Trade w europe may be currently shrinking (eu 'crisis'), but how much negotiation lever do you have as UK vs Europe (one single market/consumer!?) That is what Daniel Hannan does not highlight, the leverage of size to access, in negotiations with other countries. [...] 'trade negotiations are so long because they are so tough' [...] what will the UK have to give up, to gain access to foreign markets for their measly 20% of the whole economy (production, ie also house building, not just export/manufacturing)!? (2015, 80% of UK GDP growth consisted of consumption). Competing with much more competitive industry now! ( ie Cars. Ford's new plant in Mexico/Latin America ...) [...] "You can not exit and keep the benefits while you were in!" //&! >> What kind of trade deal could we get if we left the EU? - youtu.be/Pj9nPncM61M &! youtu.be/r8MiUI2eN6c

bbc.in/1p9priV

[TORIES CRISIS: bedroom tax, JSA sanctions killing people, Food Banks, redefining child poverty and fuel poverty, Independent Living Fund closed, Housing Crisis, tax cut defeat in Lords, mental health, NHS strikes, Hinkley Point C, energy prices, London Airport expansion/3rd runway, ESA cut, PIP cut and resignation of IDS, Brexit splitting the Party, shit world economy, can't touch triple-lock pensions, Academy plans, Panama Papers (British Territory: Bahamas, Cayman & Co).] Now - Tories are victims to their own policy of underinvestment since 2010 of a future-proof economy "long-term predictability" [BREXIT & austerity not predictable]. Energy prices too high, not competitive. Manufacturing never recovered. Monetary policy has run its course (sedative + Chinas credit bubble). policy folly now wholly exposed! AND now they tinker with the idea of picking winners! LOL! nationalising or part-nationalising through guarantees or subsidies on energy price. & youtu.be/QJw24Z-cEoQ

"The European Union has the capacity to absorb a large flow of migrants, one million per year in terms of inflow net of outflow," he said.
"This is exactly what we had between 2000 and 2010 and this was working in the sense that unemployment was being reduced.
"The problem is - with the austerity policies and with the recession - now we are in a situation where it's very difficult in particular with southern Europe, with the terrible economic situation that we have created there in particular." [...] The population of the EU has only risen by 0.2% a year since 1995, he argues, compared to 1.2% for the world's population over the same period.
According to Eurostat, the official statistical arm of the European Commission, a total of 3.4 million people came to the EU during 2013. Some 2.8 million left, leaving a net immigration figure of around 600,000. [S]low growth [...] exacerbated not just by a lack of immigration but also by austerity policies aimed at reducing public expenditure. [EU in recession 2011 forward]

describes the rapidly growing field of sustainability science, which combines a variety of disciplines in both the hard and social sciences to find paths towards a sustainable future. //&! Book Pursuing Sustainability: A Guide to the Science and Practice – (2016) by Pamela Matson, William C. Clark, Krister Andersson. //&! http://www.hks.harvard.edu/news-events/publications/insight/international/william-clark &! https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=LkLCmQwAAAAJ&hl=en &! http://earthsky.org/human-world/william-c-clark-defines-sustainable-development &! Jeffrey Sachs - Global Cooperation and Sustainable Development - youtu.be/cRWtRh3yLI0 &! "Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet." - youtu.be/n3kzzVP2c7w &! Jeffrey Sachs: "The Price of Civilization" - youtu.be/_G6SYmQ0swg - profoundly underestimated globalization's long-term effects: jobs, incomes, poverty, and the environment.

// higher in-work poverty

youtu.be/e2XyYgkYNFE - Resignation stuck a knife into George Osborne. // working age on the bottom of the pile bore the burden of austerity. [...] weakness of labour party could mean Conservative will be in power for a long time. [...] this is big shot of Tory-out vs Tory-in. They wanted Osborne to fail. // tax credits, Google Tax Deal, ESA, PIP/DLA, .... //&! Iain Duncan Smith First interview since his shock resignation - youtu.be/hr5-WbzevyM &! youtu.be/ntKf3HtVNxs - lower gov income (income tax receipts and corp tax) pushed things ahead. No 10 ran DWP ... // Marr Show papers: IDS's resignation and budget shambles (20 Mar 16) - youtu.be/ZkNOxXZW9Kw //&! Budget 2016: Evan Davis grills Sajid Javid on the numbers - BBC Newsnight - youtu.be/L0TBTbfNgCw //&! Iain Duncan Smith Resignation Nothing To Do With EU - youtu.be/MJr2WmVtV1c &! youtu.be/_nAHvGZYkfY &! youtu.be/kvmOPZ0wP3o &! youtu.be/Hu_pnQBITPI

Disability benefits: they are forecast to increase by £2bn over the next five years. Could do something there. Sickness benefits: they are predicted to rise by about £1bn. Might be able to save some of that. But what's this? It's rising by £15bn over the coming five years. That's the one. Off our Martian goes to see the chancellor. "What are pensions?" she asks. That is the problem the government is struggling with. Its political refusal to touch pensions, or pensioner benefits, has in a stroke protected the single biggest cost in the welfare budget. And the cost that is rising the most. [ AND ADD INTO THE SAME BUCKET THE NHS and PUBLIC HEALTH BUDGET! ] Welcome to your new job, Stephen Crabb.

