Cyprus not even subtle about stealing from its citizens

[Zingari]

Are you actually proposing the government confiscate private property? Trampling over the rights of private property is a very slippery slope.

Surely they do that all the time.

They take a % of your privately owned wage packet , They take a % of all your privately bought stuff in the shops , They take a % of your privately acquired savings through tax , They take a % of your privately acquired wealth when you die.

When does something become a person’s private property ?

[digitalalba]

is that what you're about, slagging someone off who you don't know

_{aside from the rights and wrongs of the Cyprus scenario, it does raise interesting questions about finance and distribution of wealth. Here in the UK we have a national debt of just over £1 trillion. Given that government expenditure is primarily spent on provision of services and benefits (because that figure doesn't include bank bailouts), and is still increasing at a rate of about £125 billion per year, what hope do we have of ever paying it off? The only two levers available are to cut services or increase taxes. Meanwhile UK individuals and companies have over £4 trillion in savings and investments. Clearly it would be desperately unfair to tax the savings of people who only have a small amount of savings, but a tax on those more able to afford it which would help to eliminate deficit over a period of time, say five years, seems fair. If, say, all savings over £200,000 were subject to a one off tax of, say, 20%, you could argue that those being taxed would hardly feel much pain.}

To reduce the illegal debt, we could just right it off.

We could stop asking, they paying, the IBS/BoE to print money at extortionate rates, thus the tax payer benefits.

[Father Ted]

From what I've heard, Germany and Merkel have been pushing for this to go through as there is a lot of Russian money held in the Cypriot banks and the Cypriot people are merely pawns in a battle between Germany and Russia.

I've said it before and I'll stick by my word, the EU is simply a legit way to do what Hitler did, the power of the EU will grow before it overpowers everybody and a dictator is appointed with Germany pulling the strings. Despise the EU.

[Carl the Llama]

is that what you're about, slagging someone off who you don't know

It wasn't slagging off though, was it? Anyone who thinks a $100/h minimum wage would be a satisfactory solution to poverty in the US just because some of the mega rich corporations could afford it is completely unaware of how capitalist economies work.

[digitalalba]

It wasn't slagging off though, was it? Anyone who thinks a $100/h minimum wage would be a satisfactory solution to poverty in the US just because some of the mega rich corporations could afford it is completely unaware of how capitalist economies work.

I didn't say or even suggest that.

Yes, it is capitalism and if done legally, is fair and just.

The question of whether its legal is interesting, and the question of why we elect people to divert our attention away from the real ins n outs of the monetry system borders on illegality, fraud and deception, hence people like Max Keiser to explain the madness.

If max Keiser http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Keiser is right, should the masses be heaving with anger at politicians who always claim they work on behalf of the downtrodden?

[Carl the Llama]

I didn't say or even suggest that.

Did you know, that in America, if the monetry system that they have was in the interests of the ordinary man in the street, that minimum wage would be one hundred dollars per hour? http://www.huffingto..._b_2705428.html

As for the rest of your post I'm not sure what you're referring to so I'm not going to respond (just yet anyway).

[Jordan]

Think about things for a minute, there are MILLIONS of people in America that are in THIRD WORLD poverty, how many in the UK or Europe? How does that equate to politicians telling us generally that they 'do a good job'?

While there are millions suffering in even the world's biggest economies, equating poverty in the U.S. and UK to the "THIRD WORLD" is pure hyperbole.

Did you know, that in America, if the monetry system that they have was in the interests of the ordinary man in the street, that minimum wage would be one hundred dollars per hour? http://www.huffingto..._b_2705428.html Should it be £65ph here?

Minimum wage in the U.S. can and should be increased, but the article you link is merely conjecture that has no math to back up its claim.

[The Guvnor]

Decades of running a black economy, come back to bite them on the arse.

[ozleicester]

The more ive thought about it, the more in favour i am.

Ok ideally it wouldnt just "be done" but i guess theres no other way and in fairness its at least a tax on the wealthy, lets face it if youve got savings... your doing ok.

I think there is now talk that it will only be on people with more than $125,000 in the bank... so lets just call it a forced investment

I like it!

[steveherbe]

The more ive thought about it, the more in favour i am.

