Gooner you must be a fantasist if you think the banks will be sold off in a few years time. If they were we'd be buying them back within six months. We'll be in the eye of the storm in two years time, when deficit cutting will be hitting all in the developed world. With no policy from Geithner past the printing press he extolled would save them from Japanese stagnation, and no reason for China to import for an export boom to the US, only then will we see Keynesian economics and hopefully enlightened governance: At least Geithner is against the appalling Bush Tax cuts for the top 1-2%: Ohh sorry Gooner I used a loaded word, I forgot that immigration in Nafta is beloved of Neocons, and the Tories creamed themselves on a cheap influx of immigration for big business. It'd be oh so different in a right wing world........ Hang on Bush did Thatchernomics, and that's what he and his administration referred to incessantly in 2002.
To others the '50 billion of infrastructure' is from private money; at least I guess the new part is. Essentially it's to encourage pension and insurance companies to invest in housebuilding, toll roads, social housing and bloody fast broadband. No doubt the 50 billion is also including long-standing projects that have been in the pipeline for ages, and are not an increase on predicted government spending. As for the real details, I'd doubt they'll be anything more concrete when they're announced soon.
Secondly the EU has been running the OJEU since the fifties. Thirdly the procurement of government infrastructure projects has had to be advertised in it since the eighties; at least for projects above a certain amount. Fourthly a tender can be chosen either if it's the lowest or has the most economic benefit.
We weathered the 30's storm - at least in the SE - relatively well with huge amounts of house building especially around Greater London funded by Government Bonds. Whether I think that should be done is not relevant, it only will be after the next crash happens. The market is not the perfect hand, it does not price rationally. The only given for true monetarist, free market policy, is that the bailout gets bigger every time.
As Roubini says infrastructure spending is the only way. You have to be an economic moron to believe like Osborne that fiscal reduction is replaced by private sector spending. Like it or lump it. We'll do it too late and the bill will be bigger or too big. But the market ideology won't let you do that, and credit raters are too fucking stupid to see it's the only way to increase jobs and help the doomed peripheries. The market wants Euro Bonds backed by Germany, it will not get them in time.
Outright Protectionist policies is one sure way to send us into a great depression. You have to love right wingers.... All they want is an absolute free market. But don't touch my overly subsidised agricultural industry! Oh we're in a recession, don't give those fucking Indians an IT job!
I'm all for giving the construction of the QE class aircraft carriers to British dockyards. Fuck it we did, but no one bothers to talk about that now or even then past sensationalist initial headlines. I'm all for giving the train contract to Bombardier.... Oh fuck it they're Canadians living in Germany. I'd doubt any of you dim-whitted right wingers would ever be able to come up with enlightened policy to deal with the nuances both in these contracts, or in intelligent legal ways to interpret law and the economic environment: Have to say neither would left wingers, though both sides seem to manage in France.
I'll third it good luck, and well done Dave. That's what I thought when I've been 'in-between jobs' I'm afraid it's all down to us in the end, even with a bit of government help.
Sorry about the great minds comment - in fact, at the last election a lot of political commentators berated all of the parties for lack of detail on their plans when it would have been the worst thing they could have done -so those experts were prats, maybe we do know better. It was the worse thing to do because your plans have to react - all parties said they would cut but were less commital on pace and where the cuts would fail. The Tories probably were the most commital, but there is a mssive problem in telling everybody what you will do - if you stop doing it, the markets will suddenly get jittery and you are up teh proverbial creek without a paddle, like Italy. Basically the markets over or under react and they have to be played because under the current system they have too much power. So by standing too much behind a plan that could have worked, they have deprived themselves of the option of moving to a plan B when it is clear that it now won't. The much berated Alistair Darling actually put growth at the forefront of everything he did and was achieving it. Europe will be blamed and it hasn't helped but if you have no jobs, those that have jobs fearing for their jobs- pay cuts, big inflation rises, 20% VAT - well its a no brainer that people are not going to spend so the economy is going to be flat. By having a policy that you can't escape from the risk of a double dip was always present - you have to play the hands you are dealt, not decide your actions before you see them. We are not going to get a plan B with this Government though so we just have to hope some things go their way because they are not going to make it happen. Their policies will cut more jobs, not create them and those job cuts will create more job cuts - the economy has to going upwards to allow the speed of cuts they are making, the plane is stalling, but the pilot's hands are tied!
