OT: National pride at it's best.

Well there's a big surprise.... promise it won't cost more....promise no public funding...... promised god knows what else.... so they can find 29million to victimise 30% of the adult population, they can find billions to prop up this load of rubbish that's not even accessible to the majority of the poulation, but there's no money to deal with social depravation, hospitals etc. It makes you proud to be an ex- pat.... and why haven't the people who came up with the original fugures been sacked - they are obvioulsy incompetent.

Richard

It's not quite as bad as it looks, the chancellor has insisted on a

You really do need to get that head looked into Richard, you never stop moaning! You're living in a prosperous country, unlike the vast majority of the world, but you just can't stop whingeing.

! You're living in a prosperous country,

With a chancellor the relies on more and more borrowing and a widening balance of trade deficit. Our position is surely unsustainable. Can someone with economic knowledge explain (using simple language) how we can continue to prosper in the long term?

Can you explain why you're such a miserable git? You admit to having no economic knowledge but are certain that we're all DOOMED DOOMED WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE HELP!

We used to rule the world, we've fallen since then, but it's been an easy trip and there hasn't been a mass extinction, civil war, massacres on the streets and all the other stuff that's happened in parts of europe, africa and the middle east. Things aren't perfect and never will be, but there are too many moaners and whiners.

In article , Ian Rawlings writes

That's the whole point - taxpayers will fund it, as there is no such thing as 'government money.' I don't remember any Olympic bid in Labour's manifesto last time, and if they'd told anyone they'd spend £9bn on it, B-liar might not have had such an easy ride.

There are echoes of the Scottish parliament building at £414m (yes, just one building!), and a certain large project to create an European superstate that has so far cost an incalculably huge amount, not least in jobs.

B-liar is simply mortgaging our children's future for his own hollow ego.

My wife has a stock answer to the Olympic issue: put a permanent stadium etc. somewhere, say Africa, and stop kerb-crawling it all round the world.

Regards,

Simonm.

Ah, no explanation, just the expected head in the sand stuff coupled with the normal signal to noise ratio! The fact is that with borrowing at such unprecedented levels we are living a lie - look at the number of IVA's and bankruptcies of late. I just want a simple explanation regarding how, as a country, we plan to continue. The current climate is unsustainable with spending exceeding income by a large margin.

Julian.

Look at the stories of them, lots of stories. Not much in the way of house repossession though, as there were back in the thatcher years. Not perfect, but we're actually doing fairly well. People these days have a lot more loot than they did when I was a lad.

As for economics, while spending more than we're earning doesn't seem to be sustainable, it's what countries do and have been doing since history began. The only people who seem to be particularly worried at the moment are the panickers who don't know anything about economics but have decided we're all doomed.

In article , Julian writes

We can't. Unlike the US, we're not a reserve currency any more, so when enthusiasm wanes and the price of Sterling drops, the game's over.

Brown knows this (he's nasty, not stupid), and that's why his* government is allowing waves of cheap foreign labour into the country - call it debt consolidation if you will. It only fends the problem off for a generation, until they settle down, and they and their children want the incomes and lifestyles they've seen others enjoying here, and they no longer want to work incredibly hard to pay for it.

Like all debt-financed spending, there's a bill to pay at the end. Brown will be remembered as one of the worst _ever_ chancellors, partly because his mismanagement has been able to continue for so long, and much of his spendthrift approach has become entrenched. The biggest damage he's done is allowing the massive increase in public sector headcount. It's unsustainable, but will cause nightmares for any government seeking to reverse it.

Making the BoE Monetary Policy Committee "independent" was a very shrewd move. Their actions are in effect forced by Brown's activities, just as they always were, but now he doesn't have to account for interest rate changes to the media (who aren't very observant, it seems).

But going back on-topic for a sec., The biggest cost (by far) of the Olympics will be the disruption it will cause, not just during, but in the preparations. Small sectors of the economy will benefit massively, but for others it means enormous strain on the infrastructure.

Regards,

Simonm.

Some of us have studied economics.

It all depends on what sort of country you want. I want one where I have the discretion to spend my income as I wish, where the streets are safe, and where my children might enjoy the personal freedoms I have had. I want one where the countryside isn't being built over, but protected (for green-laning etc., as well as everything else), and I want one in which our history and culture are valued above those of other nations.

Brown's policies are diametrically set against those things. I won't bore the group with why, but the "demand" for housing is no accident, and once achieved, the destruction of open space and the countryside is probably permanent. Cf. the nonsense about wind power, for example forcing the destruction of the Hebridaean environment for no real gain (save that of the windmill companies).

Before you rail against people who express considered concerns as to where the country is going, you might want to define what you want so people can decide if they agree with your own values. The fact that we haven't had genocide here (for a few centuries, at least!) is no justification for letting the country decline further. Unlike Brown, I don't claim what's truly valuable can be found on a balance sheet.

Anyway, I've already taken up too much bandwidth on this - AFL isn't the place - so in the words of a certain Mr. Bannatyne, "I'm out!"

Regards,

Simonm.

Nope you are wrong the only people we have too many of are politicians and lawyers

- Power to the people Derek

Very interesting. It'll prolly me even more interesting when I've looked up what a 'reserve currency' is on Google!

Julian.

I've noted that so many of my work collegues seem to spend their lives managing debt and living hand to mouth. You know the sort of thing - paying off one credit card with another that offers free balance transfers etc etc. We do have a lot more loot, I've got about 5 angle grinders and three 'lekky drills. My dad (who was a shipping manager) had one drill with a handle. (like an egg whisk) I'm not sure though that this modern way of life with borrowing to achieve instant gratification is all it's cracked up to be, I know plenty of people who are still unhappy and have a hell of a time managing debt that they've stupidly got themselves into.

I think of the African nations that have been cripled by interest from debt. I'm sure the arithmetic can equally apply to us in the UK!

The only people who seem to be particularly worried at

On a personal level I'm not worried at all. I have zero debt and my house is fully paid for. I still need to do a little more work regarding the pension malarkey, but that's it.

Like the other chap, I really don't like watching this country go down the tube - but I suspect there's little that I can do to change things...

Julian.

On or around Sat, 24 Feb 2007 08:04:42 +0000, Ian Rawlings enlightened us thusly:

Hmmm. If the country's prosperous it's no thanks to those (nominally) in charge.

I wonder, myself, how much of the "inevitable" budget over-run on these major projects is caused by people "on the make", who rely on the originator of the project not to cancel it half-way through even if it does come in a double the estimate or more.

There shouldn't be any need for 60% contingency funds, 'cos the initial figures (bearing in mind that it's hardly ground-breaking stuff, for the most part) should never be that far off.

Well, you want a country with no tax, no crime, where people can have children but those children won't need anywhere to live.

Let us know where it is and we'll all emigrate with you.

Just attempting to point out to the doom mongers that we're hardly the worst off in the world, even by the standards of our near neighours, and also that we're doing a fair old belt better than we were just 30 or so years ago.

Not really, the majority of what makes the country tick isn't affected by the political nonces of the day, they just fiddle around and try to claim credit for things going well.

Hehe ;-)

Oh dear, we're in for the long term then ;-)

"SpamTrapSeeSig" wrote ((SNIP))

Similar to me , I think a permanent site should be found in Greece, the original home of the Olympics, and a permanent games town etc built there. With costs escalating so much with every games a lot of countries will not be able to afford them in future. However I suspect a permanent venue would not be liked by the powers that be, they would not make so much money out of us all for themselves every 4 years.