tell me something ...

mymatebob

Conrad wrote: »

Protectionism is generally considered to have made the Great Depression a good deal worse as trade ceased up.

The subject of UK Police buying UK cars is a different matter, and something thats long wrankled with me. As others have said the US authorities buy US cars, and the French and Germans likewise. Only the uber PC Brits follow directives and 'rules' to the letter. It's the same 'rules rule' mindset that would ban our own sports people from competing in the Olympics or sack the best England manager ever for minor business naughties (Venables).

And as has been pointed out (by me) the French have used Japanese cars.
And I well remember when some police forces in the UK used Austin Allegros.

I would rather they used something that was fit for purpose than had a Made in Britain sticker on it

mardatha

But what we're left with now is nothing. So that strategy isnt working is it ? I'm not arguing here I'm just curious. And not just cars, I mean everything.

lukekelly_2

We aren't left with nothing. We still have one of the largest economies in the world and that's not about to change. This is a recession, possibly a very bad one, but not the end of the world.

The "but then when you fall out with the country where you now buy all your cop cars" argument is weak because those countries rely on the money they earn by selling those cars. So if they stopped selling cars to us then they'd have to lay off large numbers of workers and would be substantially poorer. The same with our exports, we can't afford to stop selling products and services abroad. More or less, we're all in it together!

Think about what standard of living you have and then compare it to the standard of living you could have if you relied with and traded with absolutely no-one else. Or even just your town, imagine that cut it self off from the rest of the world and traded only with itself. The standard of living resulting from that would be much worse, and could even involve starvation! Specialisation - you doing your job and other people farming, mining, making cars for you - allows an infinitely better (material) standard of life than would be possible otherwise.

wageslave

There are about 200 years of coal left but only 100 years if it was used to replace oil and gas.

bubblesmoney

mardatha wrote: »

I know nothing about money apart from my housekeeping,:rolleyes: but I'm learning and interested, reading these boards. There are a few posters in here I really respect and who consistently talk sense. Not naming them though !
Ok so my question today is - why is protectionism always said to be a bad thing ?
If we had made all police forces use only british built cars;all local authorities buying british goods; MPs using british cars , etc etc - I cant think of anything more - but you know what I mean.
AND open up all the pits, with their 700 years of coal left in them, then might we just possibly be in a better state ? More jobs less dependance on other countries, more self sufficiency. Give me your thoughts please !

making all police forces use british built cars. i guess you mean british owned and british built, so lets see what choices we have
1. morgan cars
2. caterham cars
3. ariel atom cars

although they all look cool, they are not practical cars for anyone, far less practical for the police. if the police used these cars every criminal carjacking a subaru or landrover would run over the police everytime there is a police chase. plus none of the above cars can fit an extra helmet forget locking up a criminal in the back seat.

although i admit if i win the lottery i might buy an ariel atom just for kicks after seeing the topgear video about the ariel atom

but getting the police to buy british cars will go no where except under the wheels of a 18 wheeler truck next time there is a police chase using these cars

ps: the ariel atom has a super charged 'honda' engine so guess that now leaves the other two as choices. dont know what parts they source outside the uk though. lets make a steam engine and power it with coal dug from uk coal mines instead and chug along londons roads in peak time traffic. the people wouldnt notice as traffic is so slow there that we might have to stop even with a steam engine running the car

piggeh

You forgot Noble.

bubblesmoney

piggeh wrote: »

You forgot Noble.

Noble is a low-production British sports car company, currently developing the M600. Its past products include the M12-GTO3R and Noble M400. The M12 and M400 share chassis and body, but differ in engines, suspension, etc. The M15 has a new space frame chassis. The body and chassis of the Noble is built by Hi-Tech Automotive in Port Elizabeth, South Africa alongside Superformance cars. Once the body shell is completed, it is sent to the Noble factory where the engines, suspension, etc. are added.
Noble does not currently manufacture any of its models. The rights to the M12/M400 were sold by Noble Automotive in February 2007 to 1G Racing from Ohio, and 1G is expected to release an updated version, named Rossion Q1.[1] Noble is currently in the final stages of producing its newest model, the M15/M600 (the latter of which will be a high performance model of the former). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_(car)

mardatha

ok. re using british built cars etc, I didnt mean right now, I meant 30 years ago when we had them. And I do think we painted ourselves into a corner re oil and gas. However, I see what you mean now.

piggeh

bubblesmoney wrote: »

Noble is a low-production British sports car company, currently developing the M600. Its past products include the M12-GTO3R and Noble M400. The M12 and M400 share chassis and body, but differ in engines, suspension, etc. The M15 has a new space frame chassis. The body and chassis of the Noble is built by Hi-Tech Automotive in Port Elizabeth, South Africa alongside Superformance cars. Once the body shell is completed, it is sent to the Noble factory where the engines, suspension, etc. are added.
Noble does not currently manufacture any of its models. The rights to the M12/M400 were sold by Noble Automotive in February 2007 to 1G Racing from Ohio, and 1G is expected to release an updated version, named Rossion Q1.[1] Noble is currently in the final stages of producing its newest model, the M15/M600 (the latter of which will be a high performance model of the former). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_(car)

well its close

When they start producing the M600/M15 maybe they'll move production of the chassis and panels - guessing there's the spare capacity in UK now ;p

Mary_Hartnell

There will be a Q of bankers wanting to blow their redundancy payment on one of these.
When the oil runs out we can re-invent the coal powered steam car.