Is NI economy going broke?

x12yhp

NI has a lot of potential for private sector but we just don't have the help. I am a manufacturer and the truth is that NI has very obvious negatives - for example, all our materials come in from outside NI and this means we have an immediate price increase, compared to our mainland counterparts, because of carriage. Likewise, if we want to do business outside of NI, we have to add carriage which isn't there for others elsewhere.

Certainly we are not looking for mindless hand outs from INI. We will be here, in one form or another, without them. But give us the money to employ a person to do some R&D on new products and we can grow our range. Give us some money to help get a sales person on the road and we can increase our customer base. We are not going to suddenly employ 100 new people but we might employ 1 tomorrow, another in a couple of months and then who knows. Unfortunately INI is geared towards the big companies. They basically pay a ransom to the likes of Seagate to make sure that they stay here. However, these big companies are free to do a runner as soon as it becomes economically favourable to go elsewhere. This sort of 'investment' is keeping us a float, but it isn't helping the wider NI economy to grow.

saverbuyer

I agree on the carriage. I pay twice as much carriage getting our goods to Europe as someone in say London.
I also agree on the FDI for the likes of NYSE and Seagate. They don't need the money, they can jump ship (and have done in the past) when it dries up. But Invest loves announcing all those highly paid jobs in one go. Shame they usually work out to have been exaggerated and low paid. But as with all things public sector it’s money and jobs for the boys.

steveymp

Mistral001 wrote: »

I think you are about 5 years behind. China have increased their prices. Also, IT, Research and tourism? They were are all hailed 5 to 10 years ago as our saviours. Sectors have long since peaked as far as I can see, and now that the South has become more competitive with regard to tourism that is another factor.

China may have increased, but can still make everything cheaper. IT may have peaked but R&D and Tourism have a long way to go IMHO.

I'm amazed we haven't made more of Northern Ireland being the World center for Golfing Excellence 3 major winners in 2 years coming from a small dot at the eastern edge of the Atlantic, why our golf clubs and hotels aren't packed with American and Asian golf fanatics is way beyond me

saverbuyer

steveymp wrote: »

China may have increased, but can still make everything cheaper. IT may have peaked but R&D and Tourism have a long way to go IMHO.

I'm amazed we haven't made more of Northern Ireland being the World center for Golfing Excellence 3 major winners in 2 years coming from a small dot at the eastern edge of the Atlantic, why our golf clubs and hotels aren't packed with American and Asian golf fanatics is way beyond me

Our block grant alone is about £11 billion. I don't think we'll make that up with a few fourballs down the port.

A.L.D.A

Mistral001 wrote: »

Saverbuyer and chunter

There are small and big here firms which are UK leaders in their field and some are expanding. You only have to look the Times rich list to find some of them. Most you have never heard of in the TV or radio. Large pharmaceutical companies, bus manufacturers, concrete product manufactures, plastics companies, bicycle parts distributers.

Good positive post. There is potential for real productive growth, but we need to reduce business costs taxes and unnecessary legislation. Half of my time is tied up in paper work that is totally unnecessary and unproductive with all sorts of hidden fees (tax) and administrative cost. Huge swathes of it never existed back in the 70s and we seemed to get along just fine.

If we strip out a lot of costs I think we can compete with China, but we need to be as clever as they are at discouraging outside competition, rigging currency values and supporting our own production base. What we did in the UK was support those with money and enabled them to make more by sourcing cheap and selling expensive here. Now we are paying for the folly. When I see some retail park development being heralded as our savour the only aspect that makes me stay calm is the thought that many of the units could make good industrial units at some future date. Retail growth follows wealth it does not create it.

saverbuyer wrote: »

Vested Interests. People who have an interest in saying things happen one way or another. Usually their livlihood depends on it. So for house prices and increased house building it would be EAs or arcitucets who would be VIs.

