Opinion from New York Times

[Stumuz2]

.., you obviously understand nothing if you think that the economic situation for a person struggling on benefits in 2021 has any correlation at all with a working person buying a house in the 1970s.....

So you agree with debt dynamics but now want to change the subject to benefits.
So let's talk benefits. Benefits take away human autonomy and dignity, They hollow out communities, they should be cancelled instantly and replaced with employment agencies, and further education facilities, after a 6 month period.

[Stumuz2]

Would you employ someone with drug/alcohol issues......., no...., and neither would most employers
So, if you don't want to give them subsistence benefits either, what do you suggest ??
But no doubt you'd complain bitterly if they burgled your house....

So i should pay people to stop them burgling my house? I need to pay taxes to give them drink/drugs via benefits? You need to get a grip on your morality.

[PS_RalphW]

Inflation is no use to anybody with fixed income and no mortgage. It discourages people from saving money and encourages people to spend, so more yet more money chases fewer resources, giving positive feedback to inflation. At a national level, inflation only works if your debts are in your own currency. Foreign debts become less affordable, not more.

[Mark]

So you agree with debt dynamics but now want to change the subject to benefits.
So let's talk benefits. Benefits take away human autonomy and dignity, They hollow out communities, they should be cancelled instantly and replaced with employment agencies, and further education facilities, after a 6 month period.

As you know, I agree with very little you say.
You started the discussion on benefits - no surprise that it's shone a light on your true nature.

YOU: The Gov' has withdrawn the £20 pandemic uplift, a temporary measure costing billions. On a moral level you cannot pay people to stay at home when the country has an acute labour shortage.
ME: Costs have gone up. Removing the uplift will seriously impact millions of people, increase the use of Food Banks, fuel poverty, homelessness etc.
YOU: Remove all benefits and let them suffer.

ME: They are mostly (not entirely) the 'unemployable', rather than the 'unemployed'
Would you employ someone with drug/alcohol issues......., no...., and neither would most employers
If you don't want to give them subsistence benefits, what do you suggest ??
YOU: Remove all benefits and let them suffer.

These people are at the bottom of the social spectrum, but they exist.
You think they should lose all benefits instantly (which will inevitably mean that they also lose their accommodation)
They will then have virtually no chance of getting a job, as you need a contact address as a bare minimum.
The only outcome of your idea would be massively increased levels of homelessness, with all the associated social ills.

It's you that needs the morality check, mine are fine....xxx

[clv101]

A myopic, agenda riddled, puff piece, from a pointless Guardian journalist, sorry, click baiter, trying to up his profile

I didn't share it because I agreed with it, I shared it because it's what's being written about us in other countries.

Elsewhere I wrote in response to this:

The fuel shortages are being overblown. There's no lack of fuel in the UK, there was a very small number (just a few) sites that ran dry after delayed deliveries due to driver shortages - the vast majority of drivers, tankers and the vast majority of sites where operating fine.

THEN the media did some prime time reporting from the dry sites, oops.

THEN government ministers went on TV and radio telling everyone not to panic, major oops.

Mass panic buying ensues over the weekend, leaving MANY sites dry by Monday morning. The situation is greatly improved now (because most people have full tanks now!).

Whilst the objective impacts are still fairly limited, the impact on confidence is signifcant:
Business confidence in UK economy 'falls off a cliff' to lockdown levels in face of rising costs
https://news.sky.com/story/business-con ... s-12423160

[PS_RalphW]

Considering that fuel is the lifeblood of industrial economies, we have a painfully thin margin of stocks. Just in time delivery to service stations every few days, and on any given day, motorists keep their tank less than half full on average. As we have just demonstrated (yet again), it only takes a little local shortage (and a little media attention) to trigger people to top up, immediately demonstrating that the slack in the system is less than half a tankful per driver. About 5 gallons.

[Stumuz2]

Inflation is no use to anybody with fixed income and no mortgage. It discourages people from saving money and encourages people to spend, so more yet more money chases fewer resources, giving positive feedback to inflation. At a national level, inflation only works if your debts are in your own currency. Foreign debts become less affordable, not more.

You are in a minority Ralph, most people are not in that position. Most people and countries are awash with debt, inflation is good for people/countries with debt.

[Stumuz2]

I didn't share it because I agreed with it, I shared it because it's what's being written about us in other countries.

He writes for the Guardian, so I assume he’s British?

[Stumuz2]

As you know, I agree with very little you say.
YOU:
ME:

You always do this Mark! You are having conversations in your head again.

Engage with the points and don't make things up.

[clv101]

I didn't share it because I agreed with it, I shared it because it's what's being written about us in other countries.

He writes for the Guardian, so I assume he’s British?

No idea, point is it was in the NYT!

[Mark]

You always do this Mark! You are having conversations in your head again.
Engage with the points and don't make things up.

Nothing made up - it's all there in black & white - everyone can read it
Don't like the mirror being held up, do you ?

[Catweazle]

people will adapt quite quickly. No one wants to hear their future is cancelled, they will make an alternative future instead, and think it was their idea all along.

That's a recurring Tory theme - that people can have an alternative future if they simply make the effort. True for some, no doubt, not for all.

[Stumuz2]

Nothing made up - it's all there in black & white - everyone can read it
Don't like the mirror being held up, do you ?

Go back and read the imaginary conversation you had. That conversation never happened. Except in your head.
YOU: Made it up.

[Stumuz2]

people will adapt quite quickly. No one wants to hear their future is cancelled, they will make an alternative future instead, and think it was their idea all along.

That's a recurring Tory theme - that people can have an alternative future if they simply make the effort. True for some, no doubt, not for all.

That's not the point I was making, the point was making is when things go wrong, people adapt quickly.

Take the banking crises, in 2008 the banks were bankrupt. TPTB quickly changed the rules of the game to make sure cash carried on being available from the ATM's.

Covid came and draconian powers that we thought would never be accepted, were accepted, Change happened quickly.

When we hurtle down the resource depletion slope, benefits will be a thing of the past. People will change. Quickly.

[Catweazle]

When we hurtle down the resource depletion slope, benefits will be a thing of the past. People will change. Quickly.

I won't argue with that. People will change or die. Some will die.