Petrol's going up then...

[Sonic]

i'm all for the 2.5% reduction, I was out at Snow&Rock at lunchtime and thanks to the government, I saved huge .......£0.32p on my item. Now, shall I fly to Australia, buy a new car or invest in stock. I tell you, the economy will fire up on the back of this windfall

What a bunch of f**king idiots

Thats pretty good going, only comes into effect on Monday

[shark_90]

So are the Blues going to be any better than what we have now? Or do too many people remember Thatcher Britain, forcing them to vote Lib Dem in protest... would you want them running the country??

[Acidburn]

i'm all for the 2.5% reduction, I was out at Snow&Rock at lunchtime and thanks to the government, I saved huge .......£0.32p on my item. Now, shall I fly to Australia, buy a new car or invest in stock. I tell you, the economy will fire up on the back of this windfall

What a bunch of f**king idiots

Hopefully This will help me a bit more, I just signed for my lockup this morning and the lady dealing with it said that from my next payment the discount would be in effect.

Yay

[s2driveruk]

So are the Blues going to be any better than what we have now? Or do too many people remember Thatcher Britain, forcing them to vote Lib Dem in protest... would you want them running the country??

like any party is better than the other they are a bunch of self-interested, expense fiddling, allowance grabbers who love to throw their ego's about.

whoever gets in next will waltz in off the back of a load of hot air and then promptly tax the a*se end off the country anyway.

Anyone who thinks they will truely be better off with a different colour at the helm is probably in for a shock IMO

[90quattrocoupe]

Personally, I think it is the Americans.

We have become a comsumer nation, not making much anymore.

We borrowed to buy houses, that were never going to go down in value. Yea, like the same thing didn't happen in 1991-1993 when real estate went down 35%.

We didn't have the resources to buy the houses to begin with, so we bought with adjustable rate loans.

We refinanced our houses to buy cars, big screen TVs, gadgets, etc., just so we could be better than the Jones's.

The Feds borrowing money finance a war in Iraq, no body wanted.

The states passing bond measures to borrow money, and the stupid twits in California just passed two more bond measures, and we can't pay the debt now.

On, and on and on.

We did the same in 1929, and looked what happened. We brought the rest of the world down with us.

Me, I pay cash, or I do without. Period.

Sorry, Brits. Our fault.

Greg W.

[S2central.net]

Don't feel bad Captain America though your honesty is admirable...

The vast majority of Brits with their 'keep up the Jones' attitude pretty much copied y'all... When I moved back from the USA to the UK circa 2001 I was amazed how much more like the states it was in terms of consumer and credit frenzy... All these idiots that refinance for a new car every other year (just to pose with a new number plate and get 'free' dealership care). And the house price lottery was just a sick joke - it was a bubble waiting to burst, but it seemed to go on for so long that most folk figured it wasn't going to happen.

Cash is king - unless inflation rates go Argentina style !

[Fat Audi 80]

Personally, I think it is the Americans.

We have become a comsumer nation, not making much anymore.

We borrowed to buy houses, that were never going to go down in value. Yea, like the same thing didn't happen in 1991-1993 when real estate went down 35%.

We didn't have the resources to buy the houses to begin with, so we bought with adjustable rate loans.

We refinanced our houses to buy cars, big screen TVs, gadgets, etc., just so we could be better than the Jones's.

The Feds borrowing money finance a war in Iraq, no body wanted.

The states passing bond measures to borrow money, and the stupid twits in California just passed two more bond measures, and we can't pay the debt now.

On, and on and on.

We did the same in 1929, and looked what happened. We brought the rest of the world down with us.

Me, I pay cash, or I do without. Period.

Sorry, Brits. Our fault.

Greg W.

Fair Play. Great post, but we have little to feel smug about over here either. Waay too many credit cards and HP agreement + finance for cars as Paul has already eluded to.

It's a shame it has come to this, but all those that said it wouldn't and couldn't last were right, and have probably lost money along with the rest us that are actually trying to save and invest rather than borrow and show off...

cheers,

Steve.

[Ross]

Greg,

The UK has the same issues that the US has; as the US is a much bigger economy the global ripples are of course severe. But we were always going to fall, and hard, because of the same mentality over here. Our housing boom was rediculous, but I know you guys have a really wierd car market over there (negative equity in a car can be refinanced repeatedly, the customer always drives a new car that can then be used as security for a bigger bank loan. Almost unbelievable I know, but people worked up stupid amounts of debt using this system). As Paul, I spent time in the US and was shocked to see the state of this country when I returned in early 2005. I thought it was getting bad when I left in 2002!

Shockingly, our government want to follow the trend that got us so deep in, by borrowing more money to buy us out of this recession. They need to realise that perhaps, we need a recession, and should invest in a future of productive industry rather than estate agents and property consultants. Or to find 100 billion barrels of oil underneath London.

[90quattrocoupe]

Greg,

Shockingly, our government want to follow the trend that got us so deep in, by borrowing more money to buy us out of this recession. They need to realise that perhaps, we need a recession, and should invest in a future of productive industry rather than estate agents and property consultants. Or to find 100 billion barrels of oil underneath London.

You are right. I guess both our governments feel that the best way out of a recession, is to get the consumer buying again, but loosing up credit. Gee, I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out, that there is just so much credit, and it got us into this mess.

Invest in an industry that will actually make a product that you can sell.

Now, Roosevelt, did not get us out of the depression, WWII did. But some of his ideas were right. Instead of just throwing money in a hole, build stuff. He built highways, dams, buildings, etc. At least, he got something from the money, and people felt good about working. They didn't want a handout, just a job.

With the money they are throwing at Wall Street and the Financial Institutions, they would be better off, just giving everyone in the States, $100,000. No more credit. I don't know where it will end, but I don't think it will end very soon.

Oh, well my rant for the day.

Greg W.

[S2central.net]

If Obama has any sense he will spend lots of money getting much of those highways & bridges rebuilt - providing good honest work for a lot of people... Dare say some of them have seen nothing more than essential maintenance since Roosevelts day.