credit crunch

[carpetstu]

QUOTE

6%............I have been through double that, timed to coincide with starting a family and having my overtime cut:down:    It was tough, but we pulled our belts in, made do without carpet and nice decoration or fancy TV's etc

Oi don't stop buying carpets !    

Last year was a very tough year for us, we had 12 weeks of selling almost nothing (as did many other retailers in this area).

The Government said nothing!  

This year business is much better and after 12 months we are finally getting back on track after last years disastrous trading!

The newspapers IMHO are scaremongering. One of the main reasons the house market is falling and people are not buying is because mortgages are almost impossible to get.

However, I had a conversation with a Barclay's bank manager last week (I don't bank with them btw), and he said he has been told to ignore the press and lend money over and above usual. So if you need money Barclay's seem to be the ones lol.  

Reading between the lines we have 3 different shoppers at the moment..

1) People with money, maybe slightly older, with very little or no mortgage that are shopping happily.

2) Same as above but not shopping as they are scared by press reports.

3) People that far in the s**t due to over stretched mortgages etc that they cant afford to eat let alone shop.

We are fortunate that our business appeals to the first on the list. But as for last year it would seem even they didn't get the purse out.

Oh as for the government ....Who's the new prime minister bloke? We don't see much of him do we?

It would be nice for them / him to actually address the nation and say something the over paid fat w****r!

Rant over

[mhc]

This country is at a dangerous crossroads.

Its basically bankrupt.

Those in charge are a bunch of self serving ******s.

Every where you look ,its a sticking plaster mentality.

Put a plaster on it and hope it mends itself.

No term long planning to benifit the country, just a need by the goverment, local councils, large companies, multinationals to take more money from us.

Taxes, council charges, EU commisions etc.

The more they get, the more arrogant and self serving they become.

Clearly not to improve the lot of (the common man and woman) but to get more of their snouts in the trough.

Perhaps its time for a bit more anarchy from the givers of society to the takers, ie lets have a say in the way we are controlled .

This country used to be a democracy, but not any more.

Every time they chip away at our core values its always dressed up has being for the public good.

The higher up the food chain you go the less accountable they become, can this be right.

A very old saying comes to mind, just as applicable today as it was then.

Lions led by donkeys.

Rant over.

Best regards , and its still raining.

[scott beeland]

Interesting & interested

[Arm]

Well said Mick

Regards

[originalgeezer]

One thing i like, a phrase we use constantly at work:

Value for Money

Now if we take our council tax as an example, the cost year on year goes up, but from my personal accountability, for what affects me, I get less and less but pay more and more.

Generally, in this country i see it, that if you poor, low income you are helped, if you are rich you are maintained, if you just trying to improve and in the middle of that group, you pay for all as you fit in neither.

I am single man, home owner who has battled to buy, to keep his house since purchased, have worked all hours, all jobs to get where i am and now earn more now than ever, but  have less than ever to show for it.

The forgotten group, those who are trying to improve themselves - sorry in England, not allowed.....

[iiyama]

Especially if your English.......Because I dont think we exist anymore.

[originalgeezer]

Ouch!

Are you allowed to say that.................?

As Wales want or have their own parliment, Scotland the same but we in England get classed as GB/ Uk thus have a Scottish Prime Minister?

Now. before those take offence, i have no problem with any of it, but there is little consistency about it all and to be honest, i am getting to the point of feeling that going to upset someone to say

I am not British, but English.

Dunno, seems to be going off track about the credit crunch, but will say was listening about the difference on the borders to scotland and hearing how it is better for credit' benefits to be north of the border than south

Need people who understand it more to comment on that one

[pistonbroke]

In spite of all the sham , drugery and broken dreams please remember it is a beautiful world  

[Norman Verona]

So you think your hard done by.

After 45 years of tax and NI and never claimed a benifit I moved to France due to ill health.

I then find that my ill health is due to a blood disorder that our doctors and NHS ignore - don't test for and don't treat.

So the French do the business without delay, fuss or counting pennies.

