The Murdoch Dividend and the UK Government Spending Cuts

[Idaho]

I don't like to say I told you so... well I lie, I love it. It proves what a clever ginger I am.

I wanted to go and find the two threads I posted this on, but I don't have time to find them. I tried and failed in my search.

My prediction was that Murdoch would abandon the Labour party and put his media empire behind the Tories. But old digger isn't stupid. He expects to get payback. And the payback needed to come in the form of attacks on the BBC - his biggest rival. His websites are now behind a paywall, and the BBC website is the biggest rival both online and on TV.

Murdoch praises government plans

BBC Funding Frozen/Reduced

Of course Murdoch wins on two counts. He's a notorious tax dodger, and the government have targetted their cuts specifically to hit the poorest, while leaving the richest relatively untouched. Odd really for a cabinet that consists of 20 millionaires, a number of whom are 'non-doms' (registered in foreign countries to avoid paying tax). Indeed the government brought in retail magnate Phillip Green to advise on cost savings. A man worth many many millions, made from stores in the UK, but who pays no UK tax.

Meanwhile the banks will have to pay a £2.5bn a year tax. Seem like a lot? Well seeing as they got £850bn of our money over the last few years, it's chump change. Perhaps I should go and get £85 loans from them and see if I can pay it back at the rate of £2.50 a year?

[rory_20_uk]

Targeted to hit the poorest... The old acclaim never looses popularity, does it?

What exactly did the poor loose? I'm not talking about hand outs here - that isn't something that they ever earned, they were given - so let's not include the council tax waiver, the subsidised food, housing, children's allowance, free prescriptions, free travel... oh how the list goes on... Are they paying more taxes? Is there a poor tax?


Let's see what was done:

Child trust funds cut (oh yes, increased for the poor)
Child benefits now with ceiling (of £26,000 - more than the average wage!)
Incapacity benefit means-tested
Elderly care means tested

The banks did not get given money. The government bought shares at the nadir. Rather like a Hedge Fund would. They are now at the point of making a profit. They also made money providing insurance for debt which also gained the governement a profit

Your "loan" of £85 would also mean you gave 70% of your car to them permanently in exchange. They then later as an afterthought asked for £2.50 a year in being so nice in buying the car.

[InsaneApache]

Ahhh Idaho, guarenteed to get the juices flowing eh?

Some people just refuse to 'get it'.

I have to, upon pain of imprisonment, fund the BBC. If I want to watch telly, I have to buy a license from the BBC to do so.

As for Murdoch, I can decide whether or not I want to buy/watch/read his particular brand of piffle. If I don't, I won't get sent to gaol, unlike the BBC.

Now on to the issue of how may millionaires there are in the cabinet. I wonder how many millionires there are in the shadow cabinet?

Meet the new Boss, same as the old Boss.

Now then, all this talk of cuts and somesuchlike. There will only be cuts in the increase of budgets, not real cuts at all. Factor in the fact that government spending increased by 50% in the last decade, then account for the austerity measures and government expenditure in set to rise.

Not my definition of a cut. Don't know about you lot.

And this is your starter for ten. Who's economic genius put us in this situation?

That is all.

[Idaho]

Targeted to hit the poorest... The old acclaim never looses popularity, does it?

What exactly did the poor loose? I'm not talking about hand outs here - that isn't something that they ever earned, they were given - so let's not include the council tax waiver, the subsidised food, housing, children's allowance, free prescriptions, free travel... oh how the list goes on... Are they paying more taxes? Is there a poor tax?

We currently have over 2m unemployed, and another half million are about to lose their public sector jobs. Direct effect will be poverty, secondary result will reduce wages = poor will become poorer.

Unemployment benefits are to only last a set amount of time = poor will be under more pressure and will become poorer.

Reduced public services = worse conditions/services for people who can't afford to pay

Increased higher education costs = poor will have to make themselves poorer to afford to get out of poverty

[rory_20_uk]

Unemployment benefits are to only last a set amount of time = more incentive / pressure to get a job! Jobs get taxed, more money to the state. Currently there's so little pressure to work it's not funny.

Reduced public services = Perhaps increases in efficiency that have fallen in the last decade. Novel ways of undertaking activities. Might even stop doing pointless services. Can't afford to pay for what? Interesting how many things are viewed as essential that didn't exist even 50 years ago.

Increased higher education costs = More incentive to think before getting on a degree and to value one's degree. Better campuses to compete with China / India / the USA and improve the intellectual capital. Loan paid back of the next 30 YEARS, only when earning a salary and then written off. Still subsidies for the poorest, and increase in investment in the poorest children in schools in real terms.

[Idaho]

in real terms.

"In real terms" is something that politicians say when they want to twist a statistic to fit their agenda.

[rory_20_uk]

Cuts are often also twisted to include rises that are deemed to be lower than critics would like, and of course removal of handouts.

[gaelic cowboy]

The banks did not get given money. The government bought shares at the nadir. Rather like a Hedge Fund would. They are now at the point of making a profit. They also made money providing insurance for debt which also gained the governement a profit

They did get given money dont fool yourself into thinking they didnt.

In any bust business I ever saw if someone buys it they get it cheap and they either close it down and sell off bits or they assume the debt and try to trade out of it. That did not happen in this case or anywhere for that matter take your pick Ireland USA UK you name it they all done it even Germany.

What we have seen here is governments buying in at an inflated price way more than there actually worth in the hopes the economy will inflate the debt away. Hoping this will happen is sometimes a good idea any economist will tell you it is a viable option to take resources from the future to pay for today if it's invested right unfortunately for the whole world this did not happen.


In the old days this idea would have worked as the customers of the bank would have been the debtors but now the banks have easily lent all there customers cash ages ago they now owe outside the bank inflating the debt away may not be so easy this time.

[rory_20_uk]

When private equity takes over a company, they have to have extremely rapid returns to satiate all the investors. So yes you buy then quickly sell the parts. Some are in the business of turning the business around.

They bought RBS shares for c. 50p. They are now trading at a few pence under 50p. So yes, a slight paper loss. Compared to the cost of possibly all the major UK banks just folding?

Bank profits are slowly recovering, mainly on the margins of saving / lending being in some cases 6% at the moment. In a few years time they'll be able to sell the shares in tranches probably at a profit.

It compares rather well to Brown's selling of UK gold though.

[Fragony]

What's the problem, these cuts have to done unless taking a plunge into debt is reserved only as a term for trailer-trash who wanted the latest lg-HD TV

[Ja'chyra]

As omeone who doesn't like any of the political parties I agree with some of the measures.

Things like time limiting benefits are good as long as the jobs are created for people to go to, having to move to get a job isn't an excuse not to do it.

Things like sacking 500,000 ish civil servants isn't good, most of that work will still need to be done and will now be done by expensive consultants at more than double the cost, places like HMRC should be expanded to catch all the tax dodgers. Also, all MP's should have to be UK citizens paying full tax.

[Louis VI the Fat]

nm
misread the source

[Furunculus]

1. Murdoch praises government plans

2. BBC Funding Frozen/Reduced

or to consider it in another light:

1. as does anyone with functioning frontal lobes.

2. practically everyone else got hit, why would the beeb escape?