Squeal public sector parasites, Squuuuuuuuuuuuuueal

After 10Yrs of spunking billions of £ down the shitter to reward the Labour governments friends in the public sector, we now have the day of reckoning.

In my mind it doesn't go far enough.  The government will take spending back to 2006 levels.  We should be aiming for 1997 levels and reversing the huge increase in non-productive parasitical public sector which sucks the life out of private enterprise.

Now for tax cuts - the only way to increase economic growth in a global economy is to cut personal and corporation tax rates.  The top 1% of taxpayers pay over 20% of the total UK tax take.  These people are mobile.  In my FTSE company, all high paying global roles can be based wherever the individual wishes.  You fancy minimal tax in Singapore - go for it.  Want to live with 15% tax rate in Prague, go for it. 

The government shouldn't bite the hand that feeds it.  Cut tax = economic growth - a dense GCSE student could tell you that.

Sick note Britain

The Beeb are showing a Panorama programme tonight about sick note Britain. Basically there are over 2.6 million people in the UK claiming Incapacity Benefit at a cost of around £16 bn.

Many of these people could easily work - if opportunities were available. The real issue is that most of these people are concentrated in towns & regions where unemployment and under-employment are endemic.

There are now generations of people in places like Merthyr Tydfil who are on the sick. Doctors, faced with middle aged men with no job prospects, quickly sign them off as sick so they can get better benefits.

There is no culture of work in these de-industrialised areas. Until there are new job opportunities & new industry attracted to these areas, they will continue to be sink towns sucking in dole money and sucking the life out of their populations.

A sad state of affairs - The key issue is no longer the North/South divide, it is the pockets of unbelievable deprivation in places such as South Wales & the North-East. An almost intractable problem.

Public Sector Pay - the great lie

The graphic above is all the proof you need that the public sector is bloated, out of control and its unionised staff out of touch.

Public sector pay awards have easily outstripped the private sector since 1997. Teachers are on strike today demanding higher pay awards to keep pace with other graduate professions (their words not mine).

Reality check pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease! In the private sector you are pretty lucky to get even an inflationary rise every year, if you have polished your boss' turds enough over the previous year. Public sector workers get automatic increases on top of the significant % rises since 1997.

The teachers really need a reality check. They want parity with other 'graduate' professions. Firstly, how do you define 'graduate' in this age of degree proliferation from sub-standard polys. Secondly, no other graduate job I know of gets well over 10 weeks a year holiday!!!! More like 20 to 25 days if you are lucky!

So, teachers get paid accordingly. Lots of holidays, not long hours (go on moan about all your marking zzzzzzzzzzzz) & therefore they are paid the going rate, which is far more than the national average wage.

The market decides these things, even in a state funded area such as education. Teachers at independent schools don't get paid much more than their state colleagues.

Reality check needed - along with a concerted campaign against public sector statist unions and their unreformed commie activists.

Fiasco on the Toon

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7149405.stm

So our friends in the North have been bailed out again. The contingent liability the government now has is $100billion!!!

The bank & its senior management are a disgrace. The business model was fundamentally flawed. Now we have the government propping up their allies in Newcastle with billions of taxpayer's cash to save face with its fat, pie eating, dole loving geordie comrades.

The north east of England is fucked. It has levels of public sector spending as a % of GDP that would have made the old East German regime blush. My wife's family is from Newcastle & Co. Durham. Every single person I can think of in the family & friends we have in the north east works for the state. Either in schools, healthcare, councils, universities.

Dependence on the state screws any hope that the private wealth generating sector can pull the region out of its current malaise.

Sad state of affairs.