Sidewalk Solutions

So the UK public pension deficit is over £1.3 trillion!!! That means that there is no money in the bank for these 6 million Government employees who want to retire – mostly early. Now if they were private sector employees then hard luck chum! But no they work for the Government therefore they are allowed to accrue debt as if it were wealth. Unlike the great unwashed in the private sector who pay for all of this debt – the public sector masses get to ratchet up the UK National Debt without caring about who pays!

Stop it – stop printing money you politicians, stop creating your client state of dependant voters – whether you have conned people into relying on the State for “benefits” or “gold-plated pensions” you are nothing less than thieves – the definition of which is – “ a thief who steals whatever is readily available without using violence” – how about not paying people when you have no money to pay them with? Why not try that?

Meantime – how about starting up a new Bank – a Pension Bank. Now we will introduce all new born babies to this new arrangement.

“Dear Tom or Cloe, unfortunately there is no money left to pay for a pension for you when you grow older, so don’t expect any freebies from your Government, as we have no money left. But we have come up with a great new idea. From today we have opened a bank account for you – the money in this account (which has a balance of nil today) will be held for you in a safe place, we haven’t found a place that’s safe yet, but we think Zimbabwe might be fine. Anyway, as you grow up and start to earn a living, you will have to save – now I know your parents and grandparents don’t know what save means, but trust us, it is a cool new thing to do. What it means is that from now on, until you retire,  we will make you pay 5% of whatever you earn into your new Pension Bank personal retirement account.  Now remember, you will never have a state pension as the money has run out, and all your savings will be tax-free, and also free of Inheritance Tax, as we decided to get rid of IHT because we figured out that as you had saved all your life for retirement then any money left over should not be taxed – I know you won’t believe us but honest we won’t take your money! Oh by the way – you can put any amount of extra cash you have into your personal pension account, also tax free. We only ask that you cannot touch it until you are 60 years old, then you can have a ball!

I hope you have a long and healthy life and are able to enjoy every penny of the savings you have made for your retirement. As far as your Government is concerned, we are still trying to pay of the debts of your parents and grandparents, things are getting better though – retirement age will soon be coming down to just 75 years of age. “

So the poor diddums at the BBC cannot take hard decisions that might hurt someone somewhere.  So here is what to do Mr Cameron, as the next major changes cannot legally be enforced until 2016 thanks to the wonderful generosity of the Lefties in the Labour Party, let’s prepare them for what will be coming down their line. The British Beeching Cuts of 2016 and beyond. Let’s give them 6 years to live the life of untouchables one last time.  The chop is coming – and we only have 6 years left!

Let’s start by announcing the proposed privatisation and break up of the  BBC – I can hear the Private Equity Community lick their chops and begin to count out their stacks of pounds notes to get their hands on the crown jewels of world media! Would you like a deposit to help pay off the deficit now Mr Cameron – get the auction under way then!

Sky executives are as we speak reaching for their stress pills – oh no they are not making the BBC more competitive are they?

Just think how much stress all those over paid BBC people will have to go through these next 6 years! How many parties could they squeeze in? How many hundreds of employees could they send to the 2014 World Tiddlywinks Championships? How many farewell parties need to be organised, better book every available restaurant  within 30 miles of Central London. What will all these London Taxi companies do from 2016?

Oh we better make sure we stop the Tories by getting Labour in before they do this to us! Now maybe we should chat with David Millibum and see what he has to say – that’s it we will support the Labour Party – we at the BBC really come up with original ideas – don’t we?

“There will be trouble ahead
But while there’s money and freebies
And dole and no chance
Let’s face the music then dance

Before the bankers have fled
Before they ask us to pay the bill
And while we still
Have the chance
Let’s face the music then dance

Soon We’ll be without the NHS
Humming a different tune
And then

There will be teardrops to shed
So while there’s money and freebies
And dole and no chance
Let’s face the music then dance,  dance
Let’s face the music then dance”

(with apologies to Irving Berlin)

The British dance floor is overcrowded with too many people employed in wealth-destroying jobs – 6 million public employees or thereabouts (can you imagine a company not knowing how many people they actually employ!) There is another 6 million who rely entirely on the government and live off benefits. That’s 12 million people on a small dance floor creating no wealth and leaving it to the rest to pay the bill.  How can Britain win the competition unable to dance free and shine like they can? Dancers need space to move and show off their talent.  Let’s clear the floor!

How about dropping the entry fees to watch us dance – say devalue the pound another 25% over the next 2 years (probably better to manage that than just wait for it to happen). Just think of what our French and German competitors would think of that. The Greeks would get it in the neck again! Our widgets would be 50% cheaper than they were just a few years ago. Bet the Chinese and Indian dancers wouldn’t be well pleased with that either! God forbid that the Brits could once again compete in making things on the world stage. All those Northerners, Scots and Welsh tradesmen would have to give up their non-jobs as community diversity and multi-cultural officers and return to being welders and fitters. I can just see them on the dance floor – Jack is a Welder from Wigan and Joyce has just left the NHS to start up her own Home Care business, don’t they look great. They both pay tax and rely on their own talents.

Well how about clearing the dance floor a little – let’s have say only 4.5 million public employees and the same amount of beneficiaries  (4.5 million)? That would save maybe £75 billion a year.  I wonder if we can get by with only 4.5 million government employees; nobody has ever asked me that! In order to be the caring and sharing people that Brits are these days, we could spread the pain over a 5 year period, to get the didums used to the real world after 13 years of being looked after by Nanny Gov.

