Budget 2013

rubertoe
rubertoe Posts: 3,994
edited March 2013 in Commuting chat
Well It is upon us.

It looks like we are heading for more cuts and more tax hikes.

itboffin, will be up in arms at alcohol price increases, some of us will be get a bit richer, some of us poorer.

Basically, are we as doomed as an irishman living in Cyprus?
"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got."

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Comments

  • BelgianBeerGeek
    BelgianBeerGeek Posts: 5,226
    Nah, it'll be the usual stuff. Raise fags and booze, delay petrol increase, raise income tax threshold a bit etc.

    Then the chancellor can say his usual stuff about tough times, hard decisions, it's the way forward etc. and claim the high ground.
    Ecrasez l’infame
  • daviesee
    daviesee Posts: 6,386
    Should be a bog standard election with maybe a wee bit of war chest coffer building.
    Next election will be 2014-2015.
    Expect a sweet budget this time next year. :twisted:
    None of the above should be taken seriously, and certainly not personally.
  • TheStone
    TheStone Posts: 2,291
    This will be a nothing budget. Tweaks at the edges. Announcing tiny stuff and pretending it's big.

    His biggest problem will be trying to justify the poor economic performance, which is nowhere near his own estimates. In my view it's not the economy that's the problem (lack of growth for many more years is inevitable), it's the fact that no-one can admit that.

    An easy day for Balls.
    exercise.png
  • CiB
    CiB Posts: 6,098
    It'll be like every other budget. A lot of shouting, a lot of politicians claiming that George has done well / condemned us all to a life of poverty, and the BBC will have its stock shots of low income families telling us how bad it'll be for them now despite the fact that it'll have been in the can since last Thursday afternoon, then we'll all carry on with no difference to our lives whatsoever. Just like every other year. Most of us observe the budget every year, tut at the increase in fuel wine & beer duty then carry on as before with the extra few quid a week on that offsetting the meagre increase in taxable personal allowances and the whole thing not making the slightest impact on our lives. It'll give the commies & lefties something to squawk about for a day or two though.
  • dhope
    dhope Posts: 6,699
    Just had a TV crew outside the Royal Exchange ask me if I'd like to give my opinion on the economy ahead of the budget.

    Politely declined, citing a dislike of opinion as news. No doubt they'll find someone equally ill informed to fill 30 seconds.
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  • jamesco
    jamesco Posts: 687
    CiB wrote:
    we'll all carry on with no difference to our lives whatsoever
    Sorry, but that's rubbish! Gideon's previous budget directly impacted my life: his redundancies at the Home Office meant I couldn't get my passport back for 7 months, during which time my mother was hospitalised twice and I couldn't see her. That's my sob story, but dismissing the effect on poor people is also not on. When you haven't got much, losing a few percent makes a huge impact.

    As other people have pointed out, if the state of Osborne's austerity economy is a success, what would his definition of failure look like?
  • CiB
    CiB Posts: 6,098
    jamesco wrote:
    CiB wrote:
    we'll all carry on with no difference to our lives whatsoever
    Sorry, but that's rubbish! Gideon's previous budget directly impacted my life: his redundancies at the Home Office meant I couldn't get my passport back for 7 months, during which time my mother was hospitalised twice and I couldn't see her. That's my sob story, but dismissing the effect on poor people is also not on. When you haven't got much, losing a few percent makes a huge impact.

    As other people have pointed out, if the state of Osborne's austerity economy is a success, what would his definition of failure look like?
    One anecdote? I've sat through enough budget day predictions & summaries of gloom & angst to have had my fill of them, and the reality is that most people are hard pushed to remember one meaningful detail of a budget speech a week after the event.

    Two points:

    This govt won the election that no-one wanted to win, inheriting a mess.

    I sent my passport application off a couple of weeks ago and got the new one back the other day. What does that prove? Nothing.
  • UndercoverElephant
    UndercoverElephant Posts: 5,796
    CiB wrote:
    I sent my passport application off a couple of weeks ago and got the new one back the other day. What does that prove? Nothing.

    Most of the "holding passports for an age" stories I have heard relate to people applying for leave to remain in the UK, rather than a simple passport renewal.
    Sun - Rain - Snow
  • rubertoe
    rubertoe Posts: 3,994
    People can afford passports? let alone travel?

    I'm in the wrong job ;)
    "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got."

