the left in the UK blame Thatcher for destroying the manufacturing industry because she did not throw money at those same doomed companies and bankrupt the country (again) while doing so.

 

BTW Our left is worse than your left.

[OCinBuffalo]

To be fair they were not the only reasons. But they were two huge ones. Large Shipping Containers and reduced trade tariffs kind of killed British manufacturing as well. But the fact British goods in the early 70s were technologically backward, badly built & designed (buy two and you might have enough parts to assemble something which works), looked crap, were expensive AND were delivered late (if at all) had a lot more to do with it.

Which has a lot to do with not being able to:

fire anybody

reorganize the company

create production incentives

change suppliers

without going through the trials of Job because of unions and government regulation.

And the left in the UK blame Thatcher for destroying the manufacturing industry because she did not throw money at those same doomed companies and bankrupt the country (again) while doing so.

Yes, and we have been unable to learn from her success when in comes to airlines and auto manufacturers. The good news is: Japan makes more cars here than in Japan, proving that unions are in fact the problem, and, Southwest Airlines is kicking ass, proving, again, that unions are part of the problem. Both the Japanese companies and Southwest are union-free.

BTW Our left is worse than your left.

Only because we vigilantly beat them verbally and intellectually, as evidenced by this board. The Republicans hosed us, allowing the "(no WMD in Iraq*ridiculous spending)+corruption = Obama" equation to come to fruition. But, as the Rolling Stones said: "it's all over now".

[Peace]

And here's Ireland forced to follow suit. Come on USA. For once be a follower!

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/25/world/europe/25ireland.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

 

DUBLIN — Acting to secure a $114 billion international bailout, the Irish government announced plans on Wednesday for steep tax increases and sharp cutbacks in its social welfare state.

 

The austerity measures, which would slash public spending by $20 billion over four years, would help pay for a severe banking crisis that has depleted the country’s finances and led to a dramatic weakening in the government that is likely to see Prime Minister Brian Cowen ousted from office early next year. A crucial, separate 2011 budget is to come to a vote on Dec. 7.

 

A throng of protesters shouted outside the Finance Ministry as Mr. Cowen and Finance Minister Brian Lenihan unveiled details of how the government planned to slash the deficit to 3 percent of domestic gross product in 2014, from 32 percent.