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Pandora Papers ! .

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On 12/10/2021 at 08:03, Anna B said:

It was the deregulation of the banking industry that directly caused the 2008 financial crash.

It was Thatcher who deregulated in the UK.

Yet the Conservatives managed to pass the blame onto Labour ('...who caused this financial mess.')

 

Such is the power of the simple soundbite when supported by the media, that the Tories managed to make it stick in the minds of the electorate, it lost Labour the next election, and gave the Tories an excuse to impose years and years of 'Austerity' cuts on the population. This in turn created untold misery in deregulated employment, housing, health, and exacerbated the Covid pandemic and caused the deaths of thousands of people.

 

Deregulation in the hands of the Tories does not end well....  

Put simply, It was the latest incarnation of the various Community ReInvestment Acts passed, revised and renewed since Jummy Carter, that was the genesis of the Global Financial Crisis.

 

Whereby the government told the banks to reduce their lending standards to allow inner city and other poor citizens that had no access to security or credit, to obtain mortgages for properties in so colled "blighted area" which the banks wouldn't normally touch. The government had labeled that "Dicriminatory Lending Practices". (The program "targeted low-income, low-information homebuyers who largely belonged to racial minorities.[1", according to WIKI)

 

The banks were covered by the lending acts and agencies like Fannie May and Freddy May, which kept them safe from financial risk of defaults, so they were forced to go along.

 

So, everybody rushed to buy a house, many for speculation, in a rising housing market, and when the market declined were left with a house that was not worth the amount of the mortgage on it, so they just walked out in droves. These defaults were then bundled and traded by Wall Street bankers as "derivatievs" in a very complicated scheme.

 

When the housing market crashed, the derivetives became worthless and the banks took a hit.

They, and their Wall Street pals were bailed out with the big "Bail Out" to prevent the total collapse of the Global Financial System.

 

So it was government interference in lowering formerly safe banking standards, that set it off!

 

Definitely not lack of regulation. That came later, as they all tried to jump ship.

 

The road to hell is paved with good intentions of the incompetent.

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On 13/10/2021 at 09:09, Anna B said:

You seem to be running out of arguments. Maybe you had better just accept what's happening.

Presumably you just didn't understand the other things I wrote so there's not much point going there but there is only one argument of any note - is it legal?

 

From what we've seen so far it all appears to be totally above board. If you'd like to discuss how despots in the various so-called "People's Socialist Republic Of [insert despotic nation of choice]" then we can do that. Pick a country. How about a random despotic regime that Jeremy is a supporter of? There are loads!

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The financial scandal of 2007 - 8 was a complex phenomenon featuring corruption within the major US and UK banks and the so-called ratings agencies, mortgage fraud, the mis-selling of mortgages stimulated by the proliferation of inappropriate loans through payment of high commissions to unscrupulous sales personnel which led to uncontrolled predatory lending, the cynical development of financial instruments such as credit default swaps, mortgage backed securities, collateralised debt obligations and a host of other technical innovations sold on a rising market. It became apparent during the crisis that few professionals, let alone ordinary investors, understood the basic risks obscured in what the implicated institutions like to call 'financial products'.

 

The scandal included illegal activities by many major financial companies operating in the US and here in the UK, and the abolition of regulations - in particularl the Glass–Steagal legislation, and the neoliberal capture of the US Federal Reserve. Certainly there were a number of factors relating to government initiatives which facilitated the deterioration of lending standards (particularly during 2004 - 7, when George Bush's Republican Party were in control), that played a part in the scandal, but do not be fooled by the neoliberal claims that these were the sole, or even the main cause of a disaster brought about by capitalist greed and corruption. As usual, the neoliberal response to the scandal was to seek to distract and generate confusion amid a shocking financial abuse, caused by capitalism, and which left the villains of the piece even richer thanks to $multi-billion bailouts courtesy of the tax-payer (that's us, the 'little people'). Millions of ordinary people across the world suffered while the wealthy and privileged grabbed huge bonuses at public expense before returning to business as usual.

 

For a basic, though unavoidaby complex summary of the scandal, see:

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subprime_mortgage_crisis

 

However, as the theme of this thread is another shocking revelation, the astonishing scandal in which the poor are being cheated, as revealed by the Pandora Papers, this excursion seems to me but another distraction.

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On 08/10/2021 at 08:30, Tony said:

Which is a damned sight more than their parents had. That's why they voted Tory. 

Oh, now that's a powerful argument unlikely to be challenged (successfully anyway).

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Guest sibon
14 minutes ago, Caswall said:

Oh, now that's a powerful argument unlikely to be challenged (successfully anyway).

Except to ask how their children are getting on buying a house.

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4 minutes ago, sibon said:

Except to ask how their children are getting on buying a house.

So the growing population on an island of limited floorspace, and huge influx of immigration encourage by New Labour, are the fault of this Conservative government?  Because unless they are, nor is it the government responsible for the delta between population and available housing.

 

(Yes I know - Abbott had the solution - to build twelfty houses for £80 each).

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Life expectancy falling in parts of England before pandemic.

 

Many areas in the north of England have seen life expectancy fall within the last decade, a new study suggests.

 

Differences across England have now become stark, say researchers - such as a 27-year gap in life expectancy for a man living in Kensington and Chelsea, compared to Blackpool.

 

Although Covid caused life expectancy to drop, this research suggests it was already in decline in many areas.

Researchers described the trend as "alarming".

 

"There has always been an impression in the UK that everyone's health is improving, even if not at the same pace," said Prof Majid Ezzati from Imperial College London which carried out the study.

