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. “

I don’t think there was ever a time when people who worked for Governments were truly Public Servants as many like to call themselves. On the other hand, people who prefer to do real work in the Private Sector have become the new Private Servants of Governments who have wasted zillions on any scheme that will improve their chances of retaining power. As the Socialists and Progressives have demonstrated – you can soak the Private Sector workers much harder and for longer than the unionised battalions of politically-created jobs  that Private Sector workers alone have to sustain.

You see, Private Sector workers are the easy low-hanging fruit, and there are more of them, at least up till now. The great unorganised Private Sector masses pay their taxes because they are lied to by politicians who spin prudence and instead give them a future financial hell. Continue Reading »

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!

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 »