http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: It's the stupid economy en Sun, 31 May 2026 17:31:34 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4577#post-48968 Fri, 02 Dec 2011 13:04:32 +0000 DaveC 48968@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Oh talking of pessimists...</p> <p>Kevin (we're doomed I tell ya all) McCloud....</p> <p>Knows his stuff but boy can he talk down a project. He spent one program talking about how a house being reroofed with thatch from Norfolk would have to be removed once the local planning agent saw it, as it wasn't the local stuff (hay) which was being replaced. Planner came over, loved what they saw and went home. Pished all over McCloud's fire!! </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4577#post-48966 Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:44:57 +0000 Baldcyclist 48966@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>There are a number of commentators who believe the BBC (Peston, Flanders et al) are toe'ing the party line by talking UP our economic prospects, and not really telling us how bad things really are! </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4577#post-48913 Fri, 02 Dec 2011 01:54:51 +0000 kaputnik 48913@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>The word pessimism should be replaced by "pestonism". </p> <p>I'm going to take it upon myself to cheer us all up through the medium of crap puns and slightly saucy illustrations.</p> <p>Peston may know his onions when it comes to economics and all that but he seems not to acknowledge the bigger-than-massiver-than-herculean population, demographic, environmental, social and political challenges facing China and India. In comparison the "problems" of Europe seem rather trifling. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4577#post-48912 Fri, 02 Dec 2011 01:29:38 +0000 crowriver 48912@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>They had a word for it back in the 1970s: Stagflation. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4577#post-48907 Thu, 01 Dec 2011 23:43:50 +0000 chdot 48907@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"I honestly thought I could not read anything to depress me more"</p> <p>OK</p> <p>"<br /> The Party's Over – How The West Lost The War Of Globalisation</p> <p>BBC Business Editor Robert Peston makes sense of the past 30 years of the global economy and predicts current government cuts are just the start of an era of austerity caused by the seismic rebalancing of the world economy between the West and the emerging economies led by China.</p> <p>Robert charts the parallel lives of families in Britain and in the new superpower economies, interviewing politicians, bankers and economists around the world, to expose the realities of our economic predicament.</p> <p>The first programme shows how the consumer boom in the West was an illusion fuelled by cheap credit and the huge deflationary effect of cheap goods made in China.</p> <p>The second film looks to the future, asking whether China and other developing economies are taking the lead in the so-called knowledge economy, previously dominated by the West, and investigates what we can do to compete.</p> <p>Robert brings home to the audience the implications of a crisis that has been brewing for decades.</p> <p>"</p> <p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2011/06_june/22/modernbritain.shtml" rel="nofollow">http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2011/06_june/22/modernbritain.shtml</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4577#post-48901 Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:33:57 +0000 SRD 48901@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I honestly thought I could not read anything to depress me more - than i saw <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/nov/30/osborne-autumn-statement-fawlty-towers">Larry Elliot's column/article</a> in today's Grauniad. oof. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4577#post-48854 Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:05:04 +0000 holisticglint 48854@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@chdot - A continually rising GDP is not necessarily possible – or even desirable....</p> <p>Since the economy is ultimately based on raw materials and space travel is not really going anywhere then GDP is ultimately constrained by what we can dig out of the ground. Actually we are pretty close to those limits already.</p> <p><a href="http://s.informationisbeautifulawards.com/blog-content/uploads/2011/11/How-much-time-do-we-have-left-Sarah-Day-.jpg">http://s.informationisbeautifulawards.com/blog-content/uploads/2011/11/How-much-time-do-we-have-left-Sarah-Day-.jpg</a></p> <p>More on steady state economics</p> <p><a href="http://steadystate.org/">http://steadystate.org/</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4577#post-48847 Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:13:52 +0000 chdot 48847@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"<br /> Life after the end of economic growth</p> <p>A continually rising GDP is not necessarily possible – or even desirable. So why do policymakers obsess over it?<br /> "</p> <p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/30/end-of-growth" rel="nofollow">http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/30/end-of-growth</a></p> <p>"UK faces sharpest drop in income since 70s"</p> <p><a href="http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/uk/uk_faces_sharpest_drop_in_income_since_70s_1_1989377" rel="nofollow">http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/uk/uk_faces_sharpest_drop_in_income_since_70s_1_1989377</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4577#post-48690 Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:48:51 +0000 chdot 48690@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>P.s. We ARE all in this together - just not in the way Mr. O imagines. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=4577#post-48678 Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:31:07 +0000 chdot 48678@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>George Osborne blames the last Labour Government and the EuroZone. </p> <p>Ed Balls blames the current Government and says the last one kept the UK out of the EZ. </p> <p>John Swinney blames everyone at Westminster, but could imagine being part of the EZ when it settles down again. </p> <p>'We' blame everyone who drives to work (especially those who only go 2 or 3 miles into the centre of Edinburgh) when there are alternatives. </p> <p>Worldwide most politicians say 'the biggest threat is Climate Change', but then relegate it down the 'most important' list behind The Economy, Growth, Immigration etc. </p> <p>Communism was best for those in charge, so is capitalism (or is that for friends of those in charge? - all Parties mentioned above). </p> <p>China is still communist - <em>and</em> more capitalist than most countries - and building more coal power stations <em>and</em> 'renewables' than anybody else. (Mostly so that they can export 'stuff' to 'us'.)</p> <p>People in even more countries want 'democracy' - whether that is shorthand for 'western style consumerist capitalism' is uncertain. Unclear if Government changes in Greece and Italy have much to do with democracy. Even less clear in Iraq and Libya etc. </p> <p>Of course such things haven't been in the UK news so much lately - more concern about the 'autumn statement' and 'public sector workers' pensions' and 'what Rebekah really knew'. </p> <p>But the sun is shining again, and the shiny toy season is almost upon us. </p> <p>Who cares if the New Year brings snow and credit card bills(?) </p>