Ok ideally it wouldnt just "be done" but i guess theres no other way and in fairness its at least a tax on the wealthy, lets face it if youve got savings... your doing ok.

I think there is now talk that it will only be on people with more than $125,000 in the bank... so lets just call it a forced investment

I like it!

Tell me you didnt mean this? So I've worked for 44 years, managed to save a bit - quite a bit actually - gone without Sky TV, new cars, flash holidays, out on the piss every night so that I can save some for my old age - and now you want to tax what I've got in the bank because some overpaid b(w)ankers have screwed up? Un-fookin-believable!! It's this attitude that has turned this once-great country to rat-shit.

[ADK]

Sounds like a great way to encourage no-one to ever invest in your banks ever again.

[Webbo]

Sounds like a great way to encourage no-one to ever invest in your banks ever again.

If I lived in Greece or Spain I'd be hiding my money under the mattress now.

[I am Rod Hull]

If I lived in Greece or Spain I'd be hiding my money under the mattress now.

Or in coat pockets

[ADK]

The more ive thought about it, the more in favour i am.

Ok ideally it wouldnt just "be done" but i guess theres no other way and in fairness its at least a tax on the wealthy, lets face it if youve got savings... your doing ok.

I think there is now talk that it will only be on people with more than $125,000 in the bank... so lets just call it a forced investment

I like it!

By that logic you might aswell go round stealing what the hell you like. After all if you can afford a nice house you don't really need a new BMW aswell.

[digitalalba]

I didn't say it was this

"Anyone who thinks a $100/h minimum wage would be a satisfactory solution to poverty in the US just because some of the mega rich corporations could afford it is completely unaware of how capitalist economies work."

Read this carefully. If we had a system that was more fair and just, then minimum wage would be much fairer, BUT, capitalism is what we signed up for, so in that sense, we got what we voted for.

[digitalalba]

While there are millions suffering in even the world's biggest economies, equating poverty in the U.S. and UK to the "THIRD WORLD" is pure hyperbole.

I wasn't doing that.

Minimum wage in the U.S. can and should be increased, but the article you link is merely conjecture that has no math to back up its claim.

Correct, its only the opinion of a man that has his own international tv show based on the finances of the world, especially America http://rt.com/shows/keiser-report/ who has worked in the financial aspect of loads of media outlets, worked p/t as a stock broker in Wall Street, was the creator, co-founder, and former CEO of HSX Holdings/Hollywood Stock Exchange, later sold to Cantor Fitzgerald and Alongside Michael R. Burns, he co-created the Hollywood Stock Exchange.

How could he know what the equivalent should be.

[digitalalba]

If you're not sure what the hell is going on and trying to work it out does your head in, try this

http://www.saveoursavers.co.uk/bank-of-england/simon-rose-discusses-qe-on-the-keiser-report/

[MooseBreath]

I wasn't doing that.

Correct, its only the opinion of a man that has his own international tv show based on the finances of the world, especially America http://rt.com/shows/keiser-report/ who has worked in the financial aspect of loads of media outlets, worked p/t as a stock broker in Wall Street, was the creator, co-founder, and former CEO of HSX Holdings/Hollywood Stock Exchange, later sold to Cantor Fitzgerald and Alongside Michael R. Burns, he co-created the Hollywood Stock Exchange.

How could he know what the equivalent should be.

Great use of Wikipedia. You realise Hollywood stock exchange is a little game don't you? It's not a serious thing.

[digitalalba]

Great use of Wikipedia. You realise Hollywood stock exchange is a little game don't you? It's not a serious thing.

Are you suggesting that the virtual game isn't based on the trading functionality of the stock market, that he used to work in and has spent numerous years working around via the media that has eventually given him his own international tv show where he and expert guests expose the financial elite?

[anotherharboroughfox]

"Anyone who thinks a $100/h minimum wage would be a satisfactory solution to poverty in the US just because some of the mega rich corporations could afford it is completely unaware of how capitalist economies work."

Read this carefully. If we had a system that was more fair and just, then minimum wage would be much fairer, BUT, capitalism is what we signed up for, so in that sense, we got what we voted for.

Capitalism is failing and nothing will change until it does.

