Old Blyth Power's Almanack - 2011

[BlythPower]

Right. It’s that time of year again – time to gaze into the crystal ball for the year ahead.

As we already know, with the VAT and duty rises, petrol’s going up 4 or 5 pence a litre in January. With the petrol companies adding their own mark up, expect to pay around £1.30 by the end of February at the latest. There’ll be a moral dilemma for the fuel protestors. On the hand petrol and diesel will be far more expensive than they ever were under Labour. On the other hand it’ll be difficult for them to protest against “their” government.

VAT won’t go up again next year, but expect its scope to be increased – children’s clothing being the first target, followed by food. If the Tories cling to power for the full five years, VAT will have gone up to 25% by the end of it.

Inflation is already creeping up and will steadily increase throughout next year. Many companies have already announced their intention to increase prices under cover of the VAT rise. And of course, under a Tory government rising inflation means rising interest rates. Great news if you’re wealthy and have lots of savings. Not so great if you’re just a regular working family with a mortgage to pay and the threat of redundancy hanging over you.

There’ll be a huge increase in repossessions and with their budgets slashed, councils will find it impossible to house all the newly homeless families.

Still it’s not all doom and gloom and I’m sure you’ll all join me in wishing Britain’s bankers and oil and energy company directors and executives a happy and prosperous new year.

And remember – we’re all in this together!

 

[Geezertronic]

I doubt it would have been any better under Labour considering they stuffed me in 1997 and beyond...

 

[ainsworth74]

And it would have been all joy and happiness had Labour won the election?

 

[BlythPower]

No. But it wouldn't be as bad. And there wouldn't be this deliberate and spiteful targetting of those on lower incomes.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I thought this was going to be an interesting Thread, but unfoirtunately it's all Tory v. Labour v. Lib Dems etc. For god's sake, give it a rest, labour messed this country up enough enough in their 13 years, let the Tories and Libs have a go, and everyone, grow up!

 

[Clip]

No. But it wouldn't be as bad. And there wouldn't be this deliberate and spiteful targetting of those on lower incomes.

You dont know that though do you? Your just being hypothetical and cant see past your labour ties.

In fact the Labour government would have borrowed more money and got the country more into debt to try and get us out of debt.

You dont do that in your own life so why do it to the rest of the country?

 

[BlythPower]

You dont know that though do you? Your just being hypothetical and cant see past your labour ties.

In fact the Labour government would have borrowed more money and got the country more into debt to try and get us out of debt.

You dont do that in your own life so why do it to the rest of the country?

I think it's a pretty reasonable supposition. Labour's solution would have naturally have involved cuts, but also measures to maintain economic growth and thus increase tax revenue. Under the Tories plans, an awful lot of people will go from paying income tax to receiving benefit. Surely not a good idea..?

BTW: Your Cameron avatar's even better than mine.

 

[Clip]

I think it's a pretty reasonable supposition. Labour's solution would have naturally have involved cuts, but also measures to maintain economic growth and thus increase tax revenue. Under the Tories plans, an awful lot of people will go from paying income tax to receiving benefit. Surely not a good idea..?

BTW: Your Cameron avatar's even better than mine.

But our economic growth is slowly erm growing..

In all reality and in every interview i have seen with old/new labour even before they left power they never really outlined what they would do and still dont..

The country is swimming under massive amounts of debt and until we address that and every one realises that we have to cut back and hard - just like you would do if you found yourself close to going broke - then things wont get any better.

Pessimism is not what we all need at this time.

 

[Oswyntail]

... Labour's solution would have naturally have involved cuts

Really? They couldn't bring themselves to talk about that at election time, and their attitude over the previous 13 years was to close their eyes, stick their fingers in their ears, shout "LALALA" and hope the nasty problems would go away

but also measures to maintain economic growth and thus increase tax revenue....

And their policy on that was (once they had finally abandoned the previous administrations policies in about 2003) to let everything be based on a property price bubble and an out-of-control financial sector, and then blame the rest of the world when it burst. Quite honestly, they were a bunch of utter incompetents when it came to the economy, and anything - yes ANYTHING - is better than they were.

 

[BlythPower]

But our economic growth is slowly erm growing..

Not for much longer. And what little growth there is, is the tail end of the previous government's now stalled recovery.

Still, it's nice to see we've so many millionaires on the forum who are obviously cushioned from the hard time ahead.

 

[Mojo]

Still, it's nice to see we've so many millionaires on the forum who are obviously cushioned from the hard time ahead.

Or maybe just perhaps people who don't think "what can others do for me?" but "what can I do for myself?"

 

[Geezertronic]

Whatever the ConLibs do to me, it won't be half as worse as Labour have done to me. IR35 is a prime example

 

[Donny Dave]

Right. It’s that time of year again – time to gaze into the crystal ball for the year ahead.