Not sure if it's meant to be ironic in the last line of the original post where it says "any idea's" but if it isn't, then here's an idea: impose basic literacy tests for all jobs and if it doesn't solve the problem it will at least mean there will be justice in who is employed and who is unemployed. I'm not one of those people who would begrudge someone without a degree a job if they were a better candidate than me, but when I've been out of work, nothing has angered me more than when I see people who can barely spell their name with decent jobs.
I know what you mean - hopefully things will be better by the time my ten year old is ready for work. Another problem, if I look back at myself as a teenager- I wouldn't have employed me!! Somebody did though and I became employable after a few years - people that don't have jobs become unemployable reasonably quickly!
I know you can't paint every "youth" with the same brush, but I have done two rounds of interviews for Apprentices in the last couple of years. Good god! They don't stand a chance, 90% of those interviewed were hopeless. They may well have had the skills but they came across terribly and they were the ones who had passed the screening that went on before interviews. Perhaps more focused education would help the younger workless. Agree with comments from some of the others, not being so fussy would help as well.
Both of the apprentices we took on were released in less than 6 months as they simply could not adapt to an office environment.
I grew up in a no work no eat society just after the Second World War.
These days i feel it's all a matter of personal pride. If you want a job then you will go and get it, Then try to better yourself and do the best you can for your family. If you don't want a job well just sign here please and live off the backs of the workers. Sorry no time for parasites
I grew up in a no work no eat society just after the Second World War.
These days i feel it's all a matter of personal pride. If you want a job then you will go and get it, Then try to better yourself and do the best you can for your family. If you don't want a job well just sign here please and live off the backs of the workers. Sorry no time for parasites
I do have sympathy for this view but it's not quite that simple.
Employers are too tough on the whole "experience needed" bollocks, why don't they just train people up instead? How are we sposed to get experience if no one wants to give it to us? Companies like that can go shove everything up their ar$ehole
It definitely ISN'T as simple as 'want a job, get a job' as you have dozens who ALL want the job but only one can get it. I myself managed to find employment over the summer doing minor work, a few weeks at a firm needing pencil pushers, a local store needed cover for a week etc, but nothing you can live off for very long. I finish University soon, and have what I think is pretty good experience of office work and some practical things too, but I am fully expecting to be over the moon if I manage even a minimum wage chore at the end of it.
Yes we need to try and boost manufacturing, but we have to find the right things to make, since it was effectively the far east, and NOT Thatcher, that did for our manufacturing (IMO), and we still can't compete with them in low level manufacturing. In the 70's the government, under pressure from the unions, propped up the likes of British Leyland when we should have been looking to go more hi-tech which would've been sustainable. The quality of youngsters coming through now just isn't particularly good - exams have just been dumbed down (I recently re-took my professional qualification which I'm told is the equivalent of an 'A' level. I sat a 75 minute multiple choice exam which I completed in just 13 minutes and still passed!); and there are two many youngsters who just don't have basic skills.This has to change, but sadly it's hard for schools when they have to deal with the underclass whose parents do nothing for society but take. If immigrants are prepared to work for minimum wage why can't we?
National service? The British Armed Forces are one of the most respected on the Planet, they need decent people who are gonna give their all, not people who are press-ganged into it and aren't interested in being there.
Also, I don't think it should be down to The Forces to be responsable for the un-employed............
National service? The British Armed Forces are one of the most respected on the Planet, they need decent people who are gonna give their all, not people who are press-ganged into it and aren't interested in being there.
Also, I don't think it should be down to The Forces to be responsable for the un-employed............
Thats any job. Would you want an electrician/mechanic/joiner working for you who only got the job because they couldn't be bothered to do anything else? Through no skill of their own, they just couldn't be fussed to get a job doing something else.
Thats what the "make young people get an apprenticeship" lot are calling for.
All those who feel this is the answer to all our problems I ask of you this: when you were 16-24 did you want to be a labourer or did you want to be whatever you wanted to be?
You can't and SHOULD NOT force young people to do a job they don't want to do.
Support them in what they do want, and by all means have a go at the lazy sods who want others to pay their way, but don't expect us to be a generation of plumbers.
National service? The British Armed Forces are one of the most respected on the Planet, they need decent people who are gonna give their all, not people who are press-ganged into it and aren't interested in being there.
Also, I don't think it should be down to The Forces to be responsable for the un-employed............
