Recently I have watched, read and listened to a lot of talk about Rupert Murdoch and how awful he is. He has been made out to be a master villain, according to some people as bad as Saddam Hussein and Colonel Gaddafi. I will agree that Rupert Murdoch has probably over the time in charge of his empire done some unscrupulous things, he has probably been involved in some underhand dealings and is no way perfect. But I believe the behaviour of some of the press, media and our politicians over the 'hacking scandal' that has engulfed us has gone way over the top.
There is no doubt that Rupert Murdoch's news organisations have behaved totally wrong, the hacking of a dead girls phone is appalling. But the amount of press coverage given over to this story has been absolutely ridiculous, there has been a 'witch hunt' and it seems that many within politics have seen this as their opportunity to get their own back on the press over the expenses scandal.
Ex EU Commissioner Neil Kinnock has stated that he would like to see laws put in place to stifle press freedom. This is from the man who was European Commission vice-president responsible for anti-fraud, who not only did everything he could to stop a report being published about the staggering lack of control on EU funds. He was also responsible for sacking Marta Andreasen, the head accountant for the EU because she wanted to reform it and bring to light the appalling fraud within the EU. So when this man is calling for greater controls on the press we really should be concerned.
The BBC on Tuesday night gave their whole Newsnight programme over to maligning Rupert Murdoch, not one person was put up to defend him. I watched the one o'clock news on Wednesday and out of a 25 minute news bulletin 11 minutes was given over to the hacking story. That same bulletin gave one and a half minutes over to the crises in the euro. This sums up the BBC and many of those who work within broadcasting. There seems to me to be a drive from those who work within this organisation to criticise anyone who does not follow their left wing beliefs.
As I have said above I do not in anyway believe that Rupert Murdoch is a saint, and maybe he has been responsible for some of the ills within our society. But the amount of vilification this man has received from so many politicians is beyond the pale. Many of those Labour and Tory politicians who are very quick to criticise him and his papers were not only a very short while ago happy to cosy up to him and his friends. This shows how totally hypocritical our politicians are!
What I hope that does not come out of all of this controversy is controls on the press, I believe it is very important that we have a free press. If we do not I believe our country will be worse off for it. Think about it, if we didn't have a free press would the scandal around MPs expenses been published? Would many of the stories about politicians behaving badly come to light? Whether you like it or not a free press is very important, because if we do not have freedom of the press the government could almost behave anyway it wants.
Benjamin Franklin said 'he would rather have newspapers without government rather than government without newspapers', and I couldn't agree with him more. As I watch as our ability to control ourselves and make new laws is gradually moving to Brussels I believe it is even more important that we continue to allow our press the freedoms it has always had. If we don't this will mean an ever growing control by our leaders and potentially this could lead to very dangerous times.
Many governments over the years have behaved appallingly, and many of them are democratic, without the press and the fear of being held to account I believe that many would behave even worse.
This is my last post for a couple of weeks, as I am off on holiday.
Friday, 22 July 2011
Saturday, 16 July 2011
How to fix our economy
As I have said in my previous post there are many different countries and economies within the EU, so what I believe is right for the UK isn't necessarily right for other countries, but I believe some principles are the same.
Britain needs to change if it is to get out of this economic malaise, unfortunately we are stuck within the EU straitjacket and it is very difficult for us to do this. Recently UKIP MEP Gerard Batten published a study on the costs of the EU to the UK, his conclusions were as follows:
Indirect costs to the UK economy in 2010
The Common Agricultural Policy £16.7 billion
The Common Fisheries Policy £4.7 billion
EU Over-regulation of business £48.7 billion
Add to this our Net contribution and the total comes to £77 billion.
Regulations like the Working Time Directive, Maternity and Paternity pay increases, the EU carbon emissions regulations and Environmental directives are costing us billions and will continue to cost us billions. Regulation in Farming, and the myriad 'health and safety' regulations that businesses have to implement every year cost jobs and money. Adhering to ridiculous EU regulations on bids for Government contracts costs billions of pounds and jobs. You only have to look at the recent Thameslink rail project; the government bureaucrats followed EU regulations precisely and gave the contract to Siemens of Germany, thus, the last manufacturer of trains in the UK will close costing thousands of jobs and costing the economy billions. What I find even more staggering is that Siemens has just won a multi-billion pound contract to build trains for the German railway, so even if they had missed out on the Thameslink deal no German jobs would have been lost. Yet thousands of British jobs will go, what sense is there in this.
It doesn't take long to see that those running the EU do not understand how business works. So how can Britain create growth? Well firstly we need to cut regulations, that is quite obvious, I have looked at this above and it doesn't take too long to see how this restricts business. Small and medium size businesses make up about 75 per cent of companies in this country, it is very difficult, if not impossible for small companies to grow simply because of the high cost of implementing these ridiculous regulations. Remember we are not just competing with those within the EU but the likes of Brazil, China, India, etc and if we don't free up business they will either die or go elsewhere.
We need to cut income tax and National insurance contribution. I have always been amazed that companies have to pay national insurance when they employ someone, surely we should be encouraging business to take people on rather than penalising them when they employ someone. I was speaking to a friend who runs his own firm, he is a one man band and would love to expand but because of what he would have to pay the government just to employ someone he won't do it, on top of this the cost of insurance and EU regulations it just is not worth it. On top of this we should cut business rates for businesses employing less than five people.
