the public sectors of the world are literally destroying the world

StevieJ

Aberdeenangarse wrote: »

What :eek:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/pensions/8633572/Taxpayers-face-42000-public-pensions-bill.html

More statistics abuse from the Tory right :eek:

HollowTree

Let me know when you find a method for pay-as-you-go street lights. I really resent my hard earned money being used to fund things that others get to use FOR FREE.

I think there is room to cut back on public sector spending, changing ways of working, negotiating better contracts etc but the public sector is generally labour intensive, it's hard to replace the people with technology (although it does happen occassionally) and as private sector pay increase it pulls up the public sector average - or else they leave to work in the private sector. So the answer is, you take a 50% pay cut to keep PS pay low. Economics innit?

Conrad

kabayiri wrote: »

To me it's a zero sum game. Living standards increase in the East, at the cost of a loss of economic influence in the West.

This is not right. As an example American citizens didn't get ever poorer as more people settled there, wealth kept on rising.

The UK did not get poorer as other European nations caught up with industrialisation.

Germany is prospering my making the right goods and selling them to the world (they also use the good old fashioned method of promoting from within rather than the Anglosaxon model of hiring jocks that make good speaches who can supposedly run any company - some cocksplash like Jerry Robinson is the sort of pratt I have in mind - no expert domain knowledge built over decades inside one business - just a dinner party look at me type that knows little).

mj12_2

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Financial power is already moving East.

Wait a few decades and that trend may reverse. China is a ticking time bomb with an impending demographic crisis ten times worse than the wests will be.

The one child policy saw to that, an aging population, not enough youth to support them and a massive imbalance of men to women.

Why is the Chinese gov still in power? Simple - it has so far made the lvies of its people better so they have been willing to tolerate a certain lack of some freedoms. Once that stops (as the Chinese gov itself knows) support for the Communist Party will eb away.

Once enough new wealth isn't being created to keep the emergin middle class happy (or once they retire) and there arent enough workers to pay for the living standard to which they become accustomed there will be some big changes in China. Hopefully peaceful changes..... however revolutions seldom are.

Its exactly the same problem as with pensions in the west only far worse, far larger and far more dangerous as the only option the Chinese have to show their displeasure is revolt... they dont get to vote after all. thats why the Chiense gov was so desperate to repress the first whispers of discontent following on from the events in the middle east before it got off the ground.

http://www.economist.com/node/18651512