True level of public debt is £85,610 per household

kabayiri

vivatifosi wrote: »

Absolutely true. The reason I'm so wary is that I don't think we're ever told the whole truth about the financial situation. This isn't me Labour bashing, I think consistently governments have got away with telling us what they want to.

I'm not sure any government wants to tell us the truth, or face up to it.

We could be an economy in decline. All economies/empires go through the cycle eventually.

I struggle to see where the growth employment areas will come from in the future.

There will be some future of course, its just I don't see a vision for it at the current time.

Listening to some of the goverment radio ads, about skills and apprenticeship, you'd think every young person would become either :-
a) a marine biologist
b) a media producer
c) a teacher
d) running their own business.

It's funny how they miss out 'cashier' or 'warehouse assistant'..

To me, how we create a wealth-generating society is of higher priority than the debt we carry.

Generali

StevieJ wrote: »

!!!!!! is that about as someone pointed out, most people have not accrued for future council tax payments or indeed food and heating etc on their personal balance sheets.

Isn't that what pension saving is for - meeting future liabilities?

StevieJ

kabayiri wrote: »

I'm not sure any government wants to tell us the truth, or face up to it.

We could be an economy in decline. All economies/empires go through the cycle eventually.
.

Then again if you asked the person in the street (based on what they are fed by the news) would they be aware that the UK still has the 6th largest manufacturing sector in the world

StevieJ

Generali wrote: »

Isn't that what pension saving is for - meeting future liabilities?

Not everyone saves for a pension.

Generali

StevieJ wrote: »

Not everyone saves for a pension.

Perfectly true but I bet that anyone concerned enough to create a personal balance sheet and cashflow statement does!

vivatifosi

Generali wrote: »

Perfectly true but I bet that anyone concerned enough to create a personal balance sheet and cashflow statement does!

That'll be me then . And yes, I've got several and started at 21...

StevieJ

Generali wrote: »

Perfectly true but I bet that anyone concerned enough to create a personal balance sheet and cashflow statement does!

I wouldn't go anywhere without my personal cash flow statement/budget

kabayiri

StevieJ wrote: »

Then again if you asked the person in the street (based on what they are fed by the news) would they be aware that the UK still has the 6th largest manufacturing sector in the world

Absolutely right.

I've said before, we do still have some world class manufacturing facilities. Personally, I have bought english made hifi rather than cheap Eastern-made stuff. Expensive yes, but quality and longevity? Fantastic.

Think where we could be (rather than 6th) if we showed real commitment to the sector. It doesn't cost much in GDP terms to create state of the art R&D facilities. Let's make the title "engineer" something to be proud of again.

We can't all be lawyers and accountants.

Generali

kabayiri wrote: »

Absolutely right.

I've said before, we do still have some world class manufacturing facilities. Personally, I have bought english made hifi rather than cheap Eastern-made stuff. Expensive yes, but quality and longevity? Fantastic.

Think where we could be (rather than 6th) if we showed real commitment to the sector. It doesn't cost much in GDP terms to create state of the art R&D facilities. Let's make the title "engineer" something to be proud of again.

We can't all be lawyers and accountants.

Part of the manufacturing problem is a much discussed anomaly in Aus which I don't recall being spoken about in the UK.

If I live in London and buy a car made in the UK then the UK is responsible for all those horrible emissions.

If I live in London and buy a car made in Poland or France then who is responsible for the resulting pollution?

Me as a Londoner who has benefitted from a nice new car? The Pole or Frenchman that earned a load of money to build it? The Germans that made the machines that enabled the car to be built? The US shareholders that get the dividends from the company that made the car?

BTW I think engineers should be looked at like accountants and lawyers: professionals.