In 1978 the higher rate of income tax in this country was running at 83 per cent, the government raised 47 per cent of its income form income tax. In 1984 Margaret Thatcher reduced the higher rate of income tax to 40 per cent and the government raised 54 per cent of its income from income tax. It has been shown by many examples that if you tax people more they are less likely to pay what the government want, especially the rich. If people have more money in their pockets they are more likely to spend more, thus helping the economy grow.
We should cut the public sector, specifically those doing non jobs, we should also cut public sector pay, especially the people at the top. The government needs to encourage the private sector, this is the area which makes the country money, the public sector creates no wealth, except that which people spend in the shops. Private sector does not cost the tax payer anything and brings money into the economy in three ways; those who work for the company spend their money in shops and other business, the company and employees pay tax and it creates wealth by increasing peoples prosperity, and if it is an export company it sells things abroad thus creating more wealth, so we have a win win situation.
The government needs to invest in education and apprentices, when I say education I mean proper qualifications from proper universities. We need engineers, and those with expertise in new technologies not useless degrees in media studies which brings no benefit to anyone including the person with the degree. Companies need to take on apprentices and the only way they will do this is if it is worth their while doing it, this means the government need to give tax breaks and reduce regulation.
The government has to do something about our benefits culture and this means cutting benefits to the long term unemployed. Gordon Brown tried to cut poverty, and the way he went about this was by handing out billions in benefits, this then created an underclass who found they were better off if they did not work, so didn't. Handing money to the poor has been shown to not work and just keeps people in poverty, this cycle needs to be broken. If it isn't we will never see any change. I believe the only way some people will work is if they do not eat, I also believe we have to make it worth their while to work, and that is by reducing income tax. If for instance you earn less than £15,000 a year you pay no tax, this I believe will work because you will take hundreds of thousands off benefits and they will then start spending the money they earn.
Lastly, cut immigration, I have covered this before, so I am not going to go into too much detail, suffice to say there are currently 2.5 million people in this country on unemployment benefits. Why do we need to import many thousands of foreign workers when we do not have enough work for ourselves?
I have not been able to go into much detail, but hopefully you get the general idea about what I am saying. I do find it very frustrating when I listen to so many of our politicians talking about jobs and our economy, but not actually doing anything to create jobs and bring growth. I think the reason for this is because so many of our political class do not have a clue, and do not understand. If you have anytime and can be bothered just spend some time researching the background of our leading politicians and you will quickly find that the majority of them have done nothing else except work within politics or a political organisation. Most will never have run a company so will not know what the reality is like for most ordinary people. All I can say is 'God help us all!'
Britain needs to change if it is to get out of this economic malaise, unfortunately we are stuck within the EU straitjacket and it is very difficult for us to do this. Recently UKIP MEP Gerard Batten published a study on the costs of the EU to the UK, his conclusions were as follows:
Indirect costs to the UK economy in 2010
The Common Agricultural Policy £16.7 billion
The Common Fisheries Policy £4.7 billion
EU Over-regulation of business £48.7 billion
Add to this our Net contribution and the total comes to £77 billion.
Regulations like the Working Time Directive, Maternity and Paternity pay increases, the EU carbon emissions regulations and Environmental directives are costing us billions and will continue to cost us billions. Regulation in Farming, and the myriad 'health and safety' regulations that businesses have to implement every year cost jobs and money. Adhering to ridiculous EU regulations on bids for Government contracts costs billions of pounds and jobs. You only have to look at the recent Thameslink rail project; the government bureaucrats followed EU regulations precisely and gave the contract to Siemens of Germany, thus, the last manufacturer of trains in the UK will close costing thousands of jobs and costing the economy billions. What I find even more staggering is that Siemens has just won a multi-billion pound contract to build trains for the German railway, so even if they had missed out on the Thameslink deal no German jobs would have been lost. Yet thousands of British jobs will go, what sense is there in this.
It doesn't take long to see that those running the EU do not understand how business works. So how can Britain create growth? Well firstly we need to cut regulations, that is quite obvious, I have looked at this above and it doesn't take too long to see how this restricts business. Small and medium size businesses make up about 75 per cent of companies in this country, it is very difficult, if not impossible for small companies to grow simply because of the high cost of implementing these ridiculous regulations. Remember we are not just competing with those within the EU but the likes of Brazil, China, India, etc and if we don't free up business they will either die or go elsewhere.
We need to cut income tax and National insurance contribution. I have always been amazed that companies have to pay national insurance when they employ someone, surely we should be encouraging business to take people on rather than penalising them when they employ someone. I was speaking to a friend who runs his own firm, he is a one man band and would love to expand but because of what he would have to pay the government just to employ someone he won't do it, on top of this the cost of insurance and EU regulations it just is not worth it. On top of this we should cut business rates for businesses employing less than five people.
In 1978 the higher rate of income tax in this country was running at 83 per cent, the government raised 47 per cent of its income form income tax. In 1984 Margaret Thatcher reduced the higher rate of income tax to 40 per cent and the government raised 54 per cent of its income from income tax. It has been shown by many examples that if you tax people more they are less likely to pay what the government want, especially the rich. If people have more money in their pockets they are more likely to spend more, thus helping the economy grow.
We should cut the public sector, specifically those doing non jobs, we should also cut public sector pay, especially the people at the top. The government needs to encourage the private sector, this is the area which makes the country money, the public sector creates no wealth, except that which people spend in the shops. Private sector does not cost the tax payer anything and brings money into the economy in three ways; those who work for the company spend their money in shops and other business, the company and employees pay tax and it creates wealth by increasing peoples prosperity, and if it is an export company it sells things abroad thus creating more wealth, so we have a win win situation.