There are also many more with a vested interest in talking prices down. Right now I think most Architects would like to see a collapse in land values. Most investors would like to see a drop in property prices for obvious reasons. Even Estate Agents, would prefer to see movement rather than no through put of work and no fees. The people who do not want reductions are generally those who need to sell to cover loss. Virtually everyone else would prefer movement at whatever level.


Strongly agree with all those that see a reduction in the Public Sector in NI as essential, however to do it would require not just reductions and 'greater efficiency', whole departments and sectors would have to be closed and legislation made void.

saverbuyer

A.L.D.A wrote: »

Good positive post. There is potential for real productive growth, but we need to reduce business costs taxes and unnecessary legislation. Half of my time is tied up in paper work that is totally unnecessary and unproductive with all sorts of hidden fees (tax) and administrative cost. Huge swathes of it never existed back in the 70s and we seemed to get along just fine.

If we strip out a lot of costs I think we can compete with China, but we need to be as clever as they are at discouraging outside competition, rigging currency values and supporting our own production base. What we did in the UK was support those with money and enabled them to make more by sourcing cheap and selling expensive here. Now we are paying for the folly. When I see some retail park development being heralded as our savour the only aspect that makes me stay calm is the thought that many of the units could make good industrial units at some future date. Retail growth follows wealth it does not create it.



There are also many more with a vested interest in talking prices down. Right now I think most Architects would like to see a collapse in land values. Most investors would like to see a drop in property prices for obvious reasons. Even Estate Agents, would prefer to see movement rather than no through put of work and no fees. The people who do not want reductions are generally those who need to sell to cover loss. Virtually everyone else would prefer movement at whatever level.


Strongly agree with all those that see a reduction in the Public Sector in NI as essential, however to do it would require not just reductions and 'greater efficiency', whole departments and sectors would have to be closed and legislation made void.

I think we need to look up the definition of "investor" here. An investor is someone who does something that adds value through investment in something. Buying a cheap house with cash or credit and putting housing benefit people isn't investing its speculating. Whilst the last 15 years of house price growth had blurred the lines between investors and speculators (and I see how you could get confused) they are by no means synonymous.

We need more actual investors in NI.

x12yhp

A.L.D.A wrote: »

There are also many more with a vested interest in talking prices down. Right now I think most Architects would like to see a collapse in land values. Most investors would like to see a drop in property prices for obvious reasons. Even Estate Agents, would prefer to see movement rather than no through put of work and no fees. The people who do not want reductions are generally those who need to sell to cover loss. Virtually everyone else would prefer movement at whatever level.

I don't know I agree with your logic. Investors do not want to see falls! Unless we are talking about 'green' investors, an investor will have investments! A fall means a fall in value and a loss. Even for someone fresh into it, falling prices mean that their investment will be worth less tomorrow than it is today!

Unfortunately the traditional VIs who benefit from increases 'beat' your definition of VI in terms of the market dynamic. As soon as someone is a seller, they have a VI for as high a price as possible. At present the system is not forcing them to do anything because of the low cost of debt. As such, they rule the market. If they don't accept a lower price, it wont sell. As we all know, this is exactly what is happening. So that means that virtually everyone who actually counts, would NOT prefer "movement at whatever level".

joefizz

steveymp wrote: »

why our golf clubs and hotels aren't packed with American and Asian golf fanatics is way beyond me

May I suggest looking out your window?

steveymp

joefizz wrote: »

May I suggest looking out your window?

A Bus Stop, Car Park and Main Road ? don't see how this helps

I have connections with Golf Clubs and my Wife works in the hospitality industry, neither have been very pleased at the lack of "Visit NI" advertising at present and what little is taking place makes absolutely no Golf references

So I'm not talking out my bottom:o

steveymp

saverbuyer wrote: »

Our block grant alone is about £11 billion. I don't think we'll make that up with a few fourballs down the port.

True, but it underlines the lack of tourism advertising, if say, Yorkshire (similar size and population) has 3 major champions in the past 2 years, the Visit Yorkshire "Home of Golf" campaign would be going viral worldwide:o