Are you Ready for History to be Made?

I started saying two years ago that this election would be historical. Last night and this morning I've been proved right.

Enjoy the next few days and weeks, it will be interesting.

It may well end in a tragedy of Greek proportions.

Whatever, this country will be vastly different, for many reasons.

Better Luck maybe...

After a hectic day (including voting, even during our day of turmoil), we found somewhere temporary to live.

Our next door neighbour has a flat she was thinking of renting out. We convinced her we'd be excellent tenants for her, at least in the short term.

It gives us some breathing space at least, as we have a roof over our heads for at least a month.

The estate agent remains optimistic we'll be able to move into the place we were due to eventually, but I'm not convinced. Luckily if it deos all fall through we shouldn't lose any money.

Anyway, today and tomorrow will be very busy days and I'm due to lose internet access so no blogging for a while.

Just been watching the election results: things look interesting and far too close to call. Enjoy the next few days.

 

Just my (Very, very, very) bad luck

Okay, We're moving this weekend into a 2 bedroom flat, in an attempt to save money.

Well, that was the plan, until the landlord of the place we're moving into up and died at the beginning of this week, leaving us having to get out of our house this weekend with nowhere to go.

Who'd have our luck eh? I hope no-one has luck as bad as ours, its a really shit place to be having to roll with the body blows life deals you.

So, I'll lose three days pay as I attempt to find some sort of alternative arrangement. With no money to do it with as the deposits are with the now deceased landlord. I have 1 day.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, because at the moment, I'm all out of them.

I hate being me.

Rewarding Failure

When the banks overstratched themselves, we bailed them out. We rewarded their failure to be financially prudent.

Now Greece is having similar problems, we're bailing them out. Again, we're rewarding failure.

How on earth will anyone learn? How on earth can be hope to create a decent society, when its ok to make an almighty financial cock-up, because a bunch of politicians will throw taxpayers money (without asking them if its ok) into the hole to shore it up?

The idiots in charge will never stop, because someone else, somewhere else, will foot the bill for their incompetance.

Just once I'd like to be asked whether I'd prefer to continue bailing out idiots, or suffer the consequences of not bailing them out. Thats choice: REAL choice, which is in short supply this election.

The Taxation Debate: Are Cuts Really Cuts?

Gordon Brown keeps saying whenever the Tories or Lib-Dems talk about tax cuts that they're taking money OUT of the economy, rather than leaving it IN.

He really does believe that the government spends the tax money we hand over so frugally, that we get fantastic value for money. Totally dellusional and I'll give you one example of why.

Everyone knows about the much vaunted car scrappage scheme. Its been a success, making large numbers of people trade in old cars for brand new ones. Thus, saving jobs in the important UK car industry.

Well, you'd think so. EXCEPT: Each one of the 4,000 jobs saved has actually cost £100,000. Thats right, government does so badly when it spends our money even something as simple as the scrappage scheme has huge cost overheads.

A far better idea would have been to give the car manufacturers a tax break in order to keep the staff on the books equivalent to say £30,000 per person, thereby saving £70,000 per job.

Tax cuts keep money in the private economy, where its spent more efficiently, does more and creates more  jobs.

So when Gordon Brown talks about tax cuts taking money out of the economy, you know he's talking through his arse. Wonder if it does that funny slack-jawed thing his mouth does?