Britain v Germany

[milanbenes]

"Presumably the money we didn't spend on equipment and training (and social security benefits for people thrown out of work by productivity improvements) was spent on some else we value more?",

you mean like Public Servants and the Iraq War ?

Milan.

[Francko]

[...]

Presumably the money we didn't spend on equipment and training (and social security benefits for people thrown out of work by productivity improvements) was spent on some else we value more?

So you are suggesting that deskilling people is a good way for keeping unemployment low?

[milanbenes]

feck me, Franko's joined my team.

How's life Franko, have you bought your second home in Tuscany yet ?

Milan.

[DodgyAgent]

Not an economist, but...

As I understand it they are more productive because of greater investment in capital equipment and training. We (I presume) get things done by just throwing more people at the job (hence our lack of unemployment.) The reason for their greater investment is the distortions created by social legislation. So the reason for our lack of investment is that we are closer to doing the ideal thing that market forces would dictate....

So our lower productivity is a good sign, it shows we are running our economy more sensibly, i.e. closer to the way market forces would dictate if government minded its own business.

Presumably the money we didn't spend on equipment and training (and social security benefits for people thrown out of work by productivity improvements) was spent on some else we value more?

I think that you will find our low productivity is heavily influenced by higher costs of property and land and by waste/inefficiency in the public sector.
The reasons why we have low unemployment are because we are still enjoying labour market reforms won by Thatcher. So if anyone wishes to set up in Europe, the UK is the place to invest.

But dont worry NL are putting a stop to it.

[milanbenes]

that's better back to the old DA...

contradicting himself...

in one breath you show how expensive it is to operate in the Uk...

"our low productivity is heavily influenced by higher costs of property and land and by waste/inefficiency in the public sector.
",

leading to much higher wage demands


and in the other breath you say employment reforms make Britain more attractive for foreign investors !!!

how can it be considering the operating costs ?

Milan.

[DodgyAgent]

that's better back to the old DA...

contradicting himself...

in one breath you show how expensive it is to operate in the Uk...

"our low productivity is heavily influenced by higher costs of property and land and by waste/inefficiency in the public sector.
",

leading to much higher wage demands


and in the other breath you say employment reforms make Britain more attractive for foreign investors !!!

how can it be considering the operating costs ?

Milan.

It is all relative milan. Yes UKs productivity is low, and yes property is expensive. However Germany and France may be more productive, with cheaper rentals, but they are paying so many people to not work that the UK is still a more attractive place to invest.

The biggest waste of money on earth is to pay people to do nothing. Not only does this waste money, but it also removes motivation, encourages others to follow suit, drains the economy by placing burdens on others and kills confidence.

Low productivity and high employment seems to be more favourable than high productivity and high unemployment.

[Francko]

feck me, Franko's joined my team.

How's life Franko, have you bought your second home in Tuscany yet ?

Milan.

Naaa.... Italy is fecked too. Only because i have to take care of my parents but if I hadn't to, I wouldn't keep a penny or a cent there.

[AtW]

"Wir werden Sieger - durch unsren Tiger"

[Francko]

[...]
The biggest waste of money on earth is to pay people to do nothing. Not only does this waste money, but it also removes motivation, encourages others to follow suit, drains the economy by placing burdens on others and kills confidence.

Low productivity and high employment seems to be more favourable than high productivity and high unemployment.

Mmmmm... if I had to decide I would rather pay some of my colleagues salaries to let them stay at home so they don't disturb us big guys while doing some serious work.

[sasguru]

Mmmmm... if I had to decide I would rather pay some of my colleagues salaries to let them stay at home so they don't disturb us big guys while doing some serious work.

tulip everyone heard me cackle, even though I have my own office. You don't work for me do you Franco? Did you get a new boss recently? Do you work for an investment bank?