If Jack and Joyce want to dress up and look their best in tuxedo, sequins and pearls they will be allowed to do so – a law will be past barring Government from interfering on any dance floor.  They will also be allowed to dance whatever dance they want – if they want to take risks and dance a Paso Doble then they will – the 250,000 health and safety officers will be replaced with a single Common Sense Zsar who will act as sole judge. Jack and Joyce will be set free to compete with the rest of the world. Dancing will become the biggest British pastime. The unemployed Health and Safety Officers will be offered re-training in mountaineering and single handed round the world boating, if a 16 yr old can do it they can!

So let’s wish Jack and Joyce well as they dance away from the old State to the new. Free of political correctness, saving hard for their new costumes, free from the fairness doctrine, free to win, free to come last, free to fail.

Britain can get over itself, because that is their only problem – themselves.

Jack and Joyce know there is trouble ahead – do you?

Why does Government have to be bigger and bigger each year – and have a greater and increasingly say on our daily lives? Don’t buy the security argument – “we have to protect you from the baddies”. Big Government attracts enemies some of whom are violent – others simply fed up and disillusioned with their political “masters”.

What is it that politicians know that we don’t?  Government’s all over the world have been on the growth march for decades – it seems that they can’t wait to spend our new wealth – nowadays they even spend the wealth that our children have not yet created!

They are hooked on spending; they have become spenders on benders. They have also realised that they can steal our money and give it to wealth destroyers who in their non-jobs will vote them in next time around. The non-jobbers are supported by the no-hopers who have also learnt that they can steal our money by way of Government handouts and “social welfare” payments. The politicians themselves have realised that they can milk the system to their own personal benefit. Expenses are over-generous and are allowed to go unchecked. The European Union leads by example in their utter disregard for any semblance of thrift or control of our money.

Have you seen a scruffy politician recently? Michael Foot may have been the last politician who could not be accused of over spending on their wardrobe. Across the globe politicians’ parade in their expensive suits and fashion accessories. Setting a wonderful example to the public many of whom could not afford a pair of their laces. Remember the days when Maggie Thatcher, Ronald Regan, Winston Churchill and other great leaders were not frightened to speak the truth – even if it was hard for us to swallow.

Today’s beautifully coutured political elite with their essential tele-prompter and gang of speech writers stride our world stage protected by hundreds of security guards sitting in their armour-plated limos, ordering their massive personal jet over New York for a picture that will look nice.  They own our languages to the extent that they never say too much of content – just enough to make them sound and look good.

So what’s the solution? Well maybe it lies in cutting off the pipeline that is feeding them! The British run India with fewer managers than your local supermarket has today. So let them eat gruel – after a few thousand years of paying taxes to Governments – they have done much too well out of us – so how about putting the whole thing in reverse? Taxes – after all – are the worse form of investment any of us will ever make. Try paying the Government your taxes for 40 years and see what state pension they pay you. You would be better off putting the money under your mattress and hope they don’t find it!

Let’s drop taxes by 5% every year until politicians dress like the rest of us, walk amongst us without security guards, fly with us on airlines as bad as Ryanair and put us first.

Fewer politicians + substantially less state employees + less consultants + a ban on Government borrowing + living within our means + less Government interference = wealth creation. Why don’t we just try it?  No – that would be too easy!

The current talks to resolve the Cyprus problem have thus far failed to gain the enthusiasm of neither the Cypriot nor Turkish Cypriot population. What is needed is for there first to be morale building for both sides, before any settlement can be embraced by the people of this island. Both communities need to feel that their futures would be better off together, with a joint solution, rather than apart, as it is today. Rather than face yet another failure of talks on the Cyprus problem – I would suggest that the current talks be put to one side and the following solution be implemented. This solution does not need either side to surrender anything. It needs only strong leadership, human resolve and money. We already have the skills in place. Continue Reading »

by Marc Scribner

May 26, 2009 @ 5:23 pm

The Laffer curve is the economic model that purports to demonstrate that by decreasing marginal tax rates, tax receipts may actually increase. It is a central concept of supply-side economics, famously denounced by George H.W. Bush as “voodoo economics” during his Republican presidential primary run against Ronald Reagan. Setting aside the debate over what constitutes an “optimal level of taxation” and the Laffer curve’s other political implications, Maryland provides a good example of how “soak-the-rich” tax policies can lead to disastrous fiscal results. Continue Reading »

What is the common thread that runs through -  Enron Executive Greed, Banking Executive Greed and the UK Politician’s Greed – well – if it looks like greed and smells like greed – then let’s assume that it’s greed. Now what can we do about greed? Can we ban it or legislate against it or do we just have to accept it as part of modern society, whatever that is.

Continue Reading »

As governments worldwide compete with each other to borrow ever greater amounts of our cash, we should all be aware that the very people borrowing the money are the ones who will in a short time be putting up our taxes. What goes up must come down and as the billions of whatever currency you fancy (except the Zimbabwe Dollar, in which case we could say zillions or multi-killions or something equally perverse) are borrowed and printed – we should all be careful and see them as they really are – the new loan sharks. Continue Reading »

As Governments around the world pretend that they have found a cure for our Credit Illness – have we been cured of this blight? Have we suddenly all changed into the prudent and thrifty people we should be?  Whilst we have all been re-educated on Global Warming (the UK must have missed Global Warming this summer!) and how we must change our light bulbs and ensure the plastics are kept separate from the newsprint – have we changed our financial habits that have led us into this financial mess? In fact describing it as a mess may be something of an understatement. Continue Reading »

Interesting how the media says that 96% of people have less than £35,000 in their cash savings. The media play this as if the problem lies with the 4% who have this or more in cash savings. When you hear the media talk about the majority – be warned – that is surely where the problem comes from! The Credit Crunch came about mainly because there is insufficient liquidity around. So despite making sure they have at least £35,000 in cash savings – it is those who have saved the most that are facing the loss of their savings. After all, with no savings you have no savings to lose! Continue Reading »