    PX Kaffenback 2 = Work Horse
    B-Twin Alur 700 = Sundays and Hills
  • jamesco
    jamesco Posts: 687
    CiB wrote:
    I sent my passport application off a couple of weeks ago and got the new one back the other day. What does that prove? Nothing.
    I was applying for a visa (ILR) and it took 7 months for the application to be processed. If you don't think that's bad, you've got a lack of empathy. If you don't think it's common, check out this site. Osborne utterly screwed up the Border Agency and while it might not affect you (except when you see the queues at LHR :)) it's been a disaster for a lot of people.
    CiB wrote:
    I've sat through enough budget day predictions & summaries of gloom & angst
    The UK economy grew 0.2% in 2012. It's not just a prediction, the disaster is happening.
    CiB wrote:
    This govt won the election that no-one wanted to win, inheriting a mess.
    Two points:

    1. They've made a bigger mess than they inherited.
    2. Show me a Tory MP who doesn't want power.
  • cyclingprop
    cyclingprop Posts: 2,426
    jamesco wrote:
    CiB wrote:
    I sent my passport application off a couple of weeks ago and got the new one back the other day. What does that prove? Nothing.
    I was applying for a visa (ILR) and it took 7 months for the application to be processed. If you don't think that's bad, you've got a lack of empathy. If you don't think it's common, check out this site. Osborne utterly screwed up the Border Agency and while it might not affect you (except when you see the queues at LHR :)) it's been a disaster for a lot of people.
    CiB wrote:
    I've sat through enough budget day predictions & summaries of gloom & angst
    The UK economy grew 0.2% in 2012. It's not just a prediction, the disaster is happening.
    CiB wrote:
    This govt won the election that no-one wanted to win, inheriting a mess.
    Two points:

    1. They've made a bigger mess than they inherited.
    2. Show me a Tory MP who doesn't want power.


    Few points:
    1) You can't judge that till the economic cycle is done
    2) People who need ILR are known as colonials.
    3) Show me ANY MP who doesn't want power.
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  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 29,857
    cyclingprop wrote:
    3) Show me ANY MP who doesn't want power.

    And nowt wrong with that. Don't think I'd be interested in voting for someone with no ambition.
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  • daviesee
    daviesee Posts: 6,386
    jamesco wrote:
    CiB wrote:
    I've sat through enough budget day predictions & summaries of gloom & angst
    The UK economy grew 0.2% in 2012. It's not just a prediction, the disaster is happening.
    The economy grew? Yay! :P
    None of the above should be taken seriously, and certainly not personally.
  • TheStone
    TheStone Posts: 2,291
    jamesco wrote:
    1. They've made a bigger mess than they inherited.

    I don't understand why there were cuts in the Border Agency. With the cost of passports and visas, this department should easily make a large profit unless it's run very poorly.

    But they really didn't inherit a good economy. The UK is a mess due to the debt and liabilities (private and public) accumulated over the previous decade. There is no easy way out of this. Talk of 'growth' is nonsense.
    exercise.png
  • walkingbootweather
    walkingbootweather Posts: 2,443
    Beer's down a penny a pint so I'll be able to afford a packet of crisps every other month now.
    Nobody told me we had a communication problem
  • gavbarron
    gavbarron Posts: 824
    TheStone wrote:
    unless it's run very poorly.

    Bingo, welcome to government run organisations

    TheStone wrote:
    But they really didn't inherit a good economy.
    Mostly true but the current government can't keep using this as an excuse, lets not forget that any government is only as good as its opposition. The Tories hardly fought a lot of the actions of the past and during the labour middle term they couldn't even amass enough votes to oppose anything even if they wanted to.

    I'm not pro labour by the way, I just think the current government are trying to push the blame for their austerity measures on other doorsteps.


    Getting annoyed of watching the budget now (as with most commons affairs), hundreds of grown men hearing a serious subject and the speaker has to keep telling them to pipe down like the unruly children they are. Just shut up and listen!
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    Editor of FT, tweets:
    #Budget2013 FT leader writers verdict: it's a Daily Mail - not an FT budget. Osborne targets Pebble Dash Man, on fuel, beer, home ownership
    _
  • MaxwellBygraves
    MaxwellBygraves Posts: 1,353
    Already posted in Cake Stop by Capt Slog, but didn't want any of you guys to miss either :D

