Economic growth

[shobhna]

I certainly won't be! I've done my bit for keeping world population in check and have 2.2 notional children to spare for anyone who needs them! I'll swap them for some seeds!!

Me too !!!

[Two_Sheds]

There's enough for everyone providing everyone wasn't greedy

It's not even about being greedy: there aren't enough jobs for everyone, fact.

The poorest can't afford rent at "market prices". There isn't enough social housing, there aren't enough jobs (and not all the poor qualify for it anyway). Meanwhile we have people at the very top with more money than they know what to do with, and too many houses to live in. WTF?

People have to live somewhere, so the state must step in and pay benefits if the private sector cannot provide jobs or affordable (ie, cheap) housing. Housing can't be affordable until the need to profit from it is taken out of the equation ~ but all the council housing has been sold off

I don't see that the 'private sector' is solving these problems ... so now we're trying to batter the poor even further down by cutting benefits and raising rents. I don't see how this is 'growth'? Or even morally right? Am I just confused? Do I not get it?

I'm so miserable right now

[Two_Sheds]

Norwich Union probably closing down as a direct result of the digital age i.e so called progress. As for the chicken factory? Our local Tesco selling chicken reared in Holland.

We used to have Sanyo and Bird's Eye factories too, they all moved elsewhere. The private sector has not stepped in to provide a solution to our employment problems.
What to do Mr Osborne? Is the whole town supposed to get up and move to where the jobs are - London?

[Newton]

I tend to come at this from the developmentalist perspective. Welcome simonsez btw........we mainly talk about veg!

[cptncrackoff]

...6th largest exporter, i didnt know that, what on earth do we export!? I cant remember the last time i saw something that said made in england.
Anyway i suppose it could be worse, i have a roof and a full belly.

[mothhawk]

Mother Nature usually finds a way of reducing overcrowding in any species. Sooner or later she'll come up with a superbug that we can't cure (probably a variant of 'flu), and reduce the population to ten percent of its current size.

[singleseeder]

...6th largest exporter, i didnt know that, what on earth do we export!?

I just googled this to put on a link, but am struggling with daughter's computer.

Type in 'British exports reach record high. 30 Oct 2011'

[cptncrackoff]

That does suprise me, i mean when did you last see something that said 'made in England'.
Alot of companies now want their products made in China to ensure good quality work.

[chris]

... Or for less than they'll pay locally more like!

[pigletwillie]

There is a sound view that the population is reaching a plateau and will slowly start to drop. In less developed rural areas, families needed to be big as some children died, some were needed to tend animals, some to tend home and some to look after the parents in old age. As there now is a massive population shift towards the cities, these same children become a burden as they are no longer useful and become just an extra mouth to feed so suprisingly the population growth in big cities is mainly migration from rural areas and if you stripped that out it becomes quite stable. Its going to take 30-40 years for that to filter through but its happening now.

As for growth, we need confidence and a market that is not fuellled by debt and borrowing against house prices by us, and not by govenment borrowing billions it does not have to give high earners (up to £66k)bribes in the way of tax credits etc. The economy will stabilise in the next couple of years and growth will return but in a more gradual sustainable way as it will be fuelled by proper money not credit cards. As there will be no bubble, there should be no boom and bust................ hopefully!

[Aberdeenplotter]

... Or for less than they'll pay locally more like!

Yes there is no doubt that companies are now manufacturing abroad because of the lower production costs and it has nothing at all to do with quality and indeed a lot of stuff coming in from abroad is of poor quality so that blows another hole in that particular argument.

The consumer wants to pay as little as possible and that is both sensible and understandable but if any consumer doesn't like the trend, they can off course pay more for home made goods.

[pigletwillie]

Indeed, everything is made down to a price, thats why you get dvd players for £20 that get chucked if they go wrong. Its also why established ecomomies like ours need to encourage high end manufacturing like we have in Rolls Royce and the big Japanese motor companies that have set up shop here. All are world class and continue to recieve investment to expand. We cannot rely on the financial sector to cure all our ills like Gordon did, we need sustainable and diverse sectors to enable our economy to grow.

[snohare]

This is a topic I've been following the scientific debate on for a long time; over the last decade it has really hotted up.
Last I heard, the ecologists (not the magazine, the profession) were expecting between 25 and 50% of all species to become extinct this century, and for human population to drop from 7 billion to 1 billion. To quote any bacteriologist watching colonies that have entirely covered the agar on the Petri dish, "dieback is going to be a bitch !"
If you want further insight into dieback, try this video:

The Most IMPORTANT Video You'll Ever See (part 1 of 8) - YouTube

The vital fact to all 8 parts is at 6.11, but it's best shown in part 3, at 4.51. No peeking !

When he gets onto oil supply, you might want to slit your wrists !

I will forbear making predictions, based on historical precedent. And I won't even mention climate change.
But I swear to God, when I see young kids today I feel like apologising to them for the lousy world we have passed on to them to deal with. I feel so sorry for them.
We really cannot afford to pretend it will all go back to business as usual any more. What we knew is over. The system has failed.

[oldie]

Yes there is no doubt that companies are now manufacturing abroad because of the lower production costs and it has nothing at all to do with quality and indeed a lot of stuff coming in from abroad is of poor quality so that blows another hole in that particular argument.

The consumer wants to pay as little as possible and that is both sensible and understandable but if any consumer doesn't like the trend, they can off course pay more for home made goods.

I'd slightly disagree on this. Many companies in the far east now employ British/European/American quality control experts who have really changed the picture. Some of the best musical instruments in the world are now coming from Asia-speaking as a retired musician. There are however still some shoddy goods-children's toys?

[taff]

It's not even about being greedy: there aren't enough jobs for everyone, fact.....
I'm so miserable right now

There is enough land, enough housing, enough money for everyone, providing everyone wasn't greedy. But that's the utopian ideal world talking, not what is actually happening.

Miserable...hmmm....I found as soon as I stopped watching the news/reading newspapers, i stopped being miserable because i wasn't constantly bombarded with bad news.
I'm preferring not tot hink about anything at the moment, because i don't want to spend my life being miserable. I'll be happy to help with change, but not at the expense oif my sanity, because i'm currently watching several people become more and more miserable and paranoid, thanks to the current climate of everything.