51-page .pdf., with large print and
copious charts.
£3000 per person per annum, and
remember, this is year after year after year.
“Within the three themes that we studied, we
have postulated savings in total of around £1.5bn
each year. By applying both the general principles set
out above and the learning from the thematic studies,
we have suggested that the potential benefits of Total
Place approaches that could accrue to the public
purse in the capital could be as much as 15% of the
£73.6bn total spend per annum: or some £11bn
each year.”
end note
“Total
Place is a programme aimed at all localities in England
and has its origins in pilot work undertaken in Cumbria
under the banners Counting Cumbria and Calling Cumbria.
Public sector partners in the county cooperated in a
process that produced a map of total public sector expenditure
in Cumbria and began the process of exploring together
how they could be more effective in spending this resource.”
“79 boys in receipt of free school meals achieved
three ?A?s at A-level nationwide compared with 175 pupils
from Eton alone" [Michael Gove]
“ “We’re committed to a comprehensive
programme of reform to elevate the status of teaching
in our country. We want to make it the noble profession
- the career path that attracts the best brains, is
well-rewarded and commands the most respect.”
[David Cameron]
—
“David Cameron struck back in the pre-election
class war today insisting that closing the education
gap between rich and poor needed a “brazenly elitist”
approach.
“The Tory leader said he wanted to make teaching
the “noble profession” and would bar students
with a poor degree from taking government cash to train
for the classroom.
“And in what was almost certainly a conscious
echo of Labour rhetoric, Mr Cameron said: “Good
education is the right of the many not the privileged
few.” ”
The correlation between economic freedom
and economic success is .67 (r² = .45).
Government interference, on the excuse of countering the banking meltdown,
slows world freedom for only the second time since the index established.
The interference has had virtually no effect on economic recovery (r²
= -.005).
“A severe drought has forced Venezuela President
Hugo Chavez to ration electricity in South America's
top oil exporter, but underinvestment and shortsighted
planning during an economic boom are as much to blame
as the weather.
“Cities and villages are without light for hours
at a time since rolling blackouts began last week in
a desperate bid to stop water levels dropping further
in the dams that provide more then two-thirds of the
South American nation's power.
“The first day of electricity rationing in Caracas
was particularly chaotic. Schools, medical centers,
street lights and traffic lights were without power,
forcing Chavez to order a suspension of the rationing.”
“President Hugo Chavez ordered Sunday the seizure
of a French-owned retail chain [Casino] on accusations
that it raised prices after Venezuela devalued the currency
by half.”
—
“ ...Chavez's orders that retailers were not to
adjust prices after he devalued the currency to 4.3
bolivars per dollar from the previous rate of 2.15 bolivars.”
As usual, the socialist nascent dictator looks for scapegoats
- it’s all the fault of PlayStation.
“Chavez, criticized the PlayStation game console
because he believes it is a product of capitalism. The
same fate befell the blonde Barbie doll. He demanded
that children play with the traditional yo-yo."
“Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez on Sunday
accused the United States of using the earthquake in
Haiti as a pretext to occupy the devastated Caribbean
country and offered to send fuel from his OPEC nation.”
“...the economy was smaller than everyone had
previously thought. GDP had been artificially inflated
by the housing and financial bubble."
—
“I couldn't continue in Cabinet saying things
I no longer believed to be true," he said. This,
he knew, would prompt speculation about how
many who are still there have no such qualms.
“Mr Purnell went on: "There were major policy
differences… It was clear that some cuts would
be needed, because the economy was smaller than everyone
had previously thought. GDP had been artificially inflated
by the housing and financial bubble.”
marxist-lite cable continues to misunderstand banking
Talking blatherer Vince Cable, last
night [14.01.10] on BBC2’s Newsnight, babbled foolishly
about those dreadful bankers, and Britain’s wonderful
caring government.
He seems quite incapable of understanding
that the major banks and the state are joined at the hip,
with no chance of separation.
He blathered about separating the
gambling arm [investment] of the banks from the deposit
arm [High Street branches]. Can’t be done, Vincy.
The banks will inevitably go for the biggest profits
however you structure them. Separation is merely a fig
leaf, or should that be an enticing thong? It is inherent in fiat banking
that the bankers know perfectly well that if they threaten political objectives,
the politicians will have no choice but to bail them out with taxpayers’
money (moral hazard).
He blathered about breaking
up the banks to stop the ‘too big to fail’
problem. Again he fails to understand the realities.