David Cameron has been forced to concede that a £4.4bn black hole created by the U-turn over disability benefits will not be filled by further cuts to welfare as he fought to shore up his credibility following the shock resignation of Iain Duncan Smith. The spending climbdown was announced on Monday by Stephen Crabb, the new work and pensions secretary, an hour after Cameron addressed the political crisis engulfing the Conservative party by offering his support to George Osborne and praise for the work of Duncan Smith. [...] but the Treasury clarified the remarks by stressing that there were no plans to fill the £4.4bn gap caused by dropping PIP reforms with further cuts in welfare spending. &! bbc.in/1S10VIg

[ we are all in this together ] [IDS PIP cuts] 'not defensible' alongside the tax breaks for the wealthy in this week's Budget. [...] He branded slash in benefits for the disabled as being 'indefensible.' IDS hit out at Osborne for lack of awareness and for letting the welfare system be 'salami-sliced' [...] 'I am unable to watch passively whilst certain policies are enacted in order to meet the fiscal self-imposed restraints that I believe are more and more perceived as distinctly political rather than in the national economic interest,' he wrote. The former Tory leader and standard-bearer for the Eurosceptic Right of the party admitted he wanted to cut benefits enjoyed by wealthy pensioners, but these plans were blocked by the Chancellor and the Prime Minister. [...] Mr Duncan Smith believed the Chancellor was too sly and devious in the way he went about balancing the nation’s books. [ Osborne wanted also to increase VAT Solar Panels ]

These alternatives to the troubled planned nuclear plant will be faster to build and cheaper for energy consumers, say experts

[ strike price guarantee over current energy price and fine if it is closed before 2060 ] Public left with huge liability for a government closure of power plant before 2060 under UK’s agreement with EDF

[ sounds great as headline, but economically and historically bullshit ] The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said that Mr Osborne's pledge to run a budget surplus "in normal times" from 2019-20 was simple but would require a "precarious balancing act".
The result could be "big tax rises or spending cuts with very little notice", the IFS concluded. [...] "The rule has the merit of simplicity and transparency but is very inflexible and this could come at a cost," the IFS said. [...] "How he responds to any further unpleasant fiscal surprises may, more than anything we have seen so far, come to define his period as chancellor," said Paul Johnson, director of the IFS.

[2015] 80% OF ECONOMY CONSUMER SPENDING! - The economy has enjoyed what Andrew Goodwin of Oxford Economics describes as a "sugar rush" -the equivalent of a big tax cut - or 'fiscal stimulus' - through lower petrol prices. The economy grew by 2.2% last year; 80% of that growth was down to consumer spending. "That [growth] strikes us as some distance below par given the tailwinds we have had," Mr Goodwin says. And after the sugar rush comes the sugar crash: growth is likely to be revised down in the years to come because of global economic weakness.

Under current law, emissions must be cut by 80% by 2050 - but ministers have said this does not go far enough. Following the climate deal in Paris, it is clear the UK must not increase CO2 at all because the warming threat is so severe, they added. No details of the law change have been given - and critics said the UK was failing to meet even current targets. [...] However, many in the energy sector will be baffled by what they see as a schizophrenic attitude to climate change from the government. While pledging their allegiance to very demanding CO2 cuts, ministers have made a slew of policy changes that are predicted to increase emissions. [...] government has failed to secure any new nuclear stations, scrapped a competition for carbon capture and threatened cuts in the offshore wind budget unless costs radically fall. [& turned back on] onshore wind and large scale solar energy

There are not enough doctors to run a seven-day NHS in England, according to a leading doctor.
In a speech on Tuesday, Royal College of Physicians president Prof Jane Dacre will warn ministers the issue must be addressed if their policy is to work.
She will highlight research that shows vacant posts are not being filled and gaps in rotas are being seen.
It comes as ministers are locked in a dispute with junior doctors over their plans for improving weekend care.

[ cut public health budget (prevention & intervention) by +200m ] Slicing money out of local prevention services is ‘economically nonsensical’, completely undermining the pledge to pump billions into the NHS [...] 77% [of councils] said they expected obesity interventions to be cut [...] total spend on STIs by 2020 could top £6bn. [...] Every £1 spent on contraception saves £11 in healthcare costs. Cuts to sexual health sector are economically nonsensical [ TORIES SET NHS UP TO FAIL! Simon Stevens is being ser-up to fail! ] //&! King's Fund analysis - bit.ly/1DsQcFS //&! bit.ly/1TTUVFP - short-termism. with cuts to prevention, and no new prevention initiatives ie sugar tax and processed food tax and meat tax (burger king and co), health coaches at gp surgeries ... 5 year nhs budget targets will be overrun massively by 2020. Simon Stevens is asked to resign before 2020 election.

[ don't make a ruckus, sail through the election easier, thus not announce even a reform for next parliament ... ] Councils complain they are wrestling with £350m in cuts and laying off up to 15,000 staff after their overall budgets were cut by 3.5% last month. Investigations by the Guardian have established that councils have amassed record levels of debt and extra liabilities, with borrowing equal to £6,200 for each household – twice the level held by English councils. Debt and private finance liabilities cost councils £1.5bn a year. [...] [ not reforming a 25 year old system, based in prices from 1991! ]

Growth is tepid, productivity is poor, and inflation is too low: all is not going according to policymakers’ masterplans [...] As far as the OECD is concerned, monetary policy is being forced to take too much of the strain. Its chief economist Catherine Mann made the point that lasting recovery required three things: stimulative monetary policy; activist fiscal policy; and structural reform. The OECD wants the second of these ingredients to be added to the recipe in the form of increased spending on public infrastructure, something it says would more than pay for itself at a time when governments can borrow so cheaply.

bit.ly/1TOwjhT &! A group representing 60 local authorities has warned that recent closures of large power stations have left Britain heading for power cuts next winter, despite assurances to the contrary from the government. [...] National Grid needed to act immediately to fill the supply gap by sending out new contracts for at least 2,500 megawatts (MW) of additional generating capacity – enough to power 2.5m homes. The alliance wants ministers to reconsider the level of carbon taxes, saying this is one of the key reasons why so many coal-fired power stations are being shut down early. [...] In recent years, coal, nuclear and gas-fired plants have been shut because of low prices, high operating costs or old age. Windfarms have been erected and new nuclear facilities promised but energy companies say gas plants cannot be built without higher subsidies. //&! bit.ly/1MpvhlE - UK doesn not meet 15% of EU renewables target, but cuts subsidies for renewables, duh! &! bit.ly/1sL8Kty