[MooseBreath]

Are you suggesting that the virtual game isn't based on the trading functionality of the stock market, that he used to work in and has spent numerous years working around via the media that has eventually given him his own international tv show where he and expert guests expose the financial elite?

Designing a computer game based on the stock market doesn't make you an inside expert on finance and the economy. The guy makes a living because fools like you are taken in by his nonsense because it makes you feel as though someone other than yourself is to blame for you not having all the things you want. Simple as that.

[breadandcheese]

Are you suggesting that the virtual game isn't based on the trading functionality of the stock market, that he used to work in and has spent numerous years working around via the media that has eventually given him his own international tv show where he and expert guests expose the financial elite?

If he is so wedded to his ideas and thinks minimum wage should be much higher, why does he not set-up a company and pay his staff the amount he thinks correct, to put his money where his mouth is? Maybe it's because the pressure on prices is from consumers, people like you and me. Look in the mirror. If the products are the same, which do you buy, the more expensive one, or the cheaper one?

[leicsmac]

Designing a computer game based on the stock market doesn't make you an inside expert on finance and the economy. The guy makes a living because fools like you are taken in by his nonsense because it makes you feel as though someone other than yourself is to blame for you not having all the things you want. Simple as that.

I'm as much a fan of personal responsibility as the next man, but - shock horror - situations do occasionally arise involving one individual where s/he is in fact NOT to blame. Odd, I know.

As for the article - I trust the mans judgement given his experience, but I wouldn't take his words as gospel unless I had several other experts saying the same thing and could prove it.

If he is so wedded to his ideas and thinks minimum wage should be much higher, why does he not set-up a company and pay his staff the amount he thinks correct, to put his money where his mouth is? Maybe it's because the pressure on prices is from consumers, people like you and me. Look in the mirror. If the products are the same, which do you buy, the more expensive one, or the cheaper one?

He already has set up and then sold a company. Not sure how much he paid his workers though.

The issue here is that while true capitalism encourages competition and is good for the consumer, what we have out there now isn't that - the big food/energy/other essentials companies don't compete with each other any more within the market, they agree prices with each other. It's a cosy little cabal.

If you look at the prices of various 'essential' products, there's now very little difference and very little change between each seller. This is because these companies realised a while back that they could make far more money by agreeing with each other and essentially forming a monopoly made of several different companies, than competing with each other. This is especially evident in the energy market, and is pretty noticeable in the food and fuel markets now too. The end result is the consumer (like you or me) gets shafted, which is exactly what capitalism should be preventing.

[breadandcheese]

He already has set up and then sold a company. Not sure how much he paid his workers though.

It's a niche company, hardly something that will affect everyone. If he had set-up a manufacturing company in a consumer led area, paying well above average wages, and remaining competitive, then I'd say fair enough.

The issue here is that while true capitalism encourages competition and is good for the consumer, what we have out there now isn't that - the big food/energy/other essentials companies don't compete with each other any more within the market, they agree prices with each other. It's a cosy little cabal.

If you look at the prices of various 'essential' products, there's now very little difference and very little change between each seller. This is because these companies realised a while back that they could make far more money by agreeing with each other and essentially forming a monopoly made of several different companies, than competing with each other. This is especially evident in the energy market, and is pretty noticeable in the food and fuel markets now too. The end result is the consumer (like you or me) gets shafted, which is exactly what capitalism should be preventing.

Food spending as a percentage of income has fallen over the last 50 years, precisely because food has become cheaper in real terms. I agree, the capitalist model is not perfect, but it is undoubtedly the best out there.

[leicsmac]

It's a niche company, hardly something that will affect everyone. If he had set-up a manufacturing company in a consumer led area, paying well above average wages, and remaining competitive, then I'd say fair enough.

Food spending as a percentage of income has fallen over the last 50 years, precisely because food has become cheaper in real terms. I agree, the capitalist model is not perfect, but it is undoubtedly the best out there.

I agree that the true capitalist model would be about the best available. But I would say again that IMO that is not what exists in the current climate. It's not an oligarchy, but it's not too far away either.

It makes sense that food prices have dropped in real terms in the last 50 years, given varying advances in production and distribution - I wonder if the same is true for fuel/energy?

Believe me, I think things could be a lot worse from an economic standpoint - but they could be so, so much better too,