The government needs to invest in education and apprentices, when I say education I mean proper qualifications from proper universities. We need engineers, and those with expertise in new technologies not useless degrees in media studies which brings no benefit to anyone including the person with the degree. Companies need to take on apprentices and the only way they will do this is if it is worth their while doing it, this means the government need to give tax breaks and reduce regulation.
The government has to do something about our benefits culture and this means cutting benefits to the long term unemployed. Gordon Brown tried to cut poverty, and the way he went about this was by handing out billions in benefits, this then created an underclass who found they were better off if they did not work, so didn't. Handing money to the poor has been shown to not work and just keeps people in poverty, this cycle needs to be broken. If it isn't we will never see any change. I believe the only way some people will work is if they do not eat, I also believe we have to make it worth their while to work, and that is by reducing income tax. If for instance you earn less than £15,000 a year you pay no tax, this I believe will work because you will take hundreds of thousands off benefits and they will then start spending the money they earn.
Lastly, cut immigration, I have covered this before, so I am not going to go into too much detail, suffice to say there are currently 2.5 million people in this country on unemployment benefits. Why do we need to import many thousands of foreign workers when we do not have enough work for ourselves?
I have not been able to go into much detail, but hopefully you get the general idea about what I am saying. I do find it very frustrating when I listen to so many of our politicians talking about jobs and our economy, but not actually doing anything to create jobs and bring growth. I think the reason for this is because so many of our political class do not have a clue, and do not understand. If you have anytime and can be bothered just spend some time researching the background of our leading politicians and you will quickly find that the majority of them have done nothing else except work within politics or a political organisation. Most will never have run a company so will not know what the reality is like for most ordinary people. All I can say is 'God help us all!'
EU and credibility
There now seems to be a broad consensus that the Euro in its present form cannot continue, everywhere except Brussels that is. It is no longer a question of whether Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy default on their bonds but a matter of when. Unfortunately those in Brussels do not want to except this simple truth.
Greece, Portugal, etc are saying 'give us more money' and this will get us out of trouble, but to anyone who really cares about the people of Europe this is complete and utter folly. The only people who will pay for this folly are the poor and unemployed, not the leaders, they simply do not care. If these people who run Europe and represent the people of this continent really did care they would do something about it, but many like Jose Manuel Barroso are ex-Marxists and history has shown Marxists and Communists do not actually care about people. They only care about ideology and the ultimate goal of a European Super state, which won't work, is anti-democratic, and if these nutters have their way will ultimately destroy most of the countries in Europe. And as I have said above the only people who will suffer are the poor and unemployed.
So what should be done? This is a big question, when we look at each country within the EU the answer will be different, because every country is different. That is what these Eurofanatics don't realise or care about, you only have to look at Greece and Germany to see the reality of this, and that is why the Euro project can't and won't work. Some would say, look at the USA as an example of many different states and peoples joining together under one flag, but of course the USA is totally different.
If you look at Europe you have many peoples and nations which are hundreds of years old, with many different traditions and cultures. When countries have been forced to serve one flag and government they have eventually turned their backs on it and reverted back to their original state. Just look at Yugoslavia, the USSR, even within the UK many within Scotland want their own independence (ironically the Scottish National Party want an ever closer relationship with the EU, it just goes to show how stupid and naive many of our politicians are).
Recently The True Finns party under its leader Timo Soini rose form 4.1 per cent to 19.1 per cent in the recent Finnish general election, only 1.3 per cent behind the leading party. In a recent poll they now stand at 21.2 per cent, the most popular party in Finland. There are now many nationalist parties rising throughout Europe; in France, Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, etc. This obviously shows that those within the EU do not understand what is happening, or for that matter care.
Greece, Portugal, etc are saying 'give us more money' and this will get us out of trouble, but to anyone who really cares about the people of Europe this is complete and utter folly. The only people who will pay for this folly are the poor and unemployed, not the leaders, they simply do not care. If these people who run Europe and represent the people of this continent really did care they would do something about it, but many like Jose Manuel Barroso are ex-Marxists and history has shown Marxists and Communists do not actually care about people. They only care about ideology and the ultimate goal of a European Super state, which won't work, is anti-democratic, and if these nutters have their way will ultimately destroy most of the countries in Europe. And as I have said above the only people who will suffer are the poor and unemployed.
So what should be done? This is a big question, when we look at each country within the EU the answer will be different, because every country is different. That is what these Eurofanatics don't realise or care about, you only have to look at Greece and Germany to see the reality of this, and that is why the Euro project can't and won't work. Some would say, look at the USA as an example of many different states and peoples joining together under one flag, but of course the USA is totally different.
If you look at Europe you have many peoples and nations which are hundreds of years old, with many different traditions and cultures. When countries have been forced to serve one flag and government they have eventually turned their backs on it and reverted back to their original state. Just look at Yugoslavia, the USSR, even within the UK many within Scotland want their own independence (ironically the Scottish National Party want an ever closer relationship with the EU, it just goes to show how stupid and naive many of our politicians are).
Recently The True Finns party under its leader Timo Soini rose form 4.1 per cent to 19.1 per cent in the recent Finnish general election, only 1.3 per cent behind the leading party. In a recent poll they now stand at 21.2 per cent, the most popular party in Finland. There are now many nationalist parties rising throughout Europe; in France, Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, etc. This obviously shows that those within the EU do not understand what is happening, or for that matter care.