In April, new immigration laws will see tens of thousands of skilled workers deported from the UK [...] The Government has responded to a petition urging it to scrap a new £35,000 pay threshold on non-EU workers, calling it a “modest” contribution to cut net migration to Britain. Yet the Government’s own analysis estimates the measure will cost up to £575 million to the taxpayer in the first year alone, and it has sparked a public outcry from the tens of thousands of people set to be affected. [...] employers have had since April 2011 to prepare. //&! From stop35k.org/#!blank/c1enr - "Tier 2 General Skilled Workers who do not make £35,000 salary or who have been in the UK for 6 years, will need to leave or be deported. The Home Office estimates this will cost taxpayers between £181million and £575million" [...] Other proposed legislation is to prevent people from EEA to work here if they do not earn 30k/y or more.

New Vehicle Excise Duty regime includes an element of 'luxury tax' on cars costing over £40,000

Weltwirtschaft: Ökonomen halten Ende des Wachstums für unvermeidlich [...] Ein Beispiel: Wenn das Bruttosozialprodukt eines Landes 10 Milliarden Euro beträgt und um eine Milliarde Euro wächst, dann entspricht das einer Steigerung von zehn Prozent. Wenn das BIP aber 1000 Milliarden Euro beträgt, dann müsste die Wirtschaft schon um 100 Milliarden Euro wachsen, um ein Wachstum von zehn Prozent zu schaffen. Wächst das BIP wie vorher um eine Milliarde Euro, entspricht das nur noch einer Steigerung von 0,1 Prozent. Die Wirtschaft wäre dann sozusagen ausgewachsen. Die alten Zeiten kehren nicht mehr zurück [...] Sollten die Ökonomen recht haben, hätte das für Staat und Sozialsysteme einschneidende Folgen: Die Planung von Bundeshaushalt oder Rentenkasse geht von einem Wachstum irgendwo zwischen ein und zwei Prozent pro Jahr aus. [...] Die Wirtschaft "unabhängiger vom Wachstum gestalten"

[ fees ] It follows fears that dozens of companies providing auto enrolment pensions are too small to survive. The BBC has also uncovered evidence that employers and workers are being deliberately misled by some providers. The government said it was aware of the issue, and was planning to take action. Independent experts claim the problem could affect up to a quarter of a million people a year who are putting their savings into so-called master trust pensions. Such schemes are popular with the 1.8 million small employers with fewer than 30 staff who are currently signing up under the auto enrolment programme. "There is a risk of these schemes falling over; there is a risk that members might lose their money," said Andrew Warwick Thompson, executive director for regulatory policy at the Pensions Regulator. However, he said scheme assets invested through asset managers regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) would be safe. This will be "the vast majority of cases", he said.

2.3m in Britain and 2m in EEA. //&! bit.ly/1RXTc2f - 'I don't want to be in no man's land': the 'Brexit Brits' seeking second passports. Across Europe British expats fear that if the UK leaves the European Union the lives they have built up abroad could be destroyed

UK citizens are being forced into exile by the Home Office’s “irrational and absurd” minimum-income visa requirements, with some couples having no hope of ever being able to live together in Britain, the supreme court has heard. UK nationals must earn more than £18,600 to bring over a non-EU spouse, rising to £22,400 if they have a child who does not have British citizenship, and by an additional £2,400 for each subsequent child. Seven supreme court justices including the court’s deputy president, Lady Hale, will decide after a three-day hearing whether the rules contravene article 8 of the European convention on human rights, covering respect for private and family life. [...] the law barred up to 47% of the working British population from living with a non-EU spouse in their home country. [ if you are working poor, you do not add to white society! ] ... for families to be self-sufficient,

[ Lord Adair Turner book & Richard Koo; banks tend 2 lend 2 property & land rather than productivity/businesses. risk averse, if the family cant pay the mortgage any more, than at least u have not lost all the money! less risky! Its also partly rentier behaviour of banks. // also BOE has to be concerned about future disposable income; rent & utilities eating up 50%-75% of income thus less for consumption! ] “Landlords’ balance sheets are looking healthier than at any point since 2014, and property investors are looking at an excellent rate of return from their portfolios.” Gill warned that changes to stamp duty announced in chancellor George Osborne’s Autumn Statement and due to take effect on 1 April – people selling buy-to-let investments will pay an extra 3% – were bad news for landlords. But overall, the “consistent and developing lack of housing for across all tenures, for a spiralling population” meant the level of demand for rental properties would not reduce, he said.

living wage starts from 21? 25? // retail big! high street big! - service sector. no manufacturing ... // IT IS CORPORATE SUBSIDY - PROGRAM FOR LOW PAY! // very far from Germay model! // tax payer pays for people in high street! // Ofsted found inadequate conditions! AND SMALL MINORITY GET ACTUALLY A FULL-TIME JOB! LOL LOL LOL! // Social Market Foundation (research) found lvl2 apprenticeship adds nothing to purse over a lifetime. // its DWP policy to get young people off the paper onto other paper largely, still funded, by the gov - still adding to budget deficit. // Ofsted concerned over apprenticeships "wasting public funds" // WHAT A TORY SPIN! // retail places have shot up, and construction plummeted! the latter is harder or put through training providers ( private companies, PRIVATISATION! ). employers are not in charge. to quote one employee of a training provider "meet targets, get money in" its about the # of apprenticeships, not the quality or economic need/industry. //

Human error by a train controller was to blame for a crash in Bavaria, Germany, last week that killed 11 people, prosecutors said. Dozens more were injured after two commuter trains collided on a single-track stretch of railway. An area controller opened the track to the two trains and tried to warn the drivers, according to the prosecutors. The man, a 39-year-old, is likely to be charged with involuntary manslaughter and could face five years in jail. "If he had complied with the rules... there would have been no collision," said Chief Prosecutor Wolfgang Giese.

