Reply to: BOOMED - The Great Recession is Over!

[vetran]

FTFY

they have just been sorted, £1m is a drop in the ocean compared to the big boys.

[SueEllen]

They have had a lot of publicity. I for one had no idea there was such a thing as a food back a year or so ago, but recently they've been all over the news. It's a wonder the usage has only doubled.

There have been food banks around for years but most people didn't know about them or other places to get a free meal.

The wonders of the interweb

[Sysman]

Or they could just get a job... you can make £150 a day just for answering the phone and saying "have you tried turning it off 'n' on again", don't you know.

Eh? £750 a week for working in a call centre?

I somehow doubt it.

[Scratch It]

Gordon's deficit buying the banks...

[SteelyDan]

At the same time we need to sort the very rich & seeleb pop star tw*ts like Take That, et al paying a proper amount of tax.

FTFY

[Doggy Styles]

Or get the economy functioning well enough that the tax take covers the outgoings.

Well yes, most people know that, but it obviously can't happen overnight.

Sudden big, damaging cost cuts will feck it up, and on the other side of the equation you can't magic the required extra growth out of thin air.

Reducing costs and increasing output must be done slowly. It is what the government are trying to do and they have had some success at it, but it will take more years yet.

Meanwhile, although the deficit is shrinking, until it reaches zero it still increases our borrowing requirement every year. Hence why articles squealing shock horror about record debt are a waste of time.

[doodab]

If they want to eliminate Gordon's deficit at a stroke, the government would have to switch off most benefits within the week, and perhaps a large chunk of NHS spending. I can't see that going down too well with anybody.

Or get the economy functioning well enough that the tax take covers the outgoings.

[Doggy Styles]

Don't worry, everything is ok...

UK Debt Clock

Amazing how things can change in a month, especially in Daily Wail land:

Britain's debt mountain reaches £1.39TRILLION

And it will get higher, everyone knows that. We've still got a deficit.

I don't know what the Mail expects. If they want to eliminate Gordon's deficit at a stroke, the government would have to switch off most benefits within the week, and perhaps a large chunk of NHS spending. I can't see that going down too well with anybody.

[SantaClaus]

Don't worry, everything is ok...

UK Debt Clock

Amazing how things can change in a month, especially in Daily Wail land:

Britain's debt mountain reaches £1.39TRILLION

[vetran]

Or they could just get a job... you can make £150 a day just for answering the phone and saying "have you tried turning it off 'n' on again", don't you know.

nice, real compassion.

[vetran]

Define that please. Legal, moral or just what you think it should be?

hence Proper, its something that needs to be defined by negotiation. I can't really see why Starbucks, Amazon etc can undercut UK business by avoiding UK tax, though I (and probably you) aren't clever enough to define how to create a way of levying a suitable level of taxation for every business.

[Project Monkey]

Its slowly changing, the Benefits cap has bitten they need to let fiscal drag to reduce it, spare room subsidy is biting, we need to restrict council accommodation for the well off, deal forcefully with the ASBO winners and enforce workfare.

At the same time we need to sort the very rich & corporations paying a proper amount of tax.

Define that please. Legal, moral or just what you think it should be?

[Project Monkey]

The Trussell Trust | Foodbank Projects

The Trussell Trust | Real Life Stories

Trussell Trust Foodbank Statistics

Or they could just get a job... you can make £150 a day just for answering the phone and saying "have you tried turning it off 'n' on again", don't you know.

[VectraMan]

Strangely the food bank usage graph I posted doesn't show any blip or wobble during the financial crisis. Its like it was going to keep rising exponentially anyway. Weird.

They have had a lot of publicity. I for one had no idea there was such a thing as a food back a year or so ago, but recently they've been all over the news. It's a wonder the usage has only doubled.

[d000hg]

Or the financial crisis was overblown for column inches, in the same way that anyone wanting to keep costs down could use terms like credit crunch when employees asked for a raise.