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Economic reality
Today the government announced that unemployment fell by 26,000 to 2.45 million, good news you might think, but the amount of people claiming job seekers allowance rose by 24,500. How can this be? Surely if unemployment has fallen the amount of people needing unemployment benefits should fall as well? This seems logical.
The government have stated that the reason for this is because there are now more women looking for work. Now there might be some truth in this, but maybe the real reason is the rise in immigration. I know I have written about this issue before, but when I think about how my country has changed over the last ten years it makes me very angry. I have stated previously that the issue is not about race but about numbers and space, you can also tag onto this; jobs, housing, schools, hospitals, benefits, social impact and I am sure a few other issues as well.
I just find it shocking that no-one in government is prepared to do anything about this issue. Immigration has had a major impact upon so many people, mostly the poorest in society. Vince Cable and the Liberals love immigration, they say we need to have an open door immigration policy because that is what business wants. This might be true, as many businesses benefit from cheap labour and many of those coming to this country have a good work ethic, what business wouldn't want that?
But that does not solve the underlying problem of nearly 2.5 million unemployed, I have asked it before and I will ask it again. WHY, IF WE HAVE NEARLY 2.5 MILLION PEOPLE UNEMPLOYED IN THIS COUNTRY DO WE KEEP ALLOWING THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN EVERY WEEK? That doesn't seem to me to be an unreasonable question, many have argued that people in this country do not want to work, what, all 2.5 million of them don't? This argument does not add up, yes I will agree that there are a certain number of people in this country who do not want to work. They wouldn't work even if you gave them a good job, went and got them out of bed, made them breakfast, drove them to work and took them home again. But that is only a small percentage, there are many who would love to work but can't because there are not the jobs.
There are many who would love to work but are trapped on benefits, basically if they got a job their benefits would be cut and they would be worse off. This issue needs to be looked at, and many other issues regarding Britain's workshy, but this does not solve the issue of mass immigration and how it is affecting this country.
The simple truth is, there are too many workers and not enough jobs. The government have imported hundreds of thousands of foreign workers and parked hundreds of thousands of home grown workers on benefits, and have allowed our debt fuelled economic growth to keep the show on the road. This of course could not continue and eventually collapsed in August 2007, the government are hoping that somehow we are going to muddle our way through and somehow get out of this mess, but we are still in it up to our necks, and just about surviving.
Something needs to be done, there are many things they could do to help (which I will look at in a later posting), but one of the fundamental things that needs to happen is to get people back to work. This cannot happen whilst cheap foreign labour is flooding the market, and unfortunately those running the show are not going to do anything about it so we will continue to sink ever deeper into economic oblivion.
The government have stated that the reason for this is because there are now more women looking for work. Now there might be some truth in this, but maybe the real reason is the rise in immigration. I know I have written about this issue before, but when I think about how my country has changed over the last ten years it makes me very angry. I have stated previously that the issue is not about race but about numbers and space, you can also tag onto this; jobs, housing, schools, hospitals, benefits, social impact and I am sure a few other issues as well.
I just find it shocking that no-one in government is prepared to do anything about this issue. Immigration has had a major impact upon so many people, mostly the poorest in society. Vince Cable and the Liberals love immigration, they say we need to have an open door immigration policy because that is what business wants. This might be true, as many businesses benefit from cheap labour and many of those coming to this country have a good work ethic, what business wouldn't want that?
But that does not solve the underlying problem of nearly 2.5 million unemployed, I have asked it before and I will ask it again. WHY, IF WE HAVE NEARLY 2.5 MILLION PEOPLE UNEMPLOYED IN THIS COUNTRY DO WE KEEP ALLOWING THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN EVERY WEEK? That doesn't seem to me to be an unreasonable question, many have argued that people in this country do not want to work, what, all 2.5 million of them don't? This argument does not add up, yes I will agree that there are a certain number of people in this country who do not want to work. They wouldn't work even if you gave them a good job, went and got them out of bed, made them breakfast, drove them to work and took them home again. But that is only a small percentage, there are many who would love to work but can't because there are not the jobs.
There are many who would love to work but are trapped on benefits, basically if they got a job their benefits would be cut and they would be worse off. This issue needs to be looked at, and many other issues regarding Britain's workshy, but this does not solve the issue of mass immigration and how it is affecting this country.
The simple truth is, there are too many workers and not enough jobs. The government have imported hundreds of thousands of foreign workers and parked hundreds of thousands of home grown workers on benefits, and have allowed our debt fuelled economic growth to keep the show on the road. This of course could not continue and eventually collapsed in August 2007, the government are hoping that somehow we are going to muddle our way through and somehow get out of this mess, but we are still in it up to our necks, and just about surviving.
Something needs to be done, there are many things they could do to help (which I will look at in a later posting), but one of the fundamental things that needs to happen is to get people back to work. This cannot happen whilst cheap foreign labour is flooding the market, and unfortunately those running the show are not going to do anything about it so we will continue to sink ever deeper into economic oblivion.
Thursday, 7 July 2011
Anti-European?
At the moment we are in a mess, that is, a financial mess, and to be honest I cannot see that changing in the near future. The reason for this is, we have politicians in charge who do not really understand, care or are concerned about the underlying reasons for this mess.
Yesterday the Euro and the stock markets tumbled as Europe's debt crises deepened. More than £13 billion was wiped off the value of London's biggest shares, this is because of fears that Portugal like Greece is going to need a second bailout.
