What Did Thatcher Ever Do For Us?

ukcarper

ash28 wrote: »

Alfa Romeo and Fiat were dire.....I liked Alfas but not the 3 Rs associated with them....Rust, Reliability and Residual Values.....

Had an Alfa myself great to drive didn't suffer from 1'st R but certainly suffered from the last 2.

TruckerT

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

It has been the expansion of private property ownership over the last century that has had the biggest impact on personal wealth in the UK.

It was Eden, and Skelton, who originally conceived of spreading wealth to the masses through widespread private ownership of property.

But it was Maggie who finally delivered it, half a century later

But it was the collapse of property prices which led us to where we are now.

Maggie delivered widespread private ownership of property by giving away swathes of rate-payer/tax-payer owned council houses at a fraction of their market value. These properties soon became the first gambling chips in the casino culture which followed.

The wealth which was spread to the masses a couple of generations ago is at best frozen, and at worst evaporating. Current generations face joblessness, and property ownership is once again little more than a dream.

Mrs T is also partly credited with dismantling the USSR and introducing capitalism. The current problems in Cyprus seem to be a direct result.

Did Mrs T work alone? Her reputation is world-wide. Her best-known political associates are Pinochet and Reagan.

If the BBC chooses not to play 'ding-dong, the Witch is Dead' on Sunday whilst providing world coverage on Wednesday of her biggest fans, then they will have failed in their duty.

TruckerT

Le73Uq86Uv

If you were rich she made you richer, if you were poor she made you poorer.

And it continues today with all the privatised high bills.

MS1950

Le73Uq86Uv wrote: »

If you were rich she made you richer, if you were poor she made you poorer.

And it continues today with all the privatised high bills.

"the growth in UK income inequality during the 1980s was faster than for virtually all other western industrialised nations....Focusing on the period 1979 to 1990/91, the income share of poorest tenth declined from 4.3 percent to 2.9 percent, whereas the share of richest tenth increased from 20.6 percent to 26.1 percent"

pages 4 -5

Trends in the UK Income Distribution - Stephen P. Jenkins

Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, Colchester, Essex CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom. Email: [EMAIL="stephenj@essex.ac.uk"]stephenj@essex.ac.uk[/EMAIL] and

Abstract. This paper reviews trends over the last three decades in the personal distribution of income in the UK. The first section of the paper documents the trends from a number of different perspectives (inequality, poverty and real income growth). Later sections explore the causes of the large increase in income inequality in the UK between the late 1970s and the beginning of the 1990s and the halt in the increase over the subsequent five years.

nickj_2

thatcher haters memories do not seem to go back any further than 1979, if you lived thru the 1970's the uk wasn't great , the unions had all govts by the balls and would have destroyed the country if their ways had not been stopped . the nationalized industries were bloated and a monopoly , there was only one provider for your phone , gas electric etc , i didn't know this until this week but the govt even owned pickfords removal ,
the country's industrial reputation was one of strikes , shoddy unreliable goods made in factories that were light years behind the germansand japanese
it is often overlooked that maggie persuaded nissan to open in sunderland despite opposition , and now this is one of the top motor factories in the world , toyota followed as did sony ,
we hear thru the bbc who have shown their true colours this week of mainly the bad things that she did , however she won 3 elections so the "majority "of people presumably were happy with what she was doing , yet the silent majority are being overlooked .
one of her biggest failings was not investing in new industries/jobs in the areas affected by mine closures ,steelworks etc
not everything she did was terrible and there were things that she did was good , people blaming her for the state we are in now overlook 13 years of new labour

dryhat

nickj wrote: »

thatcher haters memories do not seem to go back any further than 1979, if you lived thru the 1970's the uk wasn't great , the unions had all govts by the balls and would have destroyed the country if their ways had not been stopped . the nationalized industries were bloated and a monopoly , there was only one provider for your phone , gas electric etc , i didn't know this until this week but the govt even owned pickfords removal ,
the country's industrial reputation was one of strikes , shoddy unreliable goods made in factories that were light years behind the germansand japanese
it is often overlooked that maggie persuaded nissan to open in sunderland despite opposition , and now this is one of the top motor factories in the world , toyota followed as did sony ,
we hear thru the bbc who have shown their true colours this week of mainly the bad things that she did , however she won 3 elections so the "majority "of people presumably were happy with what she was doing , yet the silent majority are being overlooked .
one of her biggest failings was not investing in new industries/jobs in the areas affected by mine closures ,steelworks etc
not everything she did was terrible and there were things that she did was good , people blaming her for the state we are in now overlook 13 years of new labour

You have not got a clue mate.
(or should I say the person you copied and pasted that from hasn't got a clue)

You are just another maggie lover quoting from hearsay rather than experience.

And I must admit, in theory, "thatcherism" does sound brilliant if you were told the story today.

ILW

Le73Uq86Uv wrote: »

If you were rich she made you richer, if you were poor she made you poorer.

And it continues today with all the privatised high bills.

More opportunities opened up for the hardworking "working class" man than ever before or after. Think Essex man.

seven-day-weekend

nickj wrote: »

thatcher haters memories do not seem to go back any further than 1979, if you lived thru the 1970's the uk wasn't great , the unions had all govts by the balls and would have destroyed the country if their ways had not been stopped . the nationalized industries were bloated and a monopoly , there was only one provider for your phone , gas electric etc , i didn't know this until this week but the govt even owned pickfords removal ,
the country's industrial reputation was one of strikes , shoddy unreliable goods made in factories that were light years behind the germansand japanese
it is often overlooked that maggie persuaded nissan to open in sunderland despite opposition , and now this is one of the top motor factories in the world , toyota followed as did sony ,
we hear thru the bbc who have shown their true colours this week of mainly the bad things that she did , however she won 3 elections so the "majority "of people presumably were happy with what she was doing , yet the silent majority are being overlooked .
one of her biggest failings was not investing in new industries/jobs in the areas affected by mine closures ,steelworks etc
not everything she did was terrible and there were things that she did was good , people blaming her for the state we are in now overlook 13 years of new labour

Good post.

Those of us who lived through the 70s in the West Midlands remember the constant strikes at British Leyland, who turned out lower quality cars than the Germans and Japanese, same with our motorcycle industry. WE, the people, in the form of militant Communist Trades Unions leadership, did for British manufacturing, not any Government.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Robinson_(trade_unionist)

nickj_2

dryhat wrote: »

You have not got a clue mate.
(or should I say the person you copied and pasted that from hasn't got a clue)

You are just another maggie lover quoting from hearsay rather than experience.

And I must admit, in theory, "thatcherism" does sound brilliant if you were told the story today.

i take it you weren't alive in the 70's , trust me , it wasn't great

mystic_trev

nickj wrote: »

i take it you weren't alive in the 70's , trust me , it wasn't great

I remember it well, the Country was being well and truly screwed by the Unions. I had to use one of these to work by during the three day week



The really galling thing was to see the striking Nationalised Industries, getting stonking great pay rises, while a lot of us were working for a pittance! How times have changed!