On 23 Sep 2014 at 10:12am Mark wrote:
Such a shame that that thread "English Votes/Game of Groans is full. And such a shame that I didn't read it earlier. I particularly liked it when Windbag invoked the Laffer Curve - an utterly bogus piece of economics much admired by the Republican Party. Lots of American economists have got very rich by producing research that promotes the idea that all would be well if only the rich could be somewhat richer.
I think it was very popular at the time of Reagonomics. Same time as Margaret Thatcher was introducing legislation saying that County Councils should be under a legal obligation to claw back any debt - as quickly as possible and down to last penny - incurred as a result of benefit overpayments. Even where benefit overpayments were a product of their own sloppy administration.
On 23 Sep 2014 at 12:25pm Sword of Truth wrote:
Whilst there is disagreement about where the Laffer curve is , there is no agreement that it ( or a curve like it if you don`t like the name ) exists.You will understand, he said dubiously, that if tax rates were 100% you would not receive much tax, and presumably you dimly comprehend that actual receipts to the treasury do not increase proportionately with notional tax increases ?
The opinion I was quoting ( about where we are at the top end ) was originally from the Institute of Fiscal Studies and is not based on opinion but on mapping the real life effects of variable tax rates over time. It has always appeared that the BBC has accepted this when they have questioned Labour about the motives for top rate tax increases.
If you think about it this sort of thinking is the common currency of all and any Chancellor who would otherwise would be entirely in the dark about revenues
Incidentally that name "Sword of Truth" is supposed to be stupid pompous name . I thought it was funny ....
On 23 Sep 2014 at 3:38pm Clifford wrote:
What we all have to accept is that we are exist to ensure the tiny minority who are rich are comfortable and secure. It is heresy to believe otherwise.
On 23 Sep 2014 at 5:17pm An Economist Writes wrote:
I recommend Ha-Joon Chang's excellent books as a corrective to a lot of the ramblings in the previous thread. They are concise, clear-sighted and highly persuasive.
On 24 Sep 2014 at 12:41am I Pencil wrote:
I came across this the other day.. I thought it quite a good analogy economics.. Unfortunately the system we have today is geared for the corrupt & the self-seeking to benefit from it.
Check it out here »
On 24 Sep 2014 at 1:48am Revolting Pleb. wrote:
This is what the future looks like.
Check it out here »
On 24 Sep 2014 at 12:39pm Sore Truth wrote:
Good article here - in the Torygraph of all places. But never mind, let's carry on blaming the EU and immigration for our troubles.
On 24 Sep 2014 at 1:26pm Mark wrote:
Smugly touting a load of supply-side bombast isn't funny. I regularly see the same four homeless people in Cliffe High Street - in Lewes of all places. They don't look very well and they don't look happy. I don't like to think what this says about other parts of the country. It would have been unthinkable 25 years ago and it's the direct product of this thinking.
On 24 Sep 2014 at 3:27pm belladonna wrote:
I notice also that the 'plastic pigs' regularly talk to the homeless - making sure they are begging in the correct way. They made the girl who sings rub out some chalk lettering on the pavement on the bridge. Have they nothing better to do ? What about monitoring the traffic that regularly uses Cliffe High street (a pedestrianised zone) as a cut through, instead of harassing the homeless or destitute ?
On 24 Sep 2014 at 4:59pm Mavis wrote:
The sheer fact of the matter is that there are clear signs that homosapiens are being to reach over load proportions. Any other creature in our huge numbers would have been culled. Think on that !
On 24 Sep 2014 at 6:48pm Mark wrote:
Well I'm not entirely sure that it's all about "too many people". I visited London Zoo not long ago and I learnt an amazing fact: The combined weight of all of the ants in the world is greater than the combined weight of the entire human population.
On 24 Sep 2014 at 7:18pm Mavis wrote:
Of course Mark, Ants are really destroying the planet aren't they ? I don't think they've gone nuclear yet though ! But you may know better.
On 25 Sep 2014 at 11:05am Mark wrote:
No they're not Mavis and I think we should respect them for that. An amount of ants with a combined mass equivalent to mine would probably have a much smaller carbon footprint.
On 25 Sep 2014 at 11:55am Emmet wrote:
Are they African ants or European ants?
On 25 Sep 2014 at 1:23pm I Phenomenon wrote:
They might be Eastern European Ants from Siberia or the dreaded & massive Transbaikalia Ant!
Head for the Hills Emmet..
On 25 Sep 2014 at 4:48pm Sword Of Truth wrote:
I think thats what you call an anty climax ...
On 26 Sep 2014 at 7:51am Pigs swill wrote:
Belladonna she is not homeless, neither are a couple of the other 'beggars' you see in Lewes. The noise she makes is far from singing either, try wailing, the police are right to enforce the law as she & a couple of the others are a blight on the high street. Homelessness I have sympathy for, bone idleness I don't
On 26 Sep 2014 at 10:14am Bugger the beggars wrote:
The only beggar I gave £ to was in Brighton - he was offering change for notes so people could get out the car park . He didn`t ask for a % of the value . I gave him some money because I have a job walking far - (I don`t and won`t get a blue badge) Fair Play to him , beggar or not.