It is feared by analysts that it might not stop there and might spread back to Ireland and to Spain and Italy. Currently Greece's borrowing costs are running at 15.9 per cent, Portugal's have reached 12.6 per cent, Ireland's 12.4 per cent and Italy's bond yields hit a three year high above 5 per cent. This is basically what it costs for these countries to borrow any money, the only people who will buy Greek bonds are the European Central Bank, and the Chinese have said they will help. You can only imagine what this means for Greece and the rest of Europe.
If you compare the borrowing costs for the UK 3.2 per cent, the US 3.1 per cent and Germany 2.9 per cent it really puts things into perspective. To put it simply the Euro in its present form is unsaveable.
Portugal is likely to need a second bailout to its original bailout of £70 billion, and Greece is likely to need even more than the initial £98.5 billion agreed last year. Now what is the response from Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission? He has suggested that the credit-ratings agency is, wait for it, 'anti-European', that is the official response from the head of this hideous organisation. German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble said he wanted to 'break the oligopoly of the ratings agencies, to limit their influence'. Greek foreign minister Stavros Lambrinidis said the decision to downgrade Portugal was 'madness'
This is the official response form these politicians, they are so wrapped in the Euro federalism that they cannot see that this dream of a United Europe with one currency is just not working. An analyst working for CMC Markets, said 'Portugal, Greece and Ireland are in a debt spiral and there are fears that Italy could get sucked into that.'
This sort of talk is politically unacceptable to the politicians and fanatics who run the European Union, they are trying and failing to sort out this mess by giving our money to economies which are in such bad debt they are unlikely ever to be able to repay it. They are so wrapped up in this Euro project that they are trying everything they can to keep this political entity going, but it isn't working.
What I find so scary is that these people are running Europe and have the lives of millions of people in their hands. They seem to be hoping that if they keep handing over billions and billions of pounds of our money that somehow this will sort out the problem. I do not understand these people, it seems to me that if you want to get out of debt you do not keep borrowing more money to put yourself into even more debt, that seems to be common sense. But unfortunately these idiots who are in charge do not care, just so long as they can keep this Euro dream going (or should I call it a Euro nightmare).
If the riots on the streets of Athens and the debt that these countries are in isn't a wake up call to these Euro idiots I don't know what is. I genuinely think these people do not care, because if they did they would do something about this dreadful mess. And the only way to sort out this mess is to allow; Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy to leave the Euro, but they are unlikely to let this happen. But I think they may have no option, Portugal will probably need another bailout and Spain is likely to follow, and if this happens there is no way the European Central Bank will be able to cope, and that is when I think we will see the collapse of the Euro.
Now you might think I would be rejoicing in this but I am not. I do not want this European project to succeed, but this desire to Unite Europe under one federalist flag seems to override any sort of compassion. These people do not care, and they have shown by the fact that they have driven on relentlessly with their dream that they have a total disregard for the people they are supposed to represent. And ultimately it is the people of Europe who will suffer, you only have to look at Greece and what is happening there to see what the future will be for many people in Europe. The arrogance of these people is unbelievable, I will repeat it again, THEY DO NOT CARE!!!!! When it eventually crashes the likes of Jose Manuel Barroso will walk off into the sunset with a nice pension and will live out his last days very comfortably, and this is why I believe they do not care, it won't affect them.
If talking up for the people of Europe and stating the blindingly obvious, that this Euro project is doomed is anti-European, so be it. I would rather be anti-European than be associated with these sociopathic thieves, liars and crooks.
Yesterday the Euro and the stock markets tumbled as Europe's debt crises deepened. More than £13 billion was wiped off the value of London's biggest shares, this is because of fears that Portugal like Greece is going to need a second bailout.
It is feared by analysts that it might not stop there and might spread back to Ireland and to Spain and Italy. Currently Greece's borrowing costs are running at 15.9 per cent, Portugal's have reached 12.6 per cent, Ireland's 12.4 per cent and Italy's bond yields hit a three year high above 5 per cent. This is basically what it costs for these countries to borrow any money, the only people who will buy Greek bonds are the European Central Bank, and the Chinese have said they will help. You can only imagine what this means for Greece and the rest of Europe.
If you compare the borrowing costs for the UK 3.2 per cent, the US 3.1 per cent and Germany 2.9 per cent it really puts things into perspective. To put it simply the Euro in its present form is unsaveable.
Portugal is likely to need a second bailout to its original bailout of £70 billion, and Greece is likely to need even more than the initial £98.5 billion agreed last year. Now what is the response from Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission? He has suggested that the credit-ratings agency is, wait for it, 'anti-European', that is the official response from the head of this hideous organisation. German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble said he wanted to 'break the oligopoly of the ratings agencies, to limit their influence'. Greek foreign minister Stavros Lambrinidis said the decision to downgrade Portugal was 'madness'
This is the official response form these politicians, they are so wrapped in the Euro federalism that they cannot see that this dream of a United Europe with one currency is just not working. An analyst working for CMC Markets, said 'Portugal, Greece and Ireland are in a debt spiral and there are fears that Italy could get sucked into that.'
This sort of talk is politically unacceptable to the politicians and fanatics who run the European Union, they are trying and failing to sort out this mess by giving our money to economies which are in such bad debt they are unlikely ever to be able to repay it. They are so wrapped up in this Euro project that they are trying everything they can to keep this political entity going, but it isn't working.