BUT the British goverment have now withdrawn my E106 so I can't get medical benifit until Lynnes reached retirement age next May. If I can't afford to pay the full amount then I die - simple really*

So, having been a loyal citizen, always supporting my country and having put well above average in the kitty over 45 years I'm disowned.

What loyalty do I (and others in my position) owe my country.

There is another aspect to this. I'm not racist, far from it. I don't have a problem with immigrants (my grandparents were immigrants). But if the country shows no loyalty to the people who have worked hard and paid taxes all there life but show loyalty to people who have just arrived in the country (and rightly so) will we end up doing a total population change over the next 25 years?

* I found out yesterday that the French will put me on CMU for a year. basicly it's unemployment benifit which allows me medical care. But why should the French pay when my own goverment won't?

[ChrisF]

This country is at a dangerous crossroads.

Its basically bankrupt.

Those in charge are a bunch of self serving ******s.

Every where you look ,its a sticking plaster mentality.

Put a plaster on it and hope it mends itself.

No term long planning to benifit the country, just a need by the goverment, local councils, large companies, multinationals to take more money from us.

Taxes, council charges, EU commisions etc.

The more they get, the more arrogant and self serving they become.

Clearly not to improve the lot of (the common man and woman) but to get more of their snouts in the trough.

Perhaps its time for a bit more anarchy from the givers of society to the takers, ie lets have a say in the way we are controlled .

This country used to be a democracy, but not any more.

Every time they chip away at our core values its always dressed up has being for the public good.

The higher up the food chain you go the less accountable they become, can this be right.

A very old saying comes to mind, just as applicable today as it was then.

Lions led buy donkeys.

Rant over.

Best regards , and its still raining.

Well said...that just about sums it up  

IMHO power corrupts and there seems little we can do about it, other that vote and vote wisely  

[tex]

if the country is bankrupt and people have no money they certainly are not stopping spending that much - we are making so many cars that we cannot keep up.. we used to make 460 per shift x 2 shifts - 920 a day - that has just been increased to an extra shift as of this sunday with no end in sight - either people are not feeling the pinch *that* much or it hasnt hit yet cos the cheapest Qashqai is not that cheap. maybe people are trying to offload their fuel guzzlers for smaller *nearly a 4x4 type car* or something isnt showing yet.. car sales are where real spending power usually is the visible monitor

[Norman Verona]

QUOTE

vote and vote wisely  

Pray tell me who I can wisely vote for. After 40 years of voting I cannot tell the difference between the two parties that we have to choose from. There is a third that makes a lot of sense in some of it's policies but seems barking mad with others.

We need a new party. The non-dogmatic, common sense, JFDI, make Britain great again party.

I propse Buzz as our leader.

[iiyama]

How come they stopped your E106 then Norman?? Do they actually have the right to do that?

As above....vote for whom?

If you talk to the welsh Im not sure they wanted devolution, Noo Laborious gave it to them regardless, Cant remember if the Scot's had a vote..?? Even so this is meant to be the UK, and it is now far from united!

As for a population change, mate! It aint gonna take 25 years!!!!

[Blatman]

House prices are dropping daily, if you've bought a house in the last 3 or 4 years pretty soon it won't be worth what you paid. If you've bought in the last 2 years it probably already isn't...

I can't seem to ever get my head around the house price thing though. Ignoring negative equity owners for a moment, if you bought a property and it remains worth more than what you pay each month in mortgage costs, everyone else is in the same boat. You can still buy/sell/move, as long as you don't want to upgrade. Of course, now is exactly the right time to try to upgrade becasue house prices are depressed, but remember, property value doesn't increase wealth unless you sell the property and spend the money on something else. All property buying and selling does is move money (debt) around between banks.

If you are currently in negative equity, all you can do is sit tight and wait. Unless you have enough for a deposit top up. It may be depressing for a while, but experience has taught many of us that it will sort itself out. Just don't overspend in the mean time...

[Norman Verona]

Ian, The E106 is only issued for 2 years.

The attitude is "your choice to move away".

I ask "doesn't my 45 years contributions mean anything", "No, you're not paying NI now so you get no medical benifits"

I can't understand that statement. If that is the case what about the 4 million people who don't work, they don't pay any contributions.

The price of everything, the value of nothing