 

"These data show that longevity has been getting worse for years in large parts of England."

 

The study, which has been published in The Lancet journal, analysed all deaths in England between 2002 and 2019. It then worked out the life expectancy for different communities, based on the death records in those places.

It found that while life expectancy rose in most places during the first decade of the millennium, from 2010 it began to decline in some places.

 

Areas in London and the home counties still continued on the path of living longer - but life expectancy fell in some urban parts of Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool and Blackpool where life expectancy was below 70 for men and 75 for women.

 

By 2019, the researchers say there was a 20-year gap in life expectancy between a woman living in Camden (95.4 years) versus a woman living in one area of Leeds (74.7 years).

 

And for men, there was a 27-year gap in life expectancy between areas in Kensington and Chelsea (95.3 years) and parts of Blackpool (68.3 years)

Average life expectancy in the UK is 79 years for men and just below 83 years for women, according to estimates from the Office for National Statistics.

 

"Declines in life expectancy used to be rare in wealthy countries like the UK, and happened when there were major adversities like wars and pandemics," said Prof Ezzati.

 

"For such declines to be seen in 'normal times' before the pandemic is alarming," he said - and he called for action to be taken.

 

The researchers say the differences are down to poverty, insecure employment as well as reductions in welfare support and healthcare.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58893328

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46 minutes ago, Caswall said:

Oh, now that's a powerful argument unlikely to be challenged (successfully anyway).

It's also thanks to the welfare state that they had more than their parents. For the first time ordinary working people got a bite of the cherry and made the most of it with better health, decent housing, and free higher education etc. 

It's notable that now the Conservatives are 'rolling backthe welfare state' the children of these baby boomers are not expected to exceed their parents good fortune.

3 minutes ago, Staunton said:

Life expectancy falling in parts of England before pandemic.

 

Many areas in the north of England have seen life expectancy fall within the last decade, a new study suggests.

 

Differences across England have now become stark, say researchers - such as a 27-year gap in life expectancy for a man living in Kensington and Chelsea, compared to Blackpool.

 

Although Covid caused life expectancy to drop, this research suggests it was already in decline in many areas.

Researchers described the trend as "alarming".

 

"There has always been an impression in the UK that everyone's health is improving, even if not at the same pace," said Prof Majid Ezzati from Imperial College London which carried out the study.

 

"These data show that longevity has been getting worse for years in large parts of England."

 

The study, which has been published in The Lancet journal, analysed all deaths in England between 2002 and 2019. It then worked out the life expectancy for different communities, based on the death records in those places.

It found that while life expectancy rose in most places during the first decade of the millennium, from 2010 it began to decline in some places.

 

Areas in London and the home counties still continued on the path of living longer - but life expectancy fell in some urban parts of Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool and Blackpool where life expectancy was below 70 for men and 75 for women.

 

By 2019, the researchers say there was a 20-year gap in life expectancy between a woman living in Camden (95.4 years) versus a woman living in one area of Leeds (74.7 years).

 

And for men, there was a 27-year gap in life expectancy between areas in Kensington and Chelsea (95.3 years) and parts of Blackpool (68.3 years)

Average life expectancy in the UK is 79 years for men and just below 83 years for women, according to estimates from the Office for National Statistics.

 

"Declines in life expectancy used to be rare in wealthy countries like the UK, and happened when there were major adversities like wars and pandemics," said Prof Ezzati.

 

"For such declines to be seen in 'normal times' before the pandemic is alarming," he said - and he called for action to be taken.

 

The researchers say the differences are down to poverty, insecure employment as well as reductions in welfare support and healthcare.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58893328

Exactly this. 

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Guest sibon
1 hour ago, Caswall said:

So the growing population on an island of limited floorspace, and huge influx of immigration encourage by New Labour, are the fault of this Conservative government?  Because unless they are, nor is it the government responsible for the delta between population and available housing.

 

(Yes I know - Abbott had the solution - to build twelfty houses for £80 each).

Is this one of those puzzles where you have to rearrange the words to make a paragraph?

 

Incidentally, the Tories have been in power for twelfty two hundred years or so. Time they sorted out decent, affordable housing.

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45 minutes ago, sibon said:

Is this one of those puzzles where you have to rearrange the words to make a paragraph?

 

Incidentally, the Tories have been in power for twelfty two hundred years or so. Time they sorted out decent, affordable housing.

They have. The Tories can all afford very decent housing thankyou, what's the problem?

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Of course, what was significant about 2010 within the Imperial College research findings was that this was the year that the Conservative-led Coalition arrived on the scene. And using the financial scandal as cover, they began a direct assault upon the public sector. Cuts to welfare and healthcare were immediately made. VAT, the tax that hits ordinary people hardest, was increased while Corporation Tax, the tax that big business was supposed to pay, was reduced. And tax abuse was allowed to flourish unchecked, as the Panama Papers, the Paradise Papers, and now the Pandora Papers reveal with force.

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10 hours ago, Staunton said:

Of course, what was significant about 2010 within the Imperial College research findings was that this was the year that the Conservative-led Coalition arrived on the scene. And using the financial scandal as cover, they began a direct assault upon the public sector. Cuts to welfare and healthcare were immediately made. VAT, the tax that hits ordinary people hardest, was increased while Corporation Tax, the tax that big business was supposed to pay, was reduced. And tax abuse was allowed to flourish unchecked, as the Panama Papers, the Paradise Papers, and now the Pandora Papers reveal with force.

Spot on.

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