What I find so scary is that these people are running Europe and have the lives of millions of people in their hands. They seem to be hoping that if they keep handing over billions and billions of pounds of our money that somehow this will sort out the problem. I do not understand these people, it seems to me that if you want to get out of debt you do not keep borrowing more money to put yourself into even more debt, that seems to be common sense. But unfortunately these idiots who are in charge do not care, just so long as they can keep this Euro dream going (or should I call it a Euro nightmare).
If the riots on the streets of Athens and the debt that these countries are in isn't a wake up call to these Euro idiots I don't know what is. I genuinely think these people do not care, because if they did they would do something about this dreadful mess. And the only way to sort out this mess is to allow; Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy to leave the Euro, but they are unlikely to let this happen. But I think they may have no option, Portugal will probably need another bailout and Spain is likely to follow, and if this happens there is no way the European Central Bank will be able to cope, and that is when I think we will see the collapse of the Euro.
Now you might think I would be rejoicing in this but I am not. I do not want this European project to succeed, but this desire to Unite Europe under one federalist flag seems to override any sort of compassion. These people do not care, and they have shown by the fact that they have driven on relentlessly with their dream that they have a total disregard for the people they are supposed to represent. And ultimately it is the people of Europe who will suffer, you only have to look at Greece and what is happening there to see what the future will be for many people in Europe. The arrogance of these people is unbelievable, I will repeat it again, THEY DO NOT CARE!!!!! When it eventually crashes the likes of Jose Manuel Barroso will walk off into the sunset with a nice pension and will live out his last days very comfortably, and this is why I believe they do not care, it won't affect them.
If talking up for the people of Europe and stating the blindingly obvious, that this Euro project is doomed is anti-European, so be it. I would rather be anti-European than be associated with these sociopathic thieves, liars and crooks.
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Eurosceptics?
The word Eurosceptic has been used many times to describe anyone who criticises the EU, it is a word with negative connotations. I suppose if I was an MP I would be labeled with this word. When william Hague was Conservative leader he was a fully paid up member of the eurosceptics, he likened membership of the Euro to 'being stuck in a burning building without exits', and was condemned as a 'little englander' and 'crazed extremist.'
But I do wonder who is the crazed extremist, when you only have to look at what is happening in Greece, with rioters on the street and Greece being forced by the EU and IMF to push through austerity measures. This country in reality no longer governs itself, when a country cannot control it's own finances and is told what to do by an outside agency I see this as the death-knell for democracy and self government. This is exactly what has happened in Greece.
When looking at the European project it is important to take a step back and look at things objectively, and when you do it does not take long to realise that the crazed extremists are not the Eurosceptics but the Eurofanatics. Think about it, why would anyone try to squeeze disparate economies into a 'one size' fits all currency?
This drive towards Euro federalism is so extreme, and the people involved in it are so fanatical it does not matter that the EU is gradually disappearing into economic oblivion, that China, India, Brazil, etc are continuing to see massive growth in their economies. It does not matter one iota what happens to the people of Europe as long as this lot can push ahead with their dream, 'sod everyone'.
It goes to show you how out of touch these Eurofanatics are, this week they are demanding a seven per cent increase in the EU budget, when practically every economy in Europe is having to make cuts, when Greece, Portugal, Ireland are nearly bankrupt. Spain is close to having to go to the European Central Bank for a bail out and youth unemployment running at 42 per cent, it shows that this lot who run the EU are either too incompetent or too unconcerned, I fear it is both!
I could go into great detail about the rights and wrongs of the EU, but I have written a number of times about it, so I think you could glean enough information from those previous posts. I have been asked a number of times, if the European Union is so bad why do our politicians love it so much? Why do they continually agree to giving these unelected bureaucrats more and more money? Why do they continually sign away more and more of our democracy? Why do they agree to enforce absolutely ridiculously, ill thought out laws and regulations that do more harm than good (just look at my previous posting as a good illustration of this)?
I think the answer is this, many politicians go into politics for the simple reason they love politics and power. Many politicians do not really care about the people they are supposed to represent, they only care about having a good career and gaining power, and as the saying goes 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.'
David Cameron and George Osborne love the power and they love being members of a club called the European Union. Some have said that David Cameron is a Eurosceptic but it does not take long to find proof that this is not true. They signed up to the European investigation order, approved an extension of the European Arrest Warrant, handed over much regulation of the City of London, and a number of other things and they have only been in power for just over a year.
David Cameron has made the same argument that successive Prime Ministers have made for our continued membership of the EU, that we can only influence the EU if we stay at the 'top table'. This has of course been shown over the years to be absolute rubbish, I do not believe that David Cameron is that naive, I believe he is as much a believer in the European project as the rest of those nutters who run it.
Many who got involved in this project when it first started decades ago may have done it out of a desire to bring peace and unity to Europe, after millions of people had died in two world wars, who could blame them? But this European Union, and the people who are running it have shown by their complete contempt for democracy and the people of Europe that all they are bothered about is power and maintaining it, whatever the cost. We are now in the grip of a huge beast that is dangerously out of control and the only way we can gain control is by leaving, I believe this is our only option.
By the way congratulations to Denmark, the Danish Government has asserted its right to control its own borders and have torn up the Shengan agreement, which gave free movement to anyone within the EU. They can now stop anyone who shouldn't be coming into their country coming in. I think this shows that this European project is violently out of step with the people of Europe and the Nation state is still very much alive and kicking.
But I do wonder who is the crazed extremist, when you only have to look at what is happening in Greece, with rioters on the street and Greece being forced by the EU and IMF to push through austerity measures. This country in reality no longer governs itself, when a country cannot control it's own finances and is told what to do by an outside agency I see this as the death-knell for democracy and self government. This is exactly what has happened in Greece.