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  • veronese68
    veronese68 Posts: 27,893
    walkingbootweather wrote:
    Beer's down a penny a pint so I'll be able to afford a packet of crisps every other month now.
    When they put the price up Fullers increased the price of a pint by significantly more than the tax increase. Somehow I doubt they will drop the price at the pump at all, never mind by a larger margin.
    I know there are other breweries, but the Pride in my local really is very very good.
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  • TheStone
    TheStone Posts: 2,291
    Absolute nothing budget.
    A few pence here and there and some more bank/builder/seller bailouts disguised as help for house buyers.
    exercise.png
  • jamesco
    jamesco Posts: 687
    It doesn't seem logical to scrap the inflation-scheduled rise in fuel duty while at the same time introducing tax-breaks for low-emission (company) cars.
  • MisterMuncher
    MisterMuncher Posts: 1,302
    £130bn in mortgage guarantees to get high value/low deposit mortgages rolling again. Sure, why not? That sort of lending never led to trouble before.
  • TheStone
    TheStone Posts: 2,291
    MisterMuncher wrote:
    £130bn in mortgage guarantees to get high value/low deposit mortgages rolling again. Sure, why not? That sort of lending never led to trouble before.

    Up to 600k property. Any kind of buyer, mortgage, remortgage .... doesn't seem to matter.
    The borrower will see none of the interest free part.

    The country's run by idiots. Blue, yellow, red. Idiots.
    exercise.png
  • rhext
    rhext Posts: 1,639
    jamesco wrote:
    ........As other people have pointed out, if the state of Osborne's austerity economy is a success, what would his definition of failure look like?

    Errrmmmm, Cyprus? Greece?
  • jamesco
    jamesco Posts: 687
    rhext wrote:
    jamesco wrote:
    ........As other people have pointed out, if the state of Osborne's austerity economy is a success, what would his definition of failure look like?

    Errrmmmm, Cyprus? Greece?
    That's what Osborne would like to compare the UK with so it won't seem like he's doing such a bad job, but neither is remotely comparable. Both Cyprus & Greece are in the Euro zone, and therefore don't have the freedom to manipulate their own currencies. Cyprus has a banking sector worth 10 times GDP, much higher than even the unbalanced UK sector, which is built on shady Russian money. Greece has both much more debt and much worse tax collection. And most importantly, they're small economies which have no choice but to do what the ECB, IMF, et al tell them to do.

    A better comparison for the UK would be with Scandinavian countries - in the EU but outside the Euro zone - or, further afield, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, US etc.

    Don't get me wrong, I agree that the previous government stuffed up royally letting the housing & banking sectors go out of control, but oddly enough, Gordon Brown's reaction to the crisis was exactly right.
  • DonDaddyD
    DonDaddyD Posts: 12,689
    Isn't it about time that the current Government stop blaming the previous one for the state of the economy as it is and start to take ownership for their own actions, both their successes and failures.
    Food Chain number = 4

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  • daviesee
    daviesee Posts: 6,386
    DonDaddyD wrote:
    Isn't it about time that the current Government stop blaming the previous one for the state of the economy as it is and start to take ownership for their own actions, both their successes and failures.
    Why not?
    The previous Government did the same and they had 3 full terms. :roll:
    PS:- I agree but they are politicians so what do you expect.
    None of the above should be taken seriously, and certainly not personally.
  • DonDaddyD
    DonDaddyD Posts: 12,689
    daviesee wrote:
    DonDaddyD wrote:
    Isn't it about time that the current Government stop blaming the previous one for the state of the economy as it is and start to take ownership for their own actions, both their successes and failures.
    Why not?
    The previous Government did the same and they had 3 full terms. :roll:
    Just because the last Government did it, does not make it OK that the current Government now does the same.

    Two wrongs don't make a right.
    Food Chain number = 4

    A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights. As you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game
  • daviesee
    daviesee Posts: 6,386
    DonDaddyD wrote:
    Just because the last Government did it, does not make it OK that the current Government now does the same.

    Two wrongs don't make a right.
    Do you read people's posts in full? Don't quote me out of context please.
    None of the above should be taken seriously, and certainly not personally.
  • DonDaddyD
    DonDaddyD Posts: 12,689
    daviesee wrote:
    DonDaddyD wrote:
    Just because the last Government did it, does not make it OK that the current Government now does the same.

    Two wrongs don't make a right.
    Do you read people's posts in full? Don't quote me out of context please.
    How about this:

    Why not?
    The previous Government did the same and they had 3 full terms. :roll:
    PS:- I agree but they are politicians so what do you expect.
    I agree that they're politicians and we can expect little in the way of them taking responsiblity for anything... However, just because the last Government did it, does not make it OK that the current Government now does the same.

    Two wrongs don't make a right
    Food Chain number = 4

    A true scalp is not only overtaking someone but leaving them stopped at a set of lights. As you, who have clearly beaten the lights, pummels nothing but the open air ahead. ~ 'DondaddyD'. Player of the Unspoken Game

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