[ single parents ... // privatisation works only if you have people that have to money to spend on private child care, duh! ] The number of childminders in England has plummeted by 10,000 in the past five years, putting pressure on childcare places and raising costs for working parents, according to figures obtained by Labour. As a result of the drop in numbers, Labour says, there are now 23,000 fewer childcare places provided by childminders in England, and costs for places have risen by 27% since 2010. In a further blow, the Tories’ flagship childminder agencies scheme, intended to be a “one-stop shop” aimed at simplifying childcare for parents and getting more childminders into the profession, has failed to get off the ground. Figures in Ofsted’s annual report show that just five agencies are registered with Ofsted, and to date none have childminders signed up with them. [...] [ potential childminders have to self-fund education ]

[ gov is not co-owner of private property! Make away with Nurse Bursaries and other gov support for education. But support the property price! by keeping supply always lower than demand. and use policy to increase demand w subsidies! where to put their savings! & subsidy for builders ] Rising house prices across much of England mean a government scheme to help buyers of newbuild property may have made more than £200m for the Treasury in its first two-and-a-half years. The help-to-buy equity loan scheme gives buyers an interest-free loan for five years in return for a percentage stake in their property. When the home is sold, the buyer returns the same percentage of the sale price, meaning that any fall or rise in house prices affects the return. Analysis by property firm Hometrack and shared with the Guardian suggests that a surge in house prices in some areas means the total value of homes bought through the scheme since its launch in April 2013 has increased by more than £1bn.

Jeremy Hunt claims the new terms are necessary if the government is to deliver its ambition of a 7-day NHS. But there is a deeper issue of why Mr Hunt is pressing ahead with these reforms when there is a the far bigger crisis facing the health service - the dire state of social care. To put it another way: why is the Health Secretary trying to build an extension when the main house is in danger of collapsing? In the last parliament the Coalition government cut social care by more than £3billion despite warnings it would put unsustainable pressure on the NHS as elderly patients require treatment which could have been prevented if they had been cared for at home. The NHS is now suffering from the consequences of those cuts.

[ continued financialisation of economy / faustian pact ] QE and low interest rates have disproportionately created wealth in the financial sector and inflated asset bubbles. It has done little for the real economy. The rules of the market need to be rewritten [...] dominant policies during the post-crisis period – fiscal retrenchment and quantitative easing (QE) by major central banks – have offered little support to stimulate household consumption, investment, and growth. On the contrary, they have tended to make matters worse. In the US, quantitative easing did not boost consumption and investment partly because most of the additional liquidity returned to central banks’ coffers in the form of excess reserves. [...] private investment did not grow [...] [ QE supported only financial sector and zombie banks and corporations, little to nothing went into the real economy for investment in western world ] [ which leads us to say we are still in a banking crisis per se ]

[ prices have to stay afloat by any means, or conservatives are out for the next decade or two as they have done nothing to balance two sides. they continued to inflate the bubble further. proclaiming uk as home owning nation. ] If you then dramatically slash the supply of social housing, through right-to-buy and reduced council building, you create a permanent imbalance that turns home ownership into a form of asset investment. What you get then is boom and bust. And the only way to cure the bust is for the government to greet every collapse in market prices with effective state subsidies for home ownership. This, in turn, induces a speculative frenzy of one way bets – on development, on buy to let, on off-plan investment buying from abroad.

// most times conviction is lacking, trapped in the bubble, no non-conformity, too much of a comfortable life. // 28:30! Confidence Fairy >> austerity from 2010! vested interest plays big role! Policy Makers are on the side of credit, on bond holders. bond holders don't like inflationary period! ... Hyperinflation will come any day! // 31:00 econ needs to be reformulated in class rooms to be much broader subject! << see robert shiller interview! ie behaviour, sociology and psychology, irrational behaviour // 44:15 on keynes! was no left wing socialist, he tried to save capitalism! he had world changing analysis! sometimes there can not be enough demand, same with sometimes it is good to have waste vs nothing, pointless ways to spend money can have a positive effect. ie infrastructure investment - repaving roads = less private repair bills! public transportation = less drunk driving accidents. history shows fiscal stimulus gets always too early withdrawn from deficit hawks!

Back in December, when most people were focussed on Christmas and not renewable subsidies, the government quietly published their decision to cut Feed-in Tariffs for industries such as solar, wind and hydropower by a staggering 65 per cent. Included in the small print was analysis which showed a possible 19,000 job losses, mostly in solar, which would see that industry shrink to under half its size. [...] Instead the government is thinking short-term, and our economy will suffer. For a party that wants people to think of it as economically competent, this is an incredibly bad move.

scottish labour doesn't get it. proposing 1% income tax increase on all earners. which is not progressive.

The housing crisis they inherited has worsened as rents rise, but David Cameron and George Osborne’s cuts to social housing are a bizarre response: the housing and planning bill going through parliament marks the end of the social housing era. Not by accident but by deliberate policy, 88,000 council homes to rent will be lost, says the Conservative-controlled Local Government Association. Labour says the total will be 180,000 by 2020. Money is sucked out of social housing into the Treasury, as the 1% rent cut saves on the housing benefit bill by stealing funds due to pay for new social homes. Half of all renters get some housing benefit, with the continuous rise in rents. Cutting that support simply propels more into homelessness.