When looking at the European project it is important to take a step back and look at things objectively, and when you do it does not take long to realise that the crazed extremists are not the Eurosceptics but the Eurofanatics. Think about it, why would anyone try to squeeze disparate economies into a 'one size' fits all currency?
This drive towards Euro federalism is so extreme, and the people involved in it are so fanatical it does not matter that the EU is gradually disappearing into economic oblivion, that China, India, Brazil, etc are continuing to see massive growth in their economies. It does not matter one iota what happens to the people of Europe as long as this lot can push ahead with their dream, 'sod everyone'.
It goes to show you how out of touch these Eurofanatics are, this week they are demanding a seven per cent increase in the EU budget, when practically every economy in Europe is having to make cuts, when Greece, Portugal, Ireland are nearly bankrupt. Spain is close to having to go to the European Central Bank for a bail out and youth unemployment running at 42 per cent, it shows that this lot who run the EU are either too incompetent or too unconcerned, I fear it is both!
I could go into great detail about the rights and wrongs of the EU, but I have written a number of times about it, so I think you could glean enough information from those previous posts. I have been asked a number of times, if the European Union is so bad why do our politicians love it so much? Why do they continually agree to giving these unelected bureaucrats more and more money? Why do they continually sign away more and more of our democracy? Why do they agree to enforce absolutely ridiculously, ill thought out laws and regulations that do more harm than good (just look at my previous posting as a good illustration of this)?
I think the answer is this, many politicians go into politics for the simple reason they love politics and power. Many politicians do not really care about the people they are supposed to represent, they only care about having a good career and gaining power, and as the saying goes 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.'
David Cameron and George Osborne love the power and they love being members of a club called the European Union. Some have said that David Cameron is a Eurosceptic but it does not take long to find proof that this is not true. They signed up to the European investigation order, approved an extension of the European Arrest Warrant, handed over much regulation of the City of London, and a number of other things and they have only been in power for just over a year.
David Cameron has made the same argument that successive Prime Ministers have made for our continued membership of the EU, that we can only influence the EU if we stay at the 'top table'. This has of course been shown over the years to be absolute rubbish, I do not believe that David Cameron is that naive, I believe he is as much a believer in the European project as the rest of those nutters who run it.
Many who got involved in this project when it first started decades ago may have done it out of a desire to bring peace and unity to Europe, after millions of people had died in two world wars, who could blame them? But this European Union, and the people who are running it have shown by their complete contempt for democracy and the people of Europe that all they are bothered about is power and maintaining it, whatever the cost. We are now in the grip of a huge beast that is dangerously out of control and the only way we can gain control is by leaving, I believe this is our only option.
By the way congratulations to Denmark, the Danish Government has asserted its right to control its own borders and have torn up the Shengan agreement, which gave free movement to anyone within the EU. They can now stop anyone who shouldn't be coming into their country coming in. I think this shows that this European project is violently out of step with the people of Europe and the Nation state is still very much alive and kicking.
Monday, 4 July 2011
What is wrong with these people!!!!
Great Britain is a country which I love, I am proud of our heritage and what this country has stood for over the years. One of the things which I am proud of about this country is its history of manufacturing and the products which we have led the world in. Over recent years we have watched as many of those industries and large companies have either been sold off or have stopped trading; there are many reasons for this which I am not going to go into.
One of those industries that Britain led the way in and invented was the railways, but many of those companies that built trains have gone the way of most British industry and now we have only one company in the UK that builds trains, but that is soon to stop. Bombardier UK has a long history, it has changed its name over the years and ownership, and in 2001 was bought by the Canadian plane and train maker Bombardier.
One thing that stands out about Bombardier is its excellent work, it is a world class company that builds world class products. Recently it bid for a £1.2 billion contract to build carriages for the Thameslink project but unfortunately lost out to Siemens of Germany. Now you might say so what, that's business, and in a capitalist society that is what you might expect, but it is not quite as simple as that.
The decision to award the contract to Seimens will mean the death of railway building in Britain and the loss of over 3000 jobs. This decision was made by bureaucrats, and Rail Minister Theresa Villiers has stated that it is 'the best value for money for taxpayers', although she adds that Bombardier made 'an attractive proposal'.
Her officials admit when looking at the tenders that they were only looking at rolling stock. They did not include the knock on effects in their calculations. They did not consider the cost to the taxpayer of 3000 lost jobs and the knock on effect to other jobs and also the destruction of an entire industry and the disappearance of engineering expertise.
Now Theresa Villiers said that the Government had no choice but to opt for the German bid, she said 'We are bound by legally-binding European Union rules, which mean we have to look objectively at the bids that come in. We are not permitted to take into account the location of the factory in determining which bid is nominated. That is a consequence of our EU membership.'
If you have read my blog before you will know how I feel about the EU, and you might expect me to go on a long rant about this hideous organisation, but not this time. Do you honestly think any other country in the EU which has a thriving, modern, competitive, world class company like Bombardier would hand the contract to a foreign company, thus destroying not only jobs but that thriving industry? The simple answer is of course no! The French rolling stock is 100 per cent French, the Germans is 98 per cent German. The French will structure its bidding process in favour of French companies rather than adhering to some idiotic EU diktat, and rightly so.
This makes no sense whatsoever, why would anyone want to lose jobs to another country? These people are like robots, they do not care about people, they just see figures on a paper and don't worry about the consequences. What makes it even more galling is that only two months ago David Cameron brought his entire cabinet to Derby and said that he wanted to see more emphasis on manufacturing, and then we get this!
