Political Ramblings

[thaiturkey]

Has it occured to you that much of the UK's wealth has left? especially after WWll and guess where it came to? ... The Beattles knew where to go.

I believe that the WWI and WWII loans have been repaid. Another remarkable achievement for the UK!

When I was a kid in the early '50's, the UK still had food rationing and we regarded our country as poor compared with the US. It's all very different now. The recession has hit the UK as hard as anywhere else but the vast majority of people have more material comforts than we did as baby boomer kids.

 

[chickened]

I believe that the WWI and WWII loans have been repaid. Another remarkable achievement for the UK!

When I was a kid in the early '50's, the UK still had food rationing and we regarded our country as poor compared with the US. It's all very different now. The recession has hit the UK as hard as anywhere else but the vast majority of people have more material comforts than we did as baby boomer kids.

I think you missed my point. The loans were repaid with interest but people like the promoters of the Beatles left the UK for wealth as the system that was put in place made it difficult for individual wealth and I beleive the tax rate would have been more also but would have to see what the comparison was in 1962 or 1963. I know other individuals left for the same reasons. Of course McCartney came back later on. I think the 3rd wealthiest guy in the world is from Mexico.

They may have a good healthcare system I have hear good and bad about it but I do question the price paid monetarily and in opportunities regarding pursuits of ones own desires. It seems the wealthy are being treated like smokers these days.

 

[hemet dennis]

I think you missed my point. The loans were repaid with interest but people like the promoters of the Beatles left the UK for wealth as the system that was put in place made it difficult for individual wealth and I beleive the tax rate would have been more also but would have to see what the comparison was in 1962 or 1963. I know other individuals left for the same reasons. Of course McCartney came back later on. I think the 3rd wealthiest guy in the world is from Mexico.

They may have a good healthcare system I have hear good and bad about it but I do question the price paid monetarily and in opportunities regarding pursuits of ones own desires. It seems the wealthy are being treated like smokers these days.

'64 '65 and '68 were years they skipped payments on the loans.

 

[thaiturkey]

I think you missed my point. The loans were repaid with interest but people like the promoters of the Beatles left the UK for wealth as the system that was put in place made it difficult for individual wealth and I beleive the tax rate would have been more also but would have to see what the comparison was in 1962 or 1963. I know other individuals left for the same reasons. Of course McCartney came back later on. I think the 3rd wealthiest guy in the world is from Mexico.

They may have a good healthcare system I have hear good and bad about it but I do question the price paid monetarily and in opportunities regarding pursuits of ones own desires. It seems the wealthy are being treated like smokers these days.

I think you will find that the top rate of tax is now lower than it was then. I assume, in any case, that you refer to income tax. The State social programmes are not paid for from that tax revenue.

The NHS isn't perfect. How could it be? Private health care isn't prefect either. However, I've seen the NHS develop from its foundation throughout my lifetime in the UK and we wouldn't be without it. I had private health care from time to time, paid for as part of employers' key staff programmes. All you got extra was a nicely appointed private room but the same treatment and the same consultants. It just isn't worth the cost from your own pocket for most individuals.

You can 'pursue your own desires' if you want to pay for private treatment or, as many do, run a private pension scheme in addition to the State scheme. In fact, if your private scheme is acceptable, you can opt out of the State pension scheme.

I don't understand your comment about wealthy people and smokers. If you mean that wealthy people are heavily taxed, then the only truth in that is their higher earnings are taxed at a higher rate. There's nothing unusual about that. Most wealthy people, especially the self-employed, are able to exploit loopholes in the system just as the wealthy in the US do. In the early '60's, the top rate of tax was high and the likes of rock performers hadn't yet learned how to work the tax system in their favour. I think that wealthy people who pay little or no tax are as common in the UK as in the US.

McCartney, Harrison and Starr live (lived in the case of Harrison) in the UK even though they may have other homes abroad. Lennon may have returned if he hadn't been bumped off!

 

[chickened]

I assume that the UK used economic prosperity to pay back the loans. I am not sure how they pay for healthcare but it would make sense to prosper your way out of debt rather than what we are wanting to do and that is to borrow our way out.

 

[thaiturkey]

I assume that the UK used economic prosperity to pay back the loans. I am not sure how they pay for healthcare but it would make sense to prosper your way out of debt rather than what we are wanting to do and that is to borrow our way out.

Social programmes, including healthcare, are funded from a separate tax that's based on income and paid by both the individual and his or her employer.

Governments have borrowed themselves into debt and, because of the recession, can't fund those debts. Their usual action seems to be to suck up to the banks that caused most of the problem and punish the voters.

 

[hemet dennis]

I assume that the UK used economic prosperity to pay back the loans. I am not sure how they pay for healthcare but it would make sense to prosper your way out of debt rather than what we are wanting to do and that is to borrow our way out.

Just think if we payed off our $16 trillion in debt then we'd be broke.

 

[chickened]

Social programmes, including healthcare, are funded from a separate tax that's based on income and paid by both the individual and his or her employer.

Governments have borrowed themselves into debt and, because of the recession, can't fund those debts. Their usual action seems to be to suck up to the banks that caused most of the problem and punish the voters.

 

[chickened]

Just think if we payed off our $16 trillion in debt then we'd be broke.

If this was the 50's we would and actually did pay our debt (WWll).

 

[newfoundland]

Yesterday the Chancellor made his autumn budget statement. He promised us we were in for another five years of austerity. He said that during the next three years all forms of social security/ unemployment benefit and tax credits would only rise by 1%, per year, regardless of the rate of inflation. Public sector pay has only risen by 2-3% for years now. All this would be ok if electricity prices weren't rising by 12% and food and fuel prices weren't also rising rapidly. The good news? More money for healthcare and education and more money to fund road/transport networks. Economies are so interdependent, not much point in manufacturing more products if there is no one to sell them too.