Thats any job. Would you want an electrician/mechanic/joiner working for you who only got the job because they couldn't be bothered to do anything else? Through no skill of their own, they just couldn't be fussed to get a job doing something else.
Thats what the "make young people get an apprenticeship" lot are calling for.
All those who feel this is the answer to all our problems I ask of you this: when you were 16-24 did you want to be a labourer or did you want to be whatever you wanted to be?
You can't and SHOULD NOT force young people to do a job they don't want to do.
Support them in what they do want, and by all means have a go at the lazy sods who want others to pay their way, but don't expect us to be a generation of plumbers.
No, but they would have done 3-4 years in training. National service would/could only be 2-3 years max. People who don't enjoy being an electricain/mechanic/joiner tend to drop out after a short while, if you're making it law they'll have no choice and then you need to start banging people up for going AWOL etc..... Bad idea all round in my opinion
Got my induction for Sainsburys 6 week night temp on saturday.
19 years old, first time ive managed to get anything since I started looking when i left school at 16.
At least ive had/have college to occupy me up until the summer
Incidentally my mate who is 18 and not at college hasnt worked since he did a week in July, doing some basement fittings or something.
He has been looking non stop, fortunate enough to have finally been given 1 days work tomorrow, lifting , which he was over the moon about. Desperate times.
Going into college with no intention of going to uni was my worse mistake. Wish id got on the apprenticeship bandwagon.
Most places turn me away because of no past experience I reckon, because I can sell my self quite well when it comes to grades, CV etc.
last year cost me 800 quid to travel to college, same the year before, not good when i have no income.
I found work without the basic GCSE's this generation need more determination and interview training. Also McDonalds always seems to have jobs (as do other burger and fast food chains) Pizza hut delivery staff get up to £14 per hour near my home. Bars usually need staffing. So many options. Working the bins from 5am til midday can earn up to £25k a year.
If you are that determined there is work out there.
Do volunteer work as well, if it's near home/ accessible it looks great on a cv.
My advice would be to take any work you can get - A CV with work on it shows employers you are not work shy and will impress them more than a degree in fine arts.
Nothing at all wrong with being a plumber or electrician - any teenager should jump at the chance of learning a trade. I've got friends in both those trades and they earn good money, have nice houses and cars and can afford to bring up kids and go on holiday.
National service? The British Armed Forces are one of the most respected on the Planet, they need decent people who are gonna give their all, not people who are press-ganged into it and aren't interested in being there.
Also, I don't think it should be down to The Forces to be responsable for the un-employed............
Thats any job. Would you want an electrician/mechanic/joiner working for you who only got the job because they couldn't be bothered to do anything else? Through no skill of their own, they just couldn't be fussed to get a job doing something else.
Thats what the "make young people get an apprenticeship" lot are calling for.
All those who feel this is the answer to all our problems I ask of you this: when you were 16-24 did you want to be a labourer or did you want to be whatever you wanted to be?
You can't and SHOULD NOT force young people to do a job they don't want to do.
Support them in what they do want, and by all means have a go at the lazy sods who want others to pay their way, but don't expect us to be a generation of plumbers.
I know a 23 year old girl who is qualified but refused to look anywhere for work that resulted in much more than a short walk or bus journey. Refused to get a train to travel into town where jobs were more plentiful.
Instead she managed to get some local part time work, 3 days a week which was commission based, then quit cos signing on for no effort made more sense.
Whilst the figures no doubt includes hundreds of thousands who would do anything to get work, I'm sure there are plenty like the example above.
I think anyone who signs on should be used by the council and spend every day sweeping up leaves, emptying bins, cleaning graffiti, picking up litter, doing volunteer work at nurseries, schools, hospitals, drop in centres, etc.
All those who feel this is the answer to all our problems I ask of you this: when you were 16-24 did you want to be a labourer or did you want to be whatever you wanted to be?
You can't and SHOULD NOT force young people to do a job they don't want to do.
When I was 16+ I did whatever I could to put money in my pocket! bar work, site work, sparks mate, retail work, would've quite happily done labouring, great experience getting out on site, helps with a multitude of future careers in construction such as a trade, project management, quantity surveying, real estate, engineering etc etc
Cheers, only problem is I could potentially have 36 hour days now. 9 hour shift, 9 hours college, 9 hour shift, will have to cope though.