The Labour party are trying to make political capital out of this, but they are just as bad. In the dying days of Gordon Browns government they handed the £7.5 billion contract to build a new generation of high speed trains for the Intercity Express Programme to Hitachi of Japan. Again Bombardier put in a good bid, could you see the Japanese buying trains from anywhere but Japan? Of course not, they refuse to buy non Japanese trains, and again rightly so, they are protecting their own jobs.
This sums up our political class, a bunch of ignorant, selfish, self delusioned hypocrites who are willing to destroy peoples lives as long as it does not effect them. The political class in this country do not have a clue about life for ordinary people, and it is quite obvious from these and many other decisions that they do not care.
They talk the talk, David Cameron is a very good speaker, but after so many broken promises I cannot believe a word that comes out of his mouth. Tony Blair introduced spin into government, Gordon Brown followed on but David Cameron has scaled new heights, and this is the latest example of his lying, devious nature. That might sound harsh, but nothing he has done over the last year has proven otherwise. He has lied and lied and lied, he has broken many promises and continues to make excuses for these lies and broken promises, look here to read just a few http://evanheasley-powertothepeople.blogspot.com/2010/12/broken-promises.html
Let me say this last thing, you could argue that it is good that Britain is a fair country and plays by the rules, and I believe that is a good principle to live by. But when we elect a government it has three main purposes: One, to run and manage the country. Two, defend its people, whether that is against direct attack or in another country and three, to represent its citizen's best interests and safeguard jobs. Unfortunately this government has shown its true nature and colours and its unwillingness to care about the people who put it in office.
One of those industries that Britain led the way in and invented was the railways, but many of those companies that built trains have gone the way of most British industry and now we have only one company in the UK that builds trains, but that is soon to stop. Bombardier UK has a long history, it has changed its name over the years and ownership, and in 2001 was bought by the Canadian plane and train maker Bombardier.
One thing that stands out about Bombardier is its excellent work, it is a world class company that builds world class products. Recently it bid for a £1.2 billion contract to build carriages for the Thameslink project but unfortunately lost out to Siemens of Germany. Now you might say so what, that's business, and in a capitalist society that is what you might expect, but it is not quite as simple as that.
The decision to award the contract to Seimens will mean the death of railway building in Britain and the loss of over 3000 jobs. This decision was made by bureaucrats, and Rail Minister Theresa Villiers has stated that it is 'the best value for money for taxpayers', although she adds that Bombardier made 'an attractive proposal'.
Her officials admit when looking at the tenders that they were only looking at rolling stock. They did not include the knock on effects in their calculations. They did not consider the cost to the taxpayer of 3000 lost jobs and the knock on effect to other jobs and also the destruction of an entire industry and the disappearance of engineering expertise.
Now Theresa Villiers said that the Government had no choice but to opt for the German bid, she said 'We are bound by legally-binding European Union rules, which mean we have to look objectively at the bids that come in. We are not permitted to take into account the location of the factory in determining which bid is nominated. That is a consequence of our EU membership.'
If you have read my blog before you will know how I feel about the EU, and you might expect me to go on a long rant about this hideous organisation, but not this time. Do you honestly think any other country in the EU which has a thriving, modern, competitive, world class company like Bombardier would hand the contract to a foreign company, thus destroying not only jobs but that thriving industry? The simple answer is of course no! The French rolling stock is 100 per cent French, the Germans is 98 per cent German. The French will structure its bidding process in favour of French companies rather than adhering to some idiotic EU diktat, and rightly so.
This makes no sense whatsoever, why would anyone want to lose jobs to another country? These people are like robots, they do not care about people, they just see figures on a paper and don't worry about the consequences. What makes it even more galling is that only two months ago David Cameron brought his entire cabinet to Derby and said that he wanted to see more emphasis on manufacturing, and then we get this!
The Labour party are trying to make political capital out of this, but they are just as bad. In the dying days of Gordon Browns government they handed the £7.5 billion contract to build a new generation of high speed trains for the Intercity Express Programme to Hitachi of Japan. Again Bombardier put in a good bid, could you see the Japanese buying trains from anywhere but Japan? Of course not, they refuse to buy non Japanese trains, and again rightly so, they are protecting their own jobs.
This sums up our political class, a bunch of ignorant, selfish, self delusioned hypocrites who are willing to destroy peoples lives as long as it does not effect them. The political class in this country do not have a clue about life for ordinary people, and it is quite obvious from these and many other decisions that they do not care.
They talk the talk, David Cameron is a very good speaker, but after so many broken promises I cannot believe a word that comes out of his mouth. Tony Blair introduced spin into government, Gordon Brown followed on but David Cameron has scaled new heights, and this is the latest example of his lying, devious nature. That might sound harsh, but nothing he has done over the last year has proven otherwise. He has lied and lied and lied, he has broken many promises and continues to make excuses for these lies and broken promises, look here to read just a few http://evanheasley-powertothepeople.blogspot.com/2010/12/broken-promises.html
Let me say this last thing, you could argue that it is good that Britain is a fair country and plays by the rules, and I believe that is a good principle to live by. But when we elect a government it has three main purposes: One, to run and manage the country. Two, defend its people, whether that is against direct attack or in another country and three, to represent its citizen's best interests and safeguard jobs. Unfortunately this government has shown its true nature and colours and its unwillingness to care about the people who put it in office.
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