British schools are reporting a classroom crisis, with thousands of disaffected teachers leaving the profession, and new graduates discouraged from training because of the daily stress and grind. And with the number of state school pupils set to rise by a million by 2022, the problem is only getting worse [...] If somebody had said, ‘You can have 60 grand a year to stay,’ I would still have said no // Education secretary Nicky Morgan. // [...] Some of the factors behind stories like these are traceable to the New Labour years, but many are rooted in Michael Gove’s hyperactive four-year reign as education secretary. They go from never-ending paperwork, to a constantly changing regime of exams and assessments. Meanwhile, the prospect of a visit from Ofsted and the possibility of a bad inspection are a constant source of stress – not least because a “requires improvement” or the dread “inadequate” rating will mean even more upheaval. [ top down non-professional insight/exp burokratie ]

Confidence Fairy - Paul Krugman. (sov debt crisis) only applicable if you don't have a central bank. like Greece. that can do QE as much as you need to stabilise monetary system. ie stop deleveraging, only serving debt. meaning deflation. // different QE, diversity. shift risk appetite to more riskier debt. ... // fiscal activism can't overcome austerity ... // UK has it work because it doesn't have the manufacturing base. but its population is growing, not shrinking. but job creation - multiplier to economy is 1 or lower because of mostly service sector job creation which lot need to access welfare state through tax credits. // min 11. Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling did lots right! GPB depreciation. budget deficit growth. But imports stayed high!!! current account deficit and trade deficit. Austerity undermines growth and BOE policy! cut you future and investment (4-1 ration). UK got no credibility bonus from bond vigilantes, no FDI inflows.

economic history - "state spending inherently unproductive." // borrowing is deferred taxation - David Richardo - Rational expectations. Market economy always tended full employment. // Theory and Facts did not align. Keynes realised it post-war. Private investment is inherently volatile, ie slump conditions. state to offset underinvestment of private sector and match their retreat. getting rid of abnormal unemployment. done through monetary expansion (QE) and put onto state balance sheet available to spend. // Where 2009 forward QE got to banks ... // Paul Krugman - Confidence Fairy. // "Look after employment, and the budget will look after itself." but today it's the bond holders confidence who shapes budgets. // Keynes 'it is the long-term confidence of businesses that shape investment, confidence in state to no let a slump happen again.' but austerity, out of ammo talk, political-, social environment/sentiment & Osborne's '2016 will be tough year' speech were counter-productive.

home ownership is the only wealth item in privates balance sheet. but as we know from history, dont base ur wealth on one asset. particular houses. houses/flats are there to be lived in. & maybe move out & into a new one, moving city for new or better job. property should not be prioritised as singular wealth storage // USA promoted home ownership // Tories policy is helping people save, and buy, keeping the house prices going up an up and up. // &! Complete Privatisation of housing market; Ministers want to get rid of social housing, former civil service chief to say. Lord Kerslake to say housing bill will force councils to sell off more than 100,000 homes to subsidise right-to-buy discounts - bit.ly/1Qr1FKr - The former head of the civil service will accuse government ministers this week of trying to phase out social housing altogether in favour of a new generation of “starter” homes that will be unaffordable for people on low incomes. //&! bit.ly/20lvGOp Privatisation a disaster

sprinkling doubt into public's mind.

ground work yes, but not picking industries nor companies! may make sense for career politicians term time. but not long-term. never paid. never paid to pick companies - vs - laying the fundamentals for industries to grow. ie infrastructure, training, competitiveness (ie energy price), but no competition on corporate tax rate ... // UK relied on the City, banking - New Labour was financed by corporate tax rate coming from the city during the heydays. // gov can not play invisible hand. it's called invisible hand for a reason.

Crash Gordon ( The Financial Crisis) - youtu.be/NL8A2fi3ols - the city generated 1/4 of all corporation tax income at its height! the city as a cash cow, that money was being redistributed into public & social services during the heyday. public spending increased from 40% of GDP to 48 (supported by the city cash cow). & the illusion 2 have a grip on boom & bust. convinced by 10 years of non-inflationary growth of the economy (thinking that labour made it). // BOE gov king was more concerned with the moral hazard of bailing out bad players (northern rock at this time) than with financial stability. northern rock was taken into public ownership under gordon brown. // 3 of the 5 largest banks in the world are British banks & each of them has a balance sheet larger than the uk economy. we are talking 5 times the British economy being the responsibility of the British tax payer. // & leading up to that infamous G20 meeting mervynking said there is no fiscal space 4 expansion

[ the budget a excel spreadsheet in No 10, with grades @ the end what upsets donors & what upsets the minimum of potential voters - is Career Politicans calculated approach. & shifting a public item off the balance sheet onto the private balance sheet! again! the debt is still there! & what does Tory gov support? Home Buyers! ] Civil justice is unaffordable for most people, more people are being forced to represent themselves, and judges – whose pensions have been cut – feel under-appreciated, according to the lord chief justice. [...] “Our system of justice has become unaffordable to most,” Thomas said in the introduction to his report. “In consequence there has been a considerable increase of litigants in person for whom our current court system is not really designed. //&! Court fees jeopardise Magna Carta principles, says lord chief justice. Mandatory court charges of up to £1,200 put justice beyond reach of majority, says Lord Thomas - bit.ly/1ZXfhAE &! bbc.in/1RmyLMD

The government has been accused of turning the honours system into an “old boy’s club” after Lynton Crosby, the political strategist who ran the Conservatives’ 2015 election campaign, was awarded a knighthood. [...] “The main thing he is known for is introducing the concept of aggressive negative campaigning, or as Boris Johnson described it: ‘the dead cat strategy’ >> !!! >> [which involves distracting the public from a politically difficult issue by creating shocking news]. << !!! << Hardly worthy of honouring in this way if at all,” said McDonnell. He said Crosby’s knighthood would make the public think the titles perpetuate “an old boy’s club”. [...] His uncompromising tactics have appalled some of his opponents, with former Liberal Democrat business secretary Vince Cable once referring to him as “an Australian rottweiler”. [...] “getting a reward for services to the Tory party rather than services to the country”. [& got] close links to the tobacco industry.

"I remember growing up we did not have all these segregated communities which we have now.

