Blame the Banks or The Government?

ColdIron

Glen_Clark wrote: »

True, the deregulation that led to the disaster began under Thatcher

Ha, it's all Fatcher's fault after all

A sort of contemporary equivalent of Godwin's Law

atush

Old_Slaphead wrote: »

Can you provide evidence to support that?

I agree, last time I read on this subject, the gap between public and private sector salaries was closed/very small. Due to wage deflation in the UK over the recession.

Glen_Clark

ColdIron wrote: »

Ha, it's all Fatcher's fault after all

You said its all Fatcher's fault, I didn't.

coastline

Browns tax on pensions..

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-1692321/Has-Labour-really-ransacked-our-pensions.html

or..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1082511/Browns-17-000-tax-raid-EVERY-private-pension--value-cushy-public-sector-schemes-soars-1trillion.html

Since then the current government have reduced the value of public sector pensions even further...so you could say its been on the cards for years.
Those in the private sector have suffered from poor stock market returns in the last decade or so...and falling annuity rates.
I suppose some people will blame Brown for the whole affair but thats the way it goes when things fall off a cliff...dividend tax is only part of the annual returns and its probably a lot less than the annual management fees..
Final salary pensions have been in decline for years due to changes in the workplace wheres numbers have fallen dramatically..
Millions of jobs have been lost to new techniques and of course a shift to overseas production...my workplace has seen numbers fall from 80,000 to around 25,000....no the wonder pensions schemes have been under pressure.

Masomnia

Which regulations did Thatcher remove that led to the crash?

People say this a lot 'Oh it all started under the Tories!' but I've yet to see specifics.

atush

I thought (but am not sure) the lessening of controls on banks and their liquidity, and the casino banking came later.

grizzly1911

atush wrote: »

I thought (but am not sure) the lessening of controls on banks and their liquidity, and the casino banking came later.

Arguably the rot started in 1974.

Easing of credit did speed up under the Thatcher administration it was one of lubricants that hastened the slide. Deregulation/privatisation of the building societies opening up competition. They certainly laid the foundations for the future problems.

Thrugelmir

atush wrote: »

I thought (but am not sure) the lessening of controls on banks and their liquidity, and the casino banking came later.

Few remember that the City was in itself a cartel. A closed shop to outsiders. Who you know got you a job. That's why Thatcher took it on.

Glen_Clark

Every Government we get seems worse than the last.
Am I looking back through rose coloured spectacles?

talexuser

Glen_Clark wrote: »

Am I looking back through rose coloured spectacles?

No, I think you've just hit the nail on the head!

Short-termism, policies that waste huge amounts of taxpayers money (this weeks' example the Universal Credit computer) and only worrying about tomorrow's headline seems the name of the game.