Originally Posted by andrewb (Post 659921)

Except most of our service sector isn't supplied better elsewhere. You're right though, our economy should be diverse.

Gayle makes a very good point. Credit should be used by business to finance cash flow problems, not cash shortages as it is often used by individuals. When credit is unavailable businesses can and will collapse. That's why it's so important to get credit moving again.

Banks have been allowed to lend, lend, lend, and have built up huge amounts of private debt. The government have spent 7 years borrowing more, more, more. That created a boom, now we have a bust. The governments solution to private sector over borrowing is public sector over borrowing. I don't subscribe to it. Japan did the same in the 90's and it took them over a decade to get out of it. Government borrowing £157bn is going to make our recession longer and deeper, due to far higher taxes in years to come.

What you do about it is a tricky question. My common sense says we need to live within our means, and realise we can't sustain spending in the way that many are accustomed to, as it is simply fuelled by debt. Sustaining what we're accustomed to, by government borrowing hundreds of billions of pounds, is in my opinion wrong. The government should be there to help its citizens yes, but at the same time it has to realise that the economy needs to go back to a sustainable level, so should be careful in the method used to help.

Originally Posted by jaysay (Post 660199)

There were many reasons for the decline of or manufacturing industries, no just Thatcher as people like to blame , firstly how many people sit in front of a Japanese computer, watch a Japanese TV, listen to music on Japanese Hi Fi systems, cook on foreign cookers, drive foreign cars, wear foreign made clothes, use foreign mobile phones, the list is endless, and why, because we couldn't compete. Why did our car industry fail, because they got fed up with being held to ransom and just move to other countries were people were glad of a job. Its easy to blame politicians, but the ordinary man in the street should shoulder some of the blame too.

Originally Posted by garinda (Post 660214)

So because we couldn't compete, we decided it was better to just content ourselves being a nation of service providers, rather than investing in new hi-tech industries, and educating a workforce who could excel in them?

Rather a shortsighted economic plan, but I suppose it is, when the best idea you could come up with was to sell off the family silver.

For hundreds of years Britain was at the forefront of cutting edge industrial engineering. Now we can answer the phone.

Well we can answer the phone until they train a monkey to do it for a few peanuts, and even those jobs are lost.

Originally Posted by Neil (Post 660043)

All that may be true but she left No10 a long time ago now. No one has been in a rush to undo her mistakes have they?

Originally Posted by cmonstanley (Post 660381)

because rupert murdoch got in there to control the media in this country and brainwashed[dumbed down] the majority..




boycott sky and the rest..

Originally Posted by jaysay (Post 660227)

Its not a matter of that Rindi, we can't compete with the Asian nations, who pay ridiculously low wages, that's the whole point, things such as that are out of our control, people in these countries are paid for a weeks work what British workers earn in an hour. Isn't' that what happened to the Cotton Industry, and as you've said you can train a monkey to answer the phone for peanuts and compared to this country people will work for what we call peanuts but to them its a living wage. Why is it that firms like Nike, Timberland and the like, all have their factories in China, Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh and Pakistan because the wages are so low.

Originally Posted by cmonstanley (Post 660384)

yep all for a quick buck.we should be making our country self effiecient to help with social coheasion not let it fall down the drain for a quick buck oohhh the times are changin the answers are blowin in the wind:)

Originally Posted by magpie (Post 660689)

is the Accrington store still open:

Originally Posted by cmonstanley (Post 660381)

because rupert murdoch got in there to control the media in this country and brainwashed[dumbed down] the majority..




boycott sky and the rest..