[ pushing more meds to prevent. LOL. with the side effects and possible death, from medication side effects/medical complications, is ~4th leading cause of death. ] More lives could be saved if doctors considered giving blood pressure drugs to all patients at high risk of heart disease - even if their blood pressures are normal, a study suggests.

[MPU] legislation is significantly to restrict the market, and this might be avoided by the introduction of a tax measure designed to increase the price of alcohol instead of a measure imposing a minimum price per unit of alcohol." [...] /// Instead it says increasing the tax on alcohol tax could be justified as it would combat alcohol misuse and wouldn't restrict the market. /// [...] Alison Douglas, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland [...] minimum pricing was a better measure than alcohol taxes, which are "limited in their ability to raise the price of the cheapest alcohol to a level that will actually reduce harm". [SWA] had "blocked the democratic will of the Scottish Parliament and sacrificed public health to protect their members' profits". [...] [BMA] "The case for minimum unit pricing has always been based on the fact that it achieves what taxation cannot[."] [...] "unhealthy relationship with drink". //&! bit.ly/1mglhVe

Progress on closing the gap between rich and poor pupils has not moved fast or far enough to tackle the gulf within a divided Britain, a report says. [...] 'Stronger economy' A government spokesman said it was committed to an "all-out assault on poverty". "Our investment in childcare is helping parents get into work and give their children the best start in life, while the pupil premium and school reforms are ensuring every child gets a good education." The spokesman said work was the best way out of poverty, adding that the number of workless households was at a record low.

[ UK more like USA than Europe, let alone Germany ] Underlying economic vulnerabilities have been addressed, and steady growth looks set to continue, it said. But high household debt, a "strikingly large" trade deficit and high government debt are still risks to the economy. It also warned about uncertainty over whether the UK would stay in the EU. [...] But although UK house price growth has eased, the household debt-to-income ratio is still high, and could leave some households vulnerable to shock interest rate rises. The large trade deficit could affect cash flows into the UK, adversely affecting growth, the report says. In addition, high government debt, and a continuing deficit, could tie the government's hands in dealing with any future recession, and productivity growth might fail to materialise. Chancellor George Osborne said the IMF report "could hardly be more positive" about the UK economy, but that it "rightly" identified challenges.

More than half of the £24bn expected to be spent on the first British nuclear reactors for two decades could go abroad to foreign suppliers, a leading UK academic and government adviser has warned. The issue is of extreme political sensitivity because George Osborne has already faced criticism for providing huge subsidies to Hinkley, which is being developed by EDF Energy of France.

[ confusing the public, as with diet ] The United Nations is promising a "universal climate change agreement" when leaders from almost 200 countries meet in Paris. But is the jargon used in environmental discussions actually putting people off the subject rather than enthusing them?

[How can gas be central if it has to be shipped from Russia & else?! - bbc.in/1WZQj4D ] UKs remaining coal-fired power stations will be shut by 2025 with their use restricted by 2023, Energy Secretary Amber Rudd has proposed. Ms Rudd wants more gas-fired stations to be built since relying on "polluting" coal is "perverse". Only if gas-fuelled power can fill the void created by closing coal-powered stations would coal plants be shut, she said. //&! bit.ly/1G7rJQt Subsidies cut in "emergency" Budget2015 after election which was not in the manifesto. &! Greenpeace said it showed the chancellor is out of step with the times. - bit.ly/1D2ylQg &! bit.ly/1HOeCt0 &! Renewables industry slams move to make them pay Climate Change Levy (also done in the Budget2015) - bit.ly/1j8khAR - "Like making apple juice pay an alcohol tax" &! Gov says in official statement, this move protects customers from higher energy bills??? - bit.ly/1Kkd8GH

"economic security for the country (& working people)" out of the mouth of Mr "Judgement Call" (that is what the tax credit cuts are, according to him, in front of select committee in house of commons hearing on the matter. // As if 12bn have no multiplier. 12bn for the corporate sharing it amongst their shareholders who have already bns, there is no multiplier at all. it just moves the digit after the comma. For the poop it is about paying for heating and new shoes. stupid. could afford welfare bill if corporates were to pay their fair share of taxes and not avoid and evade and no corporate welfare like for the steel industry (picking winners). = Show of Career Politician with some ideoligy and dogma and no principles. HE IS A MERCENARY. NOT A VISIONARY. A Career Politician. Calculated. Opportunistic. No long-term view. // IFS did say, in case of austerity, private sector has to pick up the slack. And it did since 2010. And new figures in household debt/credit card debt shows that.

33:40 Price Increase 13.1% 2013/14. Big Pharma + Lobby + insurance company + letting itself being sugar-coated-medical profession = medical-industrial complex. A cosy relationship. // Big Sugar. Big Tobacco. Big Oil/Fossil Fuel. // US spends more % (18%) of GDP on medical related expenses than any other developed/western country. //&! 44:40 - VW! No.1 air polluter is private automobil. "we are not talking about more profits. but maximising profits while accepting the contribution to air pollution and death of the vulnerable (asthma). [...] fraud. that caused who know how many people. [...] example of what capitalism is. if there is more money to make. do it." [+ Zeitarbeit, Leiharbeit exploitation] "deadly behaviour of conglomerates (many recalls blamed on complexity of car) in a rational society, but no questions have been asked." [] [Underinvestment in public transportation in USA. 1/2 of Berlin citizens have no car. tell that LA.] "Decision to Deceive. Knowingly harm People."

