Reply to: The end of Thatcherism

[expat]

I just knew you would bite expat

[DodgyAgent]

Typical agentspeak, if I may say so telling me that the market is bad, when actually I find it good!

Are you doing workshare on here, because someone claiming to be called DodgyAgent said not long ago that he had loads of well-paid contracts going in Germany for German-speakers?

Anyway, I'm sorry to hear that now your German contract market is not so good: mine is (I live in the UK and would prefer to work in the UK too, but haven't found anything I can afford to take).

BTW I do find that high standards are expected in Germany, possibly in part because they do not expect to turn over contractors until they get a good one (and also because they do value substance over style).

I just knew you would bite expat

[expat]

German contracts have been few and far between for the last 15 years and they certainly have not been better paid than in the UK. You will also find that in the UK high standards are expected of contractors because the market is so active. In the EU bad contractors can get away with being ordinary because they are a novelty.

Typical agentspeak, if I may say so telling me that the market is bad, when actually I find it good!

Are you doing workshare on here, because someone claiming to be called DodgyAgent said not long ago that he had loads of well-paid contracts going in Germany for German-speakers?

Anyway, I'm sorry to hear that now your German contract market is not so good: mine is (I live in the UK and would prefer to work in the UK too, but haven't found anything I can afford to take).

BTW I do find that high standards are expected in Germany, possibly in part because they do not expect to turn over contractors until they get a good one (and also because they do value substance over style).

[sasguru]

I wasnt talking about the next two years, I was talking about the last 15. Germany has created few jobs and there is precious little prospect of them creating opportunities for the EU community in times of hardship. So what if they have this great manufacturing base? they may now after many years of stagnating be better than the other EU nations but who is going to buy their goods?

Most Uk jobs were created as a direct result of financial services and the associated property and housing boom which led to all sorts of support industries. This is not job creation of any lasting value.
And the financial landscape will be very different going forward.
As the thread says this is the end of an era.
You may be right that we are more flexible, but where will the jobs necessary for a large country to survive come from now?

[The Lone Gunman]

German contracts have been few and far between for the last 15 years and they certainly have not been better paid than in the UK. You will also find that in the UK high standards are expected of contractors because the market is so active. In the EU bad contractors can get away with being ordinary because they are a novelty.

I would be inclined to dispute that Dodge.
I may be in a niche market, but it has been easier for me to find work in Germany (and other parts of the EU) than at home and the Germans expect you to know what you are doing.
Took my first contract in 98 and have worked 12 months in the UK since then.

[DodgyAgent]

I have been reading for years how much more successful the UK economy is than the "sclerotic" German economy, and indeed other euro-economies that do not have the good fortune to be the dynamic machine that is ours - and all the while, I have been working in Germany and other EU countries, finding more and better-paid contracts than I could in the UK.

I know that's not a scientific sample, but neither is the continual harping-on about the alleged problems of European economies.

I'll believe it when I see it.

German contracts have been few and far between for the last 15 years and they certainly have not been better paid than in the UK. You will also find that in the UK high standards are expected of contractors because the market is so active. In the EU bad contractors can get away with being ordinary because they are a novelty.

[Sysman]

Rubbish, the markets are sorting the wheat from the chaff, thus showing the wheels of capitalism to be working efficiently. The real danger is not from the markets but that the left will now use this crisis as an excuse to meddle and really screw things up.

Funny you should mention that bit, as on the lunchtime news they were reporting that part of the banks' nationalization deal was that lending be returned to 2007 levels for both small to medium businesses and mortgages.

Intervention from the word go, I'd say...

[DodgyAgent]

Your last paragraph is typical of the hogwash that has been spouted by the English press for years.
We'll see what a haven for "jobs and creativity" exists here in the next few years.
Most of the "job" creation here in the last few years has been mere froth.

I wasnt talking about the next two years, I was talking about the last 15. Germany has created few jobs and there is precious little prospect of them creating opportunities for the EU community in times of hardship. So what if they have this great manufacturing base? they may now after many years of stagnating be better than the other EU nations but who is going to buy their goods?

[expat]

I have been reading for years how much more successful the UK economy is than the "sclerotic" German economy, and indeed other euro-economies that do not have the good fortune to be the dynamic machine that is ours - and all the while, I have been working in Germany and other EU countries, finding more and better-paid contracts than I could in the UK.

I know that's not a scientific sample, but neither is the continual harping-on about the alleged problems of European economies.

I'll believe it when I see it.

[sasguru]

I am not so sure I see what is so great about the German economy. For the last 15 years it has "enjoyed" very slow growth, high unemployment and its banks are hardly weathering the storm of current downturn much better than the US/Uk banks.
The Germans may prefer to save their money but it hasnt really brought their country new opportunities for entrepreneurship and nor has it created ground level jobs. It has fostered a culture of protectionism for the priviliged and inflexibility of its workers. Germany is now suffering from a shortage of engineers and although it may be weathering the downturn a little better than us, it certainly wont be the haven for jobs and creativity that Britain has neen since Thatcher.

Your last paragraph is typical of the hogwash that has been spouted by the English press for years.
We'll see what a haven for "jobs and creativity" exists here in the next few years.
Most of the "job" creation here in the last few years has been mere froth.

[AlfredJPruffock]

He had a moral obligation both as Chancellor and PM to ensure that the financial sector was behaving rationally and responsibly, and in that he clearly failed.

Honor and Money do not belong in the same Wallet.

Old Spanish proverb

[DodgyAgent]

Who buys them? - we do because we can't create anything ourselves
Who raises the funds? - mainly re-investment of profits and German banks generally taking a long-term approach
Where does the money come to pay me - from the profits I generate (non financial product related BTW)
I'm not knocking capitalism which should be about competition between small firms - I'm knocking large corporate and financial firms who have distorted capitalism as we can all see.
As I noted in another post - in large corporates reward has become divorced from risk, with the result that we see today.

I am not so sure I see what is so great about the German economy. For the last 15 years it has "enjoyed" very slow growth, high unemployment and its banks are hardly weathering the storm of current downturn much better than the US/Uk banks.
The Germans may prefer to save their money but it hasnt really brought their country new opportunities for entrepreneurship and nor has it created ground level jobs. It has fostered a culture of protectionism for the priviliged and inflexibility of its workers. Germany is now suffering from a shortage of engineers and although it may be weathering the downturn a little better than us, it certainly wont be the haven for jobs and creativity that Britain has neen since Thatcher.

[DodgyAgent]

[I]I give up.

If only you would

[Bob Dalek]

It's because you daleks look like you are wearing a burkha I think.
Mind you, have you seen what she has got under hers? She looks like supergirl and 34DD assets.

It's her double-headed dong that breaks the deal, for me.

[Xenophon]

It's because you daleks look like you are wearing a burkha I think.
Mind you, have you seen what she has got under hers? She looks like supergirl and 34DD assets.

Best use of the word 'assets' in a long time.

Probably ever.