The various countries desperately want big banks, capable
of competing in world markets. Even were the banks broken up, they
would come together, as they already do, to form large consortiums
to float risky loans, thus making no change to elements of systemic risk.
He blathered about stopping
the (‘outrageous’) bank profits. The government
wants those profits. It is a major source of taxation.
The bankers are mere agents of the government money
scams. If they stop the banks riding on the government
scam, who on Earth is going to run the scam for them?
Nationalised banks? Well, anyone but a marxist knows
how efficient that would be!! Anyone with sufficient
brains to run a bank, will also have sufficient brains
to ride the system for ‘their’ house percentage
cut.
The present breakdown of banking stability isn’t much to do with
‘good’ or ‘bad’. It is not anything to do with capitalism.
It is inherent in the nature of a fiat, nationalised money systems where no true competition
can thrive.
Vince Cable, just another would-be
genius in the fake Lib-Dem shambles.
Vince Cable, just another dense closet
marxist living in a dream world.
From the Conservative draft manifesto on the NHS for the coming general election.
“At the same time, health inequalities are growing
wider – the difference between the life expectancy
of the richest and poorest in our country is now greater
than at any time since the 19th century. We can’t
go on like this...”
—
“ ...as a progressive government, we will weight
public health funding so that extra resources go to
the poorest areas with the worst health outcomes through
a new ‘health premium’.” [David Cameron,
in first part of Conservative draft manifesto]
The Conservatives are considering revising the financing
of individual care in the NHS so, amongst other things,
people would not have to sell their house to finance hospice
care, as happens currently, patients would have far more control over their own treatment choices, and
medical staff would have far more freedom to innovate to meet medical needs.
Treatment paid for above a threshold value, in a similar
fashion to motor or house insurance. This would be funded by
a savings account, sometimes subsidised by government. The money
would be owned by the individual, from which incidental medical expenses
and standard insurance may be paid.
Catastrophic insurance: “For the first time, we will allow everyone – on retirement – to protect their
homes from being sold to fund residential care costs by paying a one-off insurance
premium of £8,000.”
“Lest anyone imagine Tyler is warming to Labour's
economic policies, he isn't. And here's why: in the
12 years they have been in power, GDP has grown by just
2% pa (1997 Q2 to 2009 Q3); in the corresponding 12
previous Tory years it grew by 2.6% pa (1985 Q1 to 1997
Q2); over 20 years a 0.6% pa growth shortfall cumulates
to a total sacrifice of well over one year's GDP. There's
just one small snag: to reap such Tory economic benefits,
you need a Tory government that pursues Tory economic
policies”
And that’s before the devastating mess
with the public finances.
“Apparently it was quite a day in Lochmaben.
The ice had been checked by the local council and was
7-8 inches, and solid. However, someone phoned the police
to say there were lots of people on the ice and they
didn't think it was safe. Anne tells the story,
"Six police officers arrived but they couldn't
go on ice to warn people because of health and safety
so they passed the buck to the Nith rescue who came
with a rescue boat but because of heath and safety they
couldn't go on ice either. So the Coast Guard arrived,
lights flashing! But guess what? Because of health and
safety he couldn't go on the ice either! A great day
was had by all.”
The Burj Dubai/Khalifa was designed and supervised by
Westerners and Koreans at just about every stage. It was
designed by Americans, the window washing system is designed
by Australians, while the fountain will be the biggest
in the world and so is also American.
But the Burj building will have a mosque in the 158th
floor, I don’t know who has designed that! And the
inaugural song will be in Arabic.
This project has gone bankrupt, so it has been renamed
at the last minute in honour of the Khalifa of Abu Dhabi
who has just bailed out bankrupt Dubai. The building was
to be called Burj Dubai, it is now Burj Khalifa! I wonder
whether they will change it back if they ever pay off the
debt, or if they persuade customers to take space in the
white heffalump.
The Burj is designed to be the world’s largest
shopping centre; eventually.
‘new’ labour running out of money fast - your money, their money, everyone’s money
“The American investment group said it will
be a net seller of UK Government bonds this year, at
the very point when the Bank of England brings its £200bn
programme of purchases to and end and the Treasury attempts
to raise unprecedented sums through the capital markets.