[ why not put a regulatory framework up. and make money through taxation! stupid. where is the neoliberal tough when its needed!? double standard. ] "Britain uses more psychoactive substances than any other country in Europe and is at risk of being overwhelmed by the sheer scale of this problem.

shortage of supply = unaffordable = nobody can afford to live there, work there, study there. or have to commute from out of town for 1 hour or more. // this is not only a problem in Oxford. NHS Grampian has problems of recruiting because unaffordable house prices and rents pushed up by Oil Industry and the lack of new housing. Same for teaching jobs. // all the while building companies make pumper profits and even skirt around the edges to lower the ratio of social and affordable housing they have to provide with each new big project. its in their interest, if prices were to fell, they would make less money. so they build not enough to keep up with demand at all. and not enough so each new builds profit rises because of risen demand and people willing to pay more for the same house or flat from previous year or two or three despite no real improvement in the build technically/energy efficiency wise/or architecture wise - modern, wide open, big windows. //

saving on the wrong end of the stick. // &! One solar executive says the 87% cut in state subsidy is ‘obscene’, and will lead to thousands of job losses - bit.ly/1Xdgl0V - “We are all paying £100 for nuclear decommissioning costs in our bills. Solar: five quid? It is nothing to do with the energy bills of hardworking families it is entirely ideologically driven by George Osborne. It is nothing to do with the cost to the energy consumer.”

Despite cutting bureaucracy and only using GPs for the really serious cases, my surgery is constantly seeking new staff for an ever-increasing workload

SYMPTOM!

A re-think of immigration rules which protect ballet dancers but not vital foreign nurses need re-thinking, the head of the NHS in England says. NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens made the comments over a new pay threshold for non-European workers. It means means migrants will have to leave the UK after six years if they are not earning at least £35,000. Exemptions are in place for some, including ballet dancers, but not nurses. The Royal College of Nursing has warned the rules would "cause chaos" for the NHS and waste money spent on recruitment. The union has said that by 2017 more than 3,300 NHS nurses could be affected, and by the end of the decade the numbers could be double that.

"we are looking at a systematic problem across the health service." locum staff & sending patients 4 ops 2 private places paid by NHS 2 clear rising waiting lists (RISING DEMAND) & meet Targets. Bed blocking bc severe shortage of elderly care done by austerity. Ageing & premature ageing population & rise of chronic diseases (& thus other comorbidity things that are a result of chronic diseases:joint pains back pains heart problems mobility problems swollen legs bc bodies lymph system gives up skin problems infections care etc complex needs arise - bc they treat symptoms. not the problem, the root of all evil). NHS cant treat a sick population with the status quo it has been handed down by Tories policy. Tories like 2 remove benefits from parents of truants, disabled, vulnerable (to make their lives better). BUT Big Sugar & Processed Food? No nanny state there. Socially unacceptable. Unpopular amongst majority. Career Politicians unequal real reformer/visionary. &! bit.ly/1OpQXBS

Nearly 100,000 children in England are living in temporary accommodation after being made homeless, new figures show. // &! More & more student start work after graduation in low pay jobs not requiring a diploma, due to current job market/job creation situation in UK! Not hitting 21k repayment threshold - bbc.in/1OU0K3H - OBR show fewer are likely to start paying than was expected when the policy was introduced, [...] freezing the loan repayment threshold - alongside other changes such as replacing maintenance grants for poorer students with loans - will significantly increase the cost of going to university. It says this risks undermining pledges by successive governments to improve social mobility, as well as raising uncertainty in students' minds over the terms of their borrowing. //&! Higher education cuts 'risk NI being left behind' - bbc.in/1gZMrgj //&! Doctors warn Tories not to cut free school meals (child poverty, food poverty) bbc.in/1LewQrn

[ cutting renewables, sure. how about 24bn for renewables and SmartGrid 10 years. Duh. And no energy price tariff guarantees needed. ] The only two versions of the EDF pressurised water reactor under construction, in Finland and France, are way behind schedule with doubled budgets. For £24bn you can read anything you like. It is the auto-da-fé of Treasury control. The person who should be laughing is Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn. Hinkley Point competes with HS2 and possibly a new Heathrow runway for the title of “world’s stupidest megaproject”. [...] When Centrica, the last British investor, pulled out of Hinkley in 2013, it did so because not a single adviser thought it a sensible bet. [ and who benefits? companies who benefit from status quo! fossil fuel companies ] //&! The Guardian view on Hinkley Point C: overcomplicated, overpriced and overdue Editorial: Nuclear power may be necessary to limit climate change, but this is the wrong nuclear option - bit.ly/1QztaOV &! bbc.in/1R1NSYr

[ after the collaps of energy prices, commoditiy prices and freed up labour from oil and gas industry ... instead of tripling investment in renewable energy, they cut it. increasing long-term competitiveness with domestic cheaper energy prices. stupid. instead they cut corporate tax rate, as if tax evasion and avoidance wasn't helping them already ... no further development of 6 killer apps. policy for vested interest. subsidies for oil. tax breaks. etc etc. ] The energy team at business consultancy EY can't expect to get many contracts out of Whitehall - not after a thorough trashing of UK policy. //&! Al Gore chimes in - bit.ly/1V88zmb //&! bbc.in/1NIzAMl //&! bv.ms/1Vgb4Iy - Stop Propping Up Fossil Fuels. Subsidies, as a rule, distort financial incentives and leave the economy less efficient. Subsidies on fossil fuels are doubly foolish: They also divert investment and consumption away from cleaner energy, and cost taxpayers a bundle.

"If this was just a revenge job, Lord Ashcroft & I could have published it before the election." bbc.in/1V5Rl94 CoAuthor Isabel Oakeshott //&! bbc.in/1FpIfC4 - Ashcroft quits the House of Lords //&! Ashcroft & Cameron - an inevitable end? Two powerful men need each other, and then one of them becomes more powerful, and doesnt need the other anymore. [...] [book] looks a lot like revenge. [...] The Conservatives needed him, as all political parties need money, & between 2002/11 he gave more than £5m. [ those who want leadership position/power, ie Cameron, are & will be never great leaders when history judges them ] - bbc.in/1MEYLko bit.ly/1LrS8QP bit.ly/1MEppd0 bit.ly/1PktP6A bit.ly/1gH7wvI bit.ly/1NHFptp &! So Cameron was young & reckless. Lucky he wasnt young, reckless & poor - bit.ly/1Oqc8Fg bit.ly/1j3nRwJ bit.ly/1LIGEnD bit.ly/1V6xSoy - Cameron is part of a select group of people to whom different rules apply, and he knows it, [like evryone else in Britain [dubbed Hameron scandal].