In other words, we're going to have to put up with you ranting about the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, again ....

As we already know, with the VAT and duty rises, petrol’s going up 4 or 5 pence a litre in January. With the petrol companies adding their own mark up, expect to pay around £1.30 by the end of February at the latest. There’ll be a moral dilemma for the fuel protestors. On the hand petrol and diesel will be far more expensive than they ever were under Labour. On the other hand it’ll be difficult for them to protest against “their” government.

VAT won’t go up again next year, but expect its scope to be increased – children’s clothing being the first target, followed by food. If the Tories cling to power for the full five years, VAT will have gone up to 25% by the end of it.

Something you may not realise, but you pay VAT on some food already. In my opinion, increasing the VAT rate to 20% is a smart move, as you'll only notice the extra cost on "big ticket" items, such as electrical appliances or a new car. For someone doing their usual weekly shopping, the VAT increase will hardly be noticable.

Inflation is already creeping up and will steadily increase throughout next year. Many companies have already announced their intention to increase prices under cover of the VAT rise. And of course, under a Tory government rising inflation means rising interest rates. Great news if you’re wealthy and have lots of savings. Not so great if you’re just a regular working family with a mortgage to pay and the threat of redundancy hanging over you.

Inflation is no worse now, compared to what it was in 2008. We'll just have to wait and see though if the rules get changed so that the government stays in it's target.

There’ll be a huge increase in repossessions and with their budgets slashed, councils will find it impossible to house all the newly homeless families.

Still it’s not all doom and gloom and I’m sure you’ll all join me in wishing Britain’s bankers and oil and energy company directors and executives a happy and prosperous new year.

And remember – we’re all in this together! [/QUOTE]

I'll just wish those who prefer to look out for themselves and not rely on hand outs a happy new year.

 

[BlythPower]

I'll just wish those who prefer to look out for themselves and not rely on hand outs a happy new year.

Actually, I'll wish a Happy New Year (not that they'll get it) to those who rely on handouts even though they don't want to.

I find it astonishing that all those who have wealth are assumed to have worked for it. Do words such as 'inheritance', 'trust fund' and 'non-executive director' mean nothing to folk on here?

 

[4SRKT]

TBH I'm with Blyth Power on this one, and before anyone suggests otherwise, I'm not in receipt of benefits and am in fact probably one of the higher earners on this forum. And yes, I've worked for that, not had any sort of windfall. I've very little time for this 'undeserving poor' nonsense thart totally ignores circumstance. Come and spend the day here in Bradford and I'll show you round. Then tell me how people in many parts of this city (and indeed many cities) are meant to look out for themselves.

 

[Greenback]

I agree with you and Blyth Power!

 

[Geezertronic]

I find it astonishing that all those who have wealth are assumed to have worked for it. Do words such as 'inheritance', 'trust fund' and 'non-executive director' mean nothing to folk on here?

I'm not wealthy as you would describe but I've done ok considering I've been bled dry by Labours Corporation and PAYE tax laws since 1999, and I've inherited nothing, never had a trust fund, and I am not a non-executive director either

And before you bitch and complain, I've not got a political allegience but find it ironic that Labourites claim the country would be better off with them in Government considering they got us into this bloody mess in the first place

 

[Greenback]

I have no wish to enter into a political slanging match, especially since I am not aLabour voter, but I am a little tired of everything being blamed on the previous government.

Would the Cons have allowed the banking system to fail by letting several major banks go to the wall? Would the Cons have been immune to the world wide recession caused by the capitalist system? Would they have been able to maintain tax revenue in the face of that recession?

There is little, really, to differentiate the two major parties. I doubt the Tory response to a banking crisis and recession would have been greatly different. However, we can never know for sure what would have happened, it's effects and how we would be at this moment. It's a bit futile speculating 'what if' in the end.

What I do believe is that next year is going to be very tough indeed for a lot of people, myself included, and no one can be sure that George Osborne's strategy is correct as yet.

 

[4SRKT]

I'm no Labourite TBF, and would say that they deserved to lose the election on their record. But that's not the same as saying the ConLibs are better. Basically we're in a bit of a mess whatever way you look at it. Still, it could be worse: we could live in Ireland.

The Final Crisis of Capitalism? Maybe. Or maybe not. At least in the past there was an alternative to Capitalism on offer should it have ever killed itself. Not now, so doubly f**ked.

 

[Greenback]

Agreed. Labour made many, many mistakes when in office, far too many to list here! But one thing I have noticed over the course of my life is that no government is perfect!

At least this is a coalition, we should give it a bit more time!

 

[4SRKT]

Agreed. Labour made many, many mistakes when in office, far too many to list here! But one thing I have noticed over the course of my life is that no government is perfect!

At least this is a coalition, we should give it a bit more time!

