Quote:
Originally Posted by GEaston
I'm aware that to an extent this forum is a branch of the Lenin supporters club, I'm just curious who here is prepared to debate, and who wont.
Guiness - it's not a conservative critique, it's a factual one. I'm all ears as to how it's misguided, factually wrong or misleading. Failing that tell me you think it's right that the govt should pay $1.2m a day for the privilege of keeping people down mines. To do any of that though you'd have to read my post.....therein lies the problem.
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Oh I read it, and stand by my claim that its a tory critique, I'm not a leninist, communist or maoist. I'm a socialist which unfortunately means I have no political party representing me since Blair pretty much turned the Labour Party into a left wing Conservative Party...but back on thread...
Look at the figures quoted in your link...
£44 a ton if we mine it
£32 a ton if we buy it
That £32 has left the country, it is no longer ours, its gone, forever.....some of the £44 however is spent in our shops, on our shores and stays in the country boosting our economy, it also employs people, allows them to put a roof over their heads and put food on their tables.
In order to destroy the mines, divide and annihilate whole communities the taxpayer had to stump up £2.5 billion, which according to my maths means that the country could have continued subsidising these mines for another 7 years or so. There was a technological revolution occuring at the time, my guess is that some of that technology would have been used in mining in order to reduce production costs.
As Mog posted, another reason it cost £44 for us to mine was down to our mines being the safest in the world, an extra £12 per ton for ensuring human lives are saved don't seem all that much to pay from my taxes.
Not even going to add the cost to the taxpayer of unemployment benefit for those who lost jobs when the industry was dismantled
The human and financial cost of the destruction of this industry is far greater than the financial cost of retaining it.