[My take, for EU to thrive, it needs 2 develop & integrate further the 6 killer apps of western nations history, but they dont do that. quite the opposite especially under pressure situations (refugee crisis response: bit.ly/1KkArk5 Merkel 'this is EU wide problem, not just Germanys') & that is very much something that speaks 4 Brexit as UK has 2 give up further powers & further struggle 2 be just a prosthetics (not even appendage like science can grow an ear on someones arm) 2 Europe, which gives other countries internal nationalism leverage 2 put barriers in way of really putting Europe on the map of the "world economy," developing/advancing the 6 killer apps 4 Europe. Brexit will be part of Merkel's legacy! Verwalten of status quo. No principles. No vision. No mission. No future.] bit.ly/1FW3Qgi // European integration itself is a Moonshot project & it looks like that crisis management leading to political crisis, doesnt help at all putting the rocket together in the first place.

[ opportunist - constituency wooing gift ] Overworked, stressed health professionals are cursed with a secretary of state who knows nothing of the service they work in and its ideals //&! bit.ly/1KkIX0i //&! UK social care system failing most vulnerable - We see the impact the last five years have had on our services, all directly caused by the ideological bias of our two most recent secretaries of state for health. This includes the failure to plan the future NHS workforce properly, the cutting of local authorities’ budgets almost to the quick - bit.ly/1VRKYZc //&! bit.ly/1gvVO78 - With the NHS a key issue in the election campaign, Guardian Health correspondent Denis Campbell was joined by a panel of leading experts to discuss whether the NHS's unique model of healthcare is under threat.

socialism for crony capitalism (Super Rich, 1%, 30% of top of society, babyboomers, asset owners - owners of commanding hights, bank bailout) - vs - people // Noam Chomsky, can't have (crony) capitalism and democracy //&! --- youtu.be/fzt_RNa_9BQ - What if Jeremy Corbyn actually wins the Labour leadership? | Owen Jones talks... - key are key messages! repeated. properly framed. unpenetrable by Tories highly skilled spin doctors and their usual campaign of fear (tool, lowest common denominator easiest to mass communicate and transmit in one sentence) to distract/divert from the truth ... 'oh my good, look over there!' ... peoples convenience and attention span and willingness to debate endanger what has been built. it is already dismantled. //&! bit.ly/1NxAriZ - Hostile Press!

to keep credibility, admit to what you have been wrong on. Career Politicans don't do that.

Blyth argued its culture/society & structural. TPP trade deal might help productivity growth & opening Japan further 2 global trade. & encourage immigration reform. Regulatory reform; stop protection of zombies (gov guarantees, contracts, subsidies), corporate governance. Oversight. Transparency. Also Start-up rate (bottom-up disruption) needs reform (reduce red tape, create start-up/business hubs) // &! What is Abenomics? - youtu.be/_UafzhHzmwE //&! Noriko Hama & Yukio Noguchi "Abenomics and What comes After" - youtu.be/a29FTJXYev0 'unable to share affluence' - income redistribution << marginal propensity to consume, 16% left out of society (poverty), lack of empathy & compassion. BOJ is single lender 2 gov. Career Politicians! Companies have no need 2 borrow/cant force banks 2 lend. //&! min52 Problem of rising long-term interest rates solved w BOJ debt monetisation = inflation (probable near future scenario). &! youtu.be/ArnLHTE0e1g &! youtu.be/wYtJ7Fyn9NA &! youtu.be/AbKeTeb-I_M

Our immigration system hinders entrepreneurship, innovation and productivity. Success in the tech industry, where whole new job categories are created overnight, requires deep familiarity with trends, products and technologies. Learning opportunities abound — if you’re willing to transition to new roles, educate yourself, work on different products or switch companies altogether. Building your own startup, or even joining one, can be the best career move; it offers remarkable potential for growth by wearing multiple hats in an expanding organization. The labor market benefits from this flexibility not just with an improved and adaptable workforce, but also one that creates jobs. The immigration process impedes all these possibilities. [...] [ reset process when switching companies ] [...] And that’s not even the worst part. If you get laid off, you must leave the country. Immediately. [...] Try telling your VC you spent $25,000 of their $1 million funding on immigration fees

“Some of the greatest pressure came on Iain Duncan Smith at the Department for Work and Pensions, whose poor, disabled, unemployed and otherwise vulnerable clients were seen as easy targets for cuts. “IDS was a significant figure, and a fundamentally decent man, but he spent much of his time fighting off pubescent advisers and Treasury officials with cruel ideas for saving money.” [ // they are not the majority of voteres, that vote tories, and thus him, into office at the next election. the poor, vulnerable. disables are not his constituency he has to bank on to follow after David Cameron. ]

Two of Britain’s largest housebuilders, Berkeley Group and Persimmon, could hand out about £1bn to their top executives and managers in pay and bonuses over the next six years, boosted by strong UK house prices and government-subsidies for home-buyers. Tony Pidgley, founder and executive chairman at Berkeley, is expected to face tough questions on Tuesday at the group’s shareholder meeting near its headquarters in leafy Cobham, Surrey, after it emerged last month that his pay package last year was worth £23.3m. [...] Meanwhile, executives at Persimmon, the UK’s largest housebuilder, also have a Berkeley-style incentive scheme that is one of the most generous to be found at a London stock market-listed firm. [...] Berkeley’s share price has risen more than 40% since the election of a Conservative government in May, [...] [bonuses] “entirely based on short-term performance”. [...] return on equity[.][ < KPI, what gets measured gets done ] &! bbc.in/1KE0jut - Barratt Homes profits +45%