I'm torn myself. As an instinctive libertarian and social liberal I found Labour repulsive, ignorant and barbaric, and am much more comfortable with Cameron's brand of Heathite One Nation Toryism. Economically though, I can't help thinking this crowd is waaaay too right wing. On Foreign policy, the jury's out, but Cameron seems more his own man, rather than the embarrassment that was Blair, whose member was so far up Bush's orifice that he was scraping the inside of his skull with it.

 

[Greenback]

I can't really disagree with any of that either! I loathed much fo what Blair seemed to stand for once he achieved the power he so desperately craved.

 

[Geezertronic]

I always expect to get stitched up by policies whoever is in power, Labour extracted the urine so much over the last how many years so it still leaves a bitter pill to swallow. Maybe I'll be saying the same about the ConLibs in the future, who knows?

I just think it's laughable to suggest that Labour would have implemented much different had they still been in Government, still not sure what the OP was trying to achieve by starting this thread?

 

[ainsworth74]

I'm torn myself. As an instinctive libertarian and social liberal I found Labour repulsive, ignorant and barbaric, and am much more comfortable with Cameron's brand of Heathite One Nation Toryism. Economically though, I can't help thinking this crowd is waaaay too right wing.

As with Greenback can't disagree with that.

On Foreign policy, the jury's out

Just hope he doesn't plan on any independent military action as part of his foreign policy because after the latest round of military cuts it simply won't be an option any more.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I always expect to get stitched up by policies whoever is in power

Increasingly my view is that it doesn't matter what colour the government of the day is be it blue, red or yellow (or a mixture in the present situation) at the end of the day they all seem to be f e c kless, self-aggrandising vandals.

 

[Donny Dave]

I'll just wish those who prefer to look out for themselves and not rely on hand outs a happy new year.

Actually, I'll wish a Happy New Year (not that they'll get it) to those who rely on handouts even though they don't want to.

I find it astonishing that all those who have wealth are assumed to have worked for it. Do words such as 'inheritance', 'trust fund' and 'non-executive director' mean nothing to folk on here?

Read the last sentence of my post again (I've quoted it for your benefit). I said people who prefer to look out for themselves. That includes people who's circumstances may not allow it, such as me until July/August this year. Those who try to get everything they can while doing nothing can go play football in the middle of the M1 for all I care.

I always expect to get stitched up by policies whoever is in power, Labour extracted the urine so much over the last how many years so it still leaves a bitter pill to swallow. Maybe I'll be saying the same about the ConLibs in the future, who knows?

I just think it's laughable to suggest that Labour would have implemented much different had they still been in Government, still not sure what the OP was trying to achieve by starting this thread?

No matter the colour of the government following the general election, we would be facing some very difficult decisions and tough times. I just find it ironic that the OP is denigrating of the Con-Dem government for introducing a very much need tax rise when Labour raised Income Tax and NI, plus other "lesser" taxes! Not to mention changing the rules so that they "stayed" within borrowing and inflation targets ....

Oh, before I log off for the night, the Con-Dem government has been (relatively) open with the cuts and changes they want to make in order to get the country back onto a sound financial footing, yet we have heard nothing from Labour about what they would do, instead just howls of protest. Make of that what you will ....

 

[Aictos]

I thought this was going to be an interesting Thread, but unfoirtunately it's all Tory v. Labour v. Lib Dems etc. For god's sake, give it a rest, labour messed this country up enough enough in their 13 years, let the Tories and Libs have a go, and everyone, grow up!

Agreed!!!

 

[4SRKT]

Those who try to get everything they can while doing nothing can go play football in the middle of the M1 for all I care.

That's nice.

 

[142094]

How exactly was the credit crunch Labour's fault? Perhaps people looking for someone/somthing to blame should look towards banks and banks in America.

 

[Oswyntail]

How exactly was the credit crunch Labour's fault? Perhaps people looking for someone/somthing to blame should look towards banks and banks in America.

Yes, British banks were scandalously stupid, blindly following their American colleagues over the cliff. But there were enough serious commentators pointing this out for a very long time, and calling for firmer regulation from central government (or the Bank of England). But Brown (as Chancellor) had not the gumption (or the will) to tighten regulation. Now, forgive me if I am naive, but the purpose of a government is to govern, preferably in time to protect the country from damage; the Blair/Brown show (certainly more Cannon and Ball than Morecambe and Wise) failed to do this. It was all too late when Darling was in place - and even then the Prime Minister (who was that/ Ohm yes, Brown!) regularly humiliated his Chancellor by ignoring his advice.

 

[Greenback]

At the risk of extending the life of this thread, in what way do you think the Tories would have increased regulation? They are hardly known for their love of regulation, preferring in principle to allow the market to regulate itself.

As I said, not much would have been different in my opinion if we had had a diferent colour government when the crisis kicked off. Labour made plenty of errors, one of them was in behaving too much like the Conservatives in this particular instance.