Salmond and Sturgeon Want the English Fish for More Fat Subsidies

LABMAN

elantan wrote: »

Funnily enough I don't talk political parties at my work ... I refuse to ... ( hard to believe I know... but the job I do should never involve political parties IMHO)

When members of the public however see things on TV or read it in their papers and then comment to other members of the public I listen to what they say ... and I don't comment at all ... I just listen ( I find you can learn more that way)

Now don't get me wrong .. a lot of them still will vote labour, they do however feel labour have sold out the working man, they say things like " I don't believe a thing labour say, but I would still never vote tory"

Labour support is sinking fast, I also find it interesting to note a lot of the older people would also never consider SNP instead of labour, they know labour are worthless but they seem unable to change their voting patterns.

Other people I work with love the SNP and voted yes and actively campaign for SNP, almost to the point where they are unable to recognise that the SNP are not the answer to everything.

So my experience has shown me plenty, I reckon I come across approx 30 older people a day 6 days a week so 180 a week at my work, not all of them talk about political parties ... but it does surprise me how many do

And it astounded me how few trust and support labour, certainly not something I expected tbh.

So you don't talk about politics at work...but you do? 30 a day?..how many actually express their opinion amongst the stuff you are actually there for? You know like, the length and breadth of Scotland like you've claimed?


What about the other people you work with? You've given YOUR opinion on the 180...how about the rest...?

Leanne1812

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

Stamp duty is a barrier to people moving.

Lets say I am living in a 4 bedroom house with just my wife, and I want to downsize to a 2 bedroom house in the same area.

Lets also say there's a family with 5 people living in a two bedroom house in my area, and they want a 4 bedroom house.

In my area, we'd each pay stamp duty of many thousands of pounds just to move.... which makes it harder for people with big families to move up the ladder to larger houses, and for older people nearing retirement to move into smaller houses once the kids leave.

In essence, stamp duty is a barrier to efficient allocation of stock, so it worsens the housing shortage.



Ideally you'd abolish stamp duty.

Failing that you'd at least smooth it out a lot more.

It's politically lovely to bribe the masses and remove transactions under 140K from stamp duty, but economically speaking it's something that economists like to call.... 'bonkers'.

There just aren't enough transactions at higher levels to compensate, and if you do ramp up the taxes, people at higher levels simply don't transact...

So you have a whacking great budget shortfall. Like we do now.

This isn't, by the way, a particular dig at the SNP.

Politicians of all flavours are guilty of being economically illiterate and trying to bribe the electorate for short term popularity.

It almost always backfires in the end though....

Ok, gotcha on the first point. It was only thing I could think of but thought perhaps it was more complex or I was missing something.

Clapton has gotten under my skin! I'm not going to let him make me doubt myself anymore. Do you hear that mister?

I didn't take it as a dig. I'm not on high alert SNP bad all the time you know

I'd have thought economic advisors would be on hand to point out the flaws with any policy changes so is it not really a balancing act? I do understand every policy will also have voters and their intentions brought into the thinking process too.

Leanne1812

LABMAN wrote: »

So you don't talk about politics at work...but you do? 30 a day?..how many actually express their opinion amongst the stuff you are actually there for? You know like, the length and breadth of Scotland like you've claimed?


What about the other people you work with? You've given YOUR opinion on the 180...how about the rest...?

I work with elderly clients a lot and they read the newspapers and like to chat about current affairs. Political chat comes up more often than you may think, everyday conversations can quite easily turn to politics.

Thrugelmir

Leanne1812 wrote: »

I think it's fair to say the wrong brother was chosen first time around. Who knows, we may have had a labour gov had they gone for David.

Just like life. Windows of opportunity come and go. One never knows what might have been......

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Leanne1812 wrote: »

Ok, gotcha on the first point. It was only thing I could think of but thought perhaps it was more complex or I was missing something.

No it's pretty straight forward.

Taxes on moving house tend to discourage people from moving house.

The higher the tax the worse it gets, so when you want to encourage people to move so as to more efficiently allocate housing stock, stamp duty is the devils own work.

Clapton has gotten under my skin! I'm not going to let him make me doubt myself anymore. Do you hear that mister?

I didn't take it as a dig. I'm not on high alert SNP bad all the time you know

And I'm having a bit of a festive season 'goodwill to all' moment so I've shelved my usual SNP-Bad responses until the new year.

So if you're curious about any other political/economic issues for Scotland happy to discuss in as neutral a manner as I can muster.

I'd have thought economic advisors would be on hand to point out the flaws with any policy changes so is it not really a balancing act? I do understand every policy will also have voters and their intentions brought into the thinking process too.

It should be a balancing act.

But humanity has a very long history from all around the World of politicians getting it wrong in the interests of populism.

Whether you like or dislike any political party, I think we all have to admit, they're only human...

Generali

Leanne1812 wrote: »

I work with elderly clients a lot and they read the newspapers and like to chat about current affairs. Political chat comes up more often than you may think, everyday conversations can quite easily turn to politics.

So you discuss politics while refusing to discuss politics. Hmmmmm.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Leanne1812 wrote: »

I work with elderly clients a lot and they read the newspapers and like to chat about current affairs. Political chat comes up more often than you may think, everyday conversations can quite easily turn to politics.

I strictly avoid political conversations at work.

Though I do find taxi drivers, barbers, etc, are often quite keen to talk about current affairs and politics.

Given I know nothing about football, that's probably a good thing....

Thrugelmir

Leanne1812 wrote: »

I'd have thought economic advisors would be on hand to point out the flaws with any policy changes so is it not really a balancing act?

Where are these advisors going to come from? The best of the bunch either work in Whitehall, for the BOE or in the financial sector of the City. Building a quality team from scratch is no easy task.

Leanne1812

Generali wrote: »

So you discuss politics while refusing to discuss politics. Hmmmmm.

Nope, it was Elantan who posted about this initially. I just responded to the other person who questioned her. I do quite like political chat. It never gets argumentative with me, maybe some short silences when I'm not sure how to respond particularly when it's immigrant/refugee related.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Leanne1812 wrote: »

It never gets argumentative with me, maybe some short silences when I'm not sure how to respond particularly when it's immigrant/refugee related.

What makes you hesitant with immigrant/refugee issues?