tegs07

I have friends working in IT for the NHS who report of layers of middle management and bad planning.

Not sure if it caused it. We can look at the stats for turnout and voting patterns. Seems to me a lot of people didn’t bother to vote so can’t really complain

It’s worth remembering that the people who have the most power at the polls tend to be the older demographic. They also tend to use the NHS more than most. No government with a stated mandate to privatise the NHS would ever get elected.

fire in cairo - the cure

prayers for rain - the cure

approaching the pavonis mons by balloon - flaming lips

let love in - nick cave

return of the los palmas 7 - madness

brothers on the slide - cyamande

beat surrender - jam

lay lady lay - dylan

Have you tried https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/parts-c4/bridge-parts-c685 They used to stock/order MusicMan bridges/parts?

Pay is really a small part of most of the industrial action occurring. Terms and conditions are steadily being eroded and an awful lot of people face a lot of uncertainty in their work, with their accommodation, with retirement. The Proletariat have become the Precariat. A certain person who constantly accuses me of supporting the establishment doesn’t realise in essence I agree with his views. It’s how to navigate out of the situation and change course which is the issue. If not handled with extreme caution the economy could quickly collapse. We all had a brief taster of this just a few weeks ago.

The FED plays the music everyone else just dances or trashes their currency.

At a macro level I would totally agree, particularly the part about it being built on sand. That’s the part that particularly worries me, particularly the bond market. I can see the UK and the Eurozone struggling to fulfill their debt repayments as private investors rush to short term US treasuries and UK and European bonds increase their yields to attract investors. For the average worker this is likely to mean their private pension may be at risk depending on how much leverage is involved. Bond yields have been weak for decades and there is all manner of leverage going on to balance the books. On a national level it may involve increasing the retirement age. Central banks may have to increase interest rates at a faster pace to get inflation down quicker and mortgage rates will rise. This impacts investment in equities (stock markets continues to fall) as well as debt repayments. In short the average person will have their two biggest lifelong investments exposed to extreme volatility. Mortgages and pensions.

Yep in Brizzle. I don’t think anyone has ever volunteered to subject themselves to my economic wibbling even with alcohol to numb the pain! Could be a plan after the Christmas carnage. I do think there will be a big correction that will take a few years to recover from. I don’t think it’s post apocalyptic eating road kill with all our possessions in shopping carts, but do think it’s highly likely that standards of living will decline and geopolitical tensions will rise.

It’s the distortions in the markets and colossal debt that dominate what I post. Much of the prosperity western nations have enjoyed is an illusion based upon a whole load of smoke and mirrors made plausible by access to cheap credit and imported deflation. The tide turned.

Im speaking about investors pulling money from the UK not defending energy companies or foreign investment successes. https://www.ftadviser.com/investments/2022/08/05/uk-funds-on-track-to-post-highest-outflows-in-a-decade/ Of particular note are bonds. The UK and the Eurozone are going to have to entice private investors to buy their bonds, bunds etc and it will be a hard sell. Short term US treasuries will be where the money flows.

I’m not arguing that its bad policy or something that is desirable. More that there are no easy answers and sometimes unexpected consequences can kick off a chain reaction that can start to snowball. The UK is fast becoming a pariah for international investors and markets are prone to (extreme) overreaction when they smell blood.

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/totalenergies-cut-uk-investment-by-25-after-windfall-tax-2022-12-01/ Harbour Energy https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/top-uk-oil-gas-producer-170000013.html “During a meeting with Jeremy Hunt last week, the leading industry body Offshore Energies UK told the current Chancellor of the Exchequer that a 75% total tax rate “will undermine the ability of energy producing companies to invest in the homegrown oil, gas and wind supplies we need. Without this, we will be less secure and will import more energy – while losing the benefits provided by the domestic industry in terms of taxes paid, jobs supported and investment in the wind and hydrogen projects.”

I have said several times that personally I think wage increases have only a marginal inflationary influence but a strong labour market is definitely something that is at the forefront of central bank policy decisions. As for inflation Im more in the camp that turning off the credit taps, increasing energy costs and massive supply chain disruptions are far more consequential than corporate greed. Corporate greed persisted throughout the low inflationary era of the 1990s and early 2000s.

Total energies have cut investment in UK North Sea oil by 25% and Harbour Energy pulled out of a tender to drill I believe. You can google for full details. I think it’s because it’s not an exact science and no guarantee of money on investment. If when they get lucky they are penalised they get cross and flounce off taking their ball elsewhere. Temperamental divas the lot of them.

When supply is constrained prices go up. I know two of the companies that have paid more in windfall taxes (Harbour Energy & Total Energy) have responded by cutting back on their R&D development in the UK so it’s not as straightforward as you would like. This will reduce energy security in the medium to long term. If worrying about whether people lose their homes or pensions is defending the establishment then sure you have got me.