“The move is doubly embarrassing for the Government
because the head of Pimco's [described as world's biggest
bond house] European investment team is Andrew Balls,
brother of Schools Secretary Ed Balls, who is mastering
the Government's re-election strategy. The move will
be seen as a financial vote of no-confidence in the
Government's handling of the economy.” [Quoted
from telegraph.co.uk]
“...Labour — which is understood to have
considered going into administration two years ago —
has pared down the money it owes to £11.5 million.
This is still a large enough sum to make Labour technically
insolvent if it was an ordinary business, according
to a leading City accountant last night.”
—
“The [Tory] spokesman defended the big spending
advantage the Conservatives will have over Labour. “All
advertising by the Conservatives is paid for by the
party and is a fraction of the £540 million of
taxpayers’ cash the Government spent on PR last
year,” he said. [Quoted from timesonline.co.uk]
*claims* that iran is having problems building a nuclear bomb
“The biggest disruption came in late September....
publicly exposed Iran’s covert effort to build
an enrichment plant near Qum.”
—
“Another possible problem for Iran is the Western
sabotage efforts. In January, The New York Times reported
that President Bush had ordered a broad covert program
against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, including
efforts to undermine electrical and computer systems
that keep the nuclear program running....” [Quoted
from nytimes.com]
“For most of the past 70 years, the U.S. economy
has grown at a steady clip, generating perpetually higher
incomes and wealth for American households. But since
2000, the story is starkly different.
“The past decade was the worst for the U.S. economy
in modern times, a sharp reversal from a long period
of prosperity that is leading economists and policymakers
to fundamentally rethink the underpinnings of the nation's
growth.
“It was, according to a wide range of data, a
lost decade for American workers. The decade began in
a moment of triumphalism -- there was a current of thought
among economists in 1999 that recessions were a thing
of the past. By the end, there were two, bookends to
a debt-driven expansion that was neither robust nor
sustainable.
“There has been zero net job creation since December
1999. No previous decade going back to the 1940s had
job growth of less than 20 percent. Economic output
rose at its slowest rate of any decade since the 1930s
as well.
The above article is innumerate, very
innumerate.
The population is rising:
USA
population
2000
281.5 million
2010
308.5 million
This is a nearly 10% rise.
Meanwhile, those employment figures
- there is no such thing as an infinite compound increase.
If 50% of the population is ‘employed’
and the population is 100 million, and the employed numbers
go up 10% a year...
Is this 10% of the original 50%? Then
the employed population will rise 5 million a year. In
ten years, everyone will be employed!
But then there are population changes,
or perhaps the 10% is constantly changed to the present
employed population! And so on.
And then you have to wonder about the
reliability of government definitions. Look at the UK
socialist ‘New’ Labour’s constant redefinitions!
Then there are all those luverly, ever
cheaper computers and 600 inch flat TVs. None of which
the poor slaves could have afforded 10 years ago.
If you are to grasp economic, it
is utterly, utterly vital to learn to think dynamically.
Everything over-responds and over-recedes, just like the
tides. Meanwhile, the governments keep changing the numbers.
After printing money at about 20% for several months
(FTSE 17% up on July 2009)
Concerning inflation
A better fit for inflation
can be made by adding the growth of M4 (notes, coins and
other cash equivalents in circulation) to the increase
or decrease in GDP [gross domestic product].
Thus, this leaves the FTSE still down over
the 12 ½ years [1]. (My
tracking of inflation is that it is more like 100% over that
period, or the pound has lost half its value.)
Recall that GDP is down 5% on this year alone,
and it becomes much worse as you dig into the figures:
“The 4.75 per cent by which Alistair Darling
expects the British economy will have shrunk in 2009
when the bells ring out the old year tonight will, according
to the National Institute for Economic and Social Research,
have been the steepest fall since 1921 when Britain
was physically and materially drained by the Great War.”
[Quoted from timesonline.co.uk]
May the vermin eradicators come in and make 2010 a better decade.
Note the huge real
losses in stock market capitalisation under socialist ‘New’
Labour [from May 1997] compared with inexorable rise of the
wealth of Britain during the Conservative years [1979 - 1997].
Further, note during the run-ups to the general elections
of June 2001 and May 2005, the pumping up of the economy with
more borrowing and inflation, and the subsequent collapses.
Notice also the inertia of the rising economy at the end of
the Conservative regime when Bliar and the Clown [Brown] continued
Conservative economic policies for their first two years.
This further emphasises the economic damage done by socialism.
And now here we go again with typical ‘New’ Labour
smoke and mirrors.