As for McDonalds, they do have jobs often, only thing is when you go to an interview you get stuck in a room with 12 other people going for the job and compete across the table with them to get it. Not exactly the most out-going so as soon as I saw what was going on I knew i wouldnt get it. Good looking blonde girl with a big mouth ended up getting it..
Comments
So by standing too much behind a plan that could have worked, they have deprived themselves of the option of moving to a plan B when it is clear that it now won't. The much berated Alistair Darling actually put growth at the forefront of everything he did and was achieving it. Europe will be blamed and it hasn't helped but if you have no jobs, those that have jobs fearing for their jobs- pay cuts, big inflation rises, 20% VAT - well its a no brainer that people are not going to spend so the economy is going to be flat. By having a policy that you can't escape from the risk of a double dip was always present - you have to play the hands you are dealt, not decide your actions before you see them.
We are not going to get a plan B with this Government though so we just have to hope some things go their way because they are not going to make it happen. Their policies will cut more jobs, not create them and those job cuts will create more job cuts - the economy has to going upwards to allow the speed of cuts they are making, the plane is stalling, but the pilot's hands are tied!
I know you can't paint every "youth" with the same brush, but I have done two rounds of interviews for Apprentices in the last couple of years. Good god! They don't stand a chance, 90% of those interviewed were hopeless. They may well have had the skills but they came across terribly and they were the ones who had passed the screening that went on before interviews. Perhaps more focused education would help the younger workless. Agree with comments from some of the others, not being so fussy would help as well.
Both of the apprentices we took on were released in less than 6 months as they simply could not adapt to an office environment.
These days i feel it's all a matter of personal pride. If you want a job then you will go and get it, Then try to better yourself and do the best you can for your family. If you don't want a job well just sign here please and live off the backs of the workers.
Sorry no time for parasites
I do have sympathy for this view but it's not quite that simple.
Yes we need to try and boost manufacturing, but we have to find the right things to make, since it was effectively the far east, and NOT Thatcher, that did for our manufacturing (IMO), and we still can't compete with them in low level manufacturing. In the 70's the government, under pressure from the unions, propped up the likes of British Leyland when we should have been looking to go more hi-tech which would've been sustainable. The quality of youngsters coming through now just isn't particularly good - exams have just been dumbed down (I recently re-took my professional qualification which I'm told is the equivalent of an 'A' level. I sat a 75 minute multiple choice exam which I completed in just 13 minutes and still passed!); and there are two many youngsters who just don't have basic skills.This has to change, but sadly it's hard for schools when they have to deal with the underclass whose parents do nothing for society but take. If immigrants are prepared to work for minimum wage why can't we?
National service? The British Armed Forces are one of the most respected on the Planet, they need decent people who are gonna give their all, not people who are press-ganged into it and aren't interested in being there.
Also, I don't think it should be down to The Forces to be responsable for the un-employed............
No, but they would have done 3-4 years in training. National service would/could only be 2-3 years max. People who don't enjoy being an electricain/mechanic/joiner tend to drop out after a short while, if you're making it law they'll have no choice and then you need to start banging people up for going AWOL etc..... Bad idea all round in my opinionIf you are that determined there is work out there.
Do volunteer work as well, if it's near home/ accessible it looks great on a cv.
Nothing at all wrong with being a plumber or electrician - any teenager should jump at the chance of learning a trade. I've got friends in both those trades and they earn good money, have nice houses and cars and can afford to bring up kids and go on holiday.
I know a 23 year old girl who is qualified but refused to look anywhere for work that resulted in much more than a short walk or bus journey. Refused to get a train to travel into town where jobs were more plentiful.
Instead she managed to get some local part time work, 3 days a week which was commission based, then quit cos signing on for no effort made more sense.
Whilst the figures no doubt includes hundreds of thousands who would do anything to get work, I'm sure there are plenty like the example above.
I think anyone who signs on should be used by the council and spend every day sweeping up leaves, emptying bins, cleaning graffiti, picking up litter, doing volunteer work at nurseries, schools, hospitals, drop in centres, etc.
Seems stupid paying people to do nothing.
Cheers, only problem is I could potentially have 36 hour days now. 9 hour shift, 9 hours college, 9 hour shift, will have to cope though.
As for McDonalds, they do have jobs often, only thing is when you go to an interview you get stuck in a room with 12 other people going for the job and compete across the table with them to get it. Not exactly the most out-going so as soon as I saw what was going on I knew i wouldnt get it. Good looking blonde girl with a big mouth ended up getting it..