bobbarker12345

you can already see the results of raising the VAT to 20% on here. people are going to spend money on cheaper alternatives, so the economy wont get moving at all, not through consumer spending at least.

Giantaxe

The Democrats can't even push through an extension to unemployment benefits, so I wouldn't exactly be banking on Obama to resist, especially as the mid-term elections are likely to see the Republicans gain significant seats in both the House and Senate. The sad thing is that to me unemployment benefits are a no-brainer, both morally and in economic terms: you know those benefits are most probably going to be spent by the recipients.

Easterndawn

There is just to much middle management in government departments and I am happy to hear that changes will be made. Also if you are making £50,000 per year, I am not sure why you would need the Childrens Tax Credit. I think that waiting another year or 18 months would have been wrong and UK would have been in very dire strates. We have seen it in Greece and now in Spain and I think that UK would not of been far behind if some measures had not been put in place.

roaringmouse

VAT on utility bills is 5% so no direct increase there.

roaringmouse

There are some growth things in the budget as part of the cuts - reduction in corporation tax over next 4 years, changes in NI for employers.

It is a nice change to have some direct talk from the UK government about the economy, and action - it will be painful for many living in the UK right now (and possibly those moving shortly), but it's better to have a few years of pain than 10 years of economic doldrums which the eurozone (as a whole) is looking at right now.

On your last point, has the US economy actually been "saved" yet? I'm not convinced.

eurotramp

I would like to see even more changes. The government pays a very high amount of housing benefit out and do you know why?
Because all the council houses are taken for life. Its ridicules that ones you sit in a council house you have it for live..if you need it or not and then we have people for life in them like the right hand of former London mayor who earns £100.000k a year but still has his big London council house all by himself because, the kids long moved out.
Because of things like this the government has to go into the private renting sector and pay private landlords the rent to put council tenants in it.
I'm also for stopping selling council houses off.

We should go back to the old..if you cant afford to buy a house then you have to rent one.

Ok enough of the ranting

dunroving

I like the fact they are looking at whether everyone really needs child tax credits, etc. (except it seems to encourage, or at least not discourage, people on benefits or low wages from having more children). Is there a limit on child tax credits and child allowances, or do you get more every time you have another child? I'm clueless, but inherently it seems there should be some limit ... except for the whole "child poverty" argument, I suppose.

I'm not in favour of complete means testing (again, because it penalizes people who work hard, save, get an advanced education, etc.), but I do think it's a bit daft, for example, that a retired CEO is eligible for the winter fuel allowance ...

Giantaxe

... and a free bus pass etc. Very misplaced priorities.

dunroving

Actually, there are economic reasons in favour of free bus passes for retired people, regardless of their financial status. It encourages more physical activity, thereby reducing public health care costs. Plus, if you restrict to non-rush hour service, it doesn't inconvenience people (by overcrowding), plus it doesn't actually (hardly) cost anything, unlike the fuel allowance. If it encourages retired people to take trips they wouldn't otherwise make, there are lots of societal benefits.

Giantaxe

Call me sceptical that retirees who can afford to travel around without a bus pass won't do so unless they have one. I thought I had also read that some local councils (who I think fund this?) were complaining about the cost to them.

Ah, here's an article on the subject:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...r-elderly.html

dunroving

There was me thinking simplistically that the buses were funded by the councils, who gave out the free passes, and then the OAP's sat for free, no cost to anyone (on the assumption they would otherwise not have travelled).

What I forgot is that so much sh*t is now outsourced that the Council pays Bus Company X for providing the service, people pay for the privilege of riding, and when a "free" bus pass is scanned, it clocks up a charge that the Council then has to reimburse to the Bus Company.

See, I don't understand this: If running a bus company is profitable, why don't the Councils buy buses, train the drivers and run the bloody buses themselves?

Easterndawn

Because that makes to much sense

CrunchieFrog

But if you carry along that train of thought, you end up with a completly state owned and run economy, and they don't work very well.

The thinking is that private companies that specialise in an area (e.g. running buses) can offer a service cheaper than the public sector even including the making of a profit for themselves.

Of course whether that last part is true is a seperate question.

Seneca21

What makes you think the economy is going to be "moving again" in 12-18 months? The UK economy has been comprehensively annihilated by the socialists. It's worse than Greece, to put it in context.

What angers me most is that because Labour always screw up the economy they get booted out for it, but then they sit and criticise the other lot for trying to stick it all back together.

All of Europe has dark times ahead. Germany, the country that is propping up the whole EU, has a massively decreasing population. In a couple of decades its workforce will be 30% smaller.

eurotramp

And then again Germany is a very much socialist country.
In Germany public transport is not privatised, not Bus not Trains and it works very well..thank you very much.
Also Swimming pools and sports clubs are run by the town.