The Decade The Rich Won.

[El Cid 218]

33 minutes ago, trastrick said:

It was the Capitalist U.S.A. that defeated the NAZIS, the Japanese Imperialists, and the USSR, and are still fighting militant Islamic terrorism.

I have personally never viewed the USA as a country to emulate. It is big and powerfull because of its size.

Perhaps the one thing that capitalism allows is freedom, freedom is capitalisms greatest virtue.

[Anna B 1,414]

1 hour ago, trastrick said:

It was the Capitalist U.S.A. that defeated the NAZIS, the Japanese Imperialists, and the USSR, and are still fighting militant Islamic terrorism.

 

They gave us jeans, rock n roll, the blues, and they live in peace with their two neighbors, Canada and Mexico.

 

They allowed their poorest ethnic groups to rise to be the Country's Leaders, and some of the richest, most influential people in society.

 

So, while they are not perfect (who is?) I'm happy they are still the most dominant force in the World.

 

OK so they're not all bad, but they have a habit of thinking they're always right.

 

The USA have waged war on nearly every continent in the last few years. Often 'Peace keeping' is just a euphemism for bombing the s*** out of innocent people and wrecking countries. They want to spread capitalism to every corner of the earth whether they want it or not. And they are known for misjudging the cultural situation. As for the second world war, it involved troops from many countries, I'm not sure America can take all the credit. And don't forget we had to pay for their support, a monetary debt I believe we didn't finish paying off until the 1990's. 

 

The USA has terrible levels of poverty which they take care we don't hear much about. Also one of the biggest gaps between rich and poor. Many people cannot afford health insurance so have to suffer from easily dealt with conditions in silence. They also have some of the worst housing and education standards, especially in poor areas. 'The American Dream' is simply not possible for everyone no matter how hard they try, yet they are effectively punished for failing.

 

I'd rather we looked to the Scandinavian countries more for examples of good practice, they frequently top the charts for the highest standards and good outcomes, but we hear very little about them.

 

 

[sheffbag 227]

18 minutes ago, Anna B said:

OK so they're not all bad, but they have a habit of thinking they're always right.

 

The USA have waged war on nearly every continent in the last few years. Often 'Peace keeping' is just a euphemism for bombing the s*** out of innocent people and wrecking countries. They want to spread capitalism to every corner of the earth whether they want it or not. And they are known for misjudging the cultural situation. As for the second world war, it involved troops from many countries, I'm not sure America can take all the credit. And don't forget we had to pay for their support, a monetary debt I believe we didn't finish paying off until the 1990's. 

 

The USA has terrible levels of poverty which they take care we don't hear much about. Also one of the biggest gaps between rich and poor. Many people cannot afford health insurance so have to suffer from easily dealt with conditions in silence. They also have some of the worst housing and education standards, especially in poor areas. 'The American Dream' is simply not possible for everyone no matter how hard they try, yet they are effectively punished for failing.

 

I'd rather we looked to the Scandinavian countries more for examples of good practice, they frequently top the charts for the highest standards and good outcomes, but we hear very little about them.

 

 

Yes lets look at the Scandinavian countries and their wealth inequality which you like to bang on about

https://www.businessinsider.com/why-socialist-scandinavia-has-some-of-the-highest-inequality-in-europe-2014-10?r=US&IR=T#:~:text=The top 10% of wealth,cent of those nations' wealth.&text=The Nordic nations on the,of the country's household wealth.

https://nordregio.org/nordregio-magazine/issues/income-inequality-on-the-rise-in-the-nordic-countries/

"Rich Swedes are now richer, with financial markets juiced by central-bank liquidity and a vaccine-led rebound. Five of the country’s top billionaires added a combined $18 billion to their total wealth over the past year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. " (source https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-06-02/covid-19-inequality-sweden-s-billionaires-spark-wealth-tax-dilemma)

[crookesey 633]

3 hours ago, sheffbag said:

Yes lets look at the Scandinavian countries and their wealth inequality which you like to bang on about

https://www.businessinsider.com/why-socialist-scandinavia-has-some-of-the-highest-inequality-in-europe-2014-10?r=US&IR=T#:~:text=The top 10% of wealth,cent of those nations' wealth.&text=The Nordic nations on the,of the country's household wealth.

https://nordregio.org/nordregio-magazine/issues/income-inequality-on-the-rise-in-the-nordic-countries/

"Rich Swedes are now richer, with financial markets juiced by central-bank liquidity and a vaccine-led rebound. Five of the country’s top billionaires added a combined $18 billion to their total wealth over the past year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. " (source https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-06-02/covid-19-inequality-sweden-s-billionaires-spark-wealth-tax-dilemma)

It can’t be right if Anna disagrees, you’re on very thin ice. 

Edited January 27, 2022 by crookesey

[El Cid 218]

2 hours ago, crookesey said:

It can’t be right if Anna disagrees, your on thin ice. 

The top 10% of wealth holders in three Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden and Denmark) hold between 65 and 69 per cent of those nations' wealth.

As of Q3 2019, in the USA the top 10% of households held 70% of the country's wealth. Similar, but the USA has the worst wealth divide.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_United_States

[Anna B 1,414]

4 hours ago, sheffbag said:

Yes lets look at the Scandinavian countries and their wealth inequality which you like to bang on about

https://www.businessinsider.com/why-socialist-scandinavia-has-some-of-the-highest-inequality-in-europe-2014-10?r=US&IR=T#:~:text=The top 10% of wealth,cent of those nations' wealth.&text=The Nordic nations on the,of the country's household wealth.

https://nordregio.org/nordregio-magazine/issues/income-inequality-on-the-rise-in-the-nordic-countries/

"Rich Swedes are now richer, with financial markets juiced by central-bank liquidity and a vaccine-led rebound. Five of the country’s top billionaires added a combined $18 billion to their total wealth over the past year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. " (source https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-06-02/covid-19-inequality-sweden-s-billionaires-spark-wealth-tax-dilemma)

Indeed, the same thing is happening all over the world, that's how free market economics works, it's a global market, and is splitting the wealthy off from the rest of society. The rich are the winners with vast sums of wealth we can't even imagine. Think; the end of a monopoly game, where the winner can buy up everything on the board and then charge what he wants because there's no competition, so he gets super super rich.  

 

There is too much money in the system thanks to QE and it's now in too few hands. It doesn't trickle down because they can't possibly spend it no matter how many yachts they buy, and half of them don't pay their proper taxes. Witness their excess as they look for new ways to waste it; millions on a painting that could be done by a 5 year old, 24 carat guilding on cake, fungible assets etc. 

 

However, the Scandinavian countries have a good welfare system, so at least they look after the rest, whereas here we begrudge every penny we spend on the poor and continually try to cut it back and starve them into submission. But at least every penny of that money goes back into the (local) economy as they have to spend it on survival.   

 

[Longcol 600]

9 hours ago, trastrick said:

It was the Capitalist U.S.A. that defeated the NAZIS,

Only if you totally ignore the Eastern Front where 60-80% of the Nazi's were fighting against the USSR.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Front_(World_War_II)

[Anna B 1,414]

Radio 4 news ; Jack Munro has got simple food stuffs like pasta  included in the measure of inflation as food prices are rocketing.

Now more foodbanks in the UK than Macdonalds and a lot more of them are now having to provide food for the growing number of working poor.

[El Cid 218]

5 hours ago, Anna B said:

Radio 4 news ; Jack Munro has got simple food stuffs like pasta  included in the measure of inflation as food prices are rocketing.

Now more foodbanks in the UK than Macdonalds and a lot more of them are now having to provide food for the growing number of working poor.

180,000 separate price quotations are collected every month to formulate the inflation figure, I cannot see how pasta is not already on that list of 180,000 items.

[cgksheff 44]

56 minutes ago, El Cid said:

180,000 separate price quotations are collected every month to formulate the inflation figure, I cannot see how pasta is not already on that list of 180,000 items.

180,000 prices. Not 180,000 items.

Prices from several different sources are collected for the "basket" of 720 items of goods and services.

Pasta WAS in the ONS 18/19, 19/20 & 20/21 baskets:

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/datasets/consumerpriceinflationbasketofgoodsandservices

 

What Munroe was actually saying was that she thinks that inflation is much higher than the latest ONS figures, based upon her own analysis of foodstuff prices in her own supermarkets over the last months/years and used specific examples, including pasta.

Edited January 28, 2022 by cgksheff

[crookesey 633]

10 hours ago, Longcol said:

Only if you totally ignore the Eastern Front where 60-80% of the Nazi's were fighting against the USSR.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Front_(World_War_II)

And very well they did too, sadly they did terrible things to their own and neighbouring nations peoples when so called peace was proclaimed. Give me a potentially corrupt administration that can be voted out over the Communist ideal every time.

[Anna B 1,414]

42 minutes ago, El Cid said:

180,000 separate price quotations are collected every month to formulate the inflation figure, I cannot see how pasta is not already on that list of 180,000 items.

I agree, basic foodstuffs should always be on the list, while some of the things that are, are laughable.

It seems to me like moving the goalposts all the time. Not an accurate measure at all.