National News Windfall tax on oil companies

[Essexyellows]

https://www.local.gov.uk/publications/fragmented-funding-report

Yet again another report suggests funding should be better planned, and longer term ....same as the NHS.

Maybe we need 10 year governments rather than 4?

 

[LowerSouth]

Yet again another report suggests funding should be better planned, and longer term ....same as the NHS.

Maybe we need 10 year governments rather than 4?

No,we need all “infrastructure” to be taken out of direct government control and the destructive, yo yo ,5 year cycle .

 

[QR]

Certainly agree with the Ponzi comment, but this is a global problem not a U.K. problem, so I am not sure why the need to slip in another Tory dig. Unless of course you want to blame Labour for the global banking crisis, also caused by unfettered regulation.

I don't see the comparison. I haven't blamed the Tories for capitalism per se over said reducing regulation make the extremes of capitalism worse.

You also seem to think that those who now find themselves in more comfortable circumstances have never experienced hardship in the past

No I don't. Where have I said that.

Not sure it is completely fair to pigeon hole all of these people as “Im alright Jack” types who have never experienced difficult times in the past and

I haven't said all such people are 'all right Jack' types. I've simply referred to "ask right Jack' types.

 

[Marked Ox]

The City council where I live is biased to where its core vote lives.
Can`t say I blame them, but they are setting themselves up for failure as other Wards start kicking up.
Got a local Ward election today which should be a massive Labour win....... we shall see.

What the Tories do on a local and national scale. Sadly this happens with all parties to various degrees in power via pet projects etc.

 

[MarkG]

Oh FYI
Royal Dutch Shell was dual listed in UK and Amsterdam until last week.

The company is now redomiciled and single listed in UK as Shell Plc.

 

[MC Yellow]

I don't see the comparison. I haven't blamed the Tories for capitalism per se over said reducing regulation make the extremes of capitalism worse.

Lack of regulation has not just been endemic with the Tories, hence I didn’t understand why you singled out a reference to Tories.

I haven't said all such people are 'all right Jack' types. I've simply referred to "ask right Jack' types.

Who do you consider the ”I’m alright jack“ types are on here then? And do you really think they are happy for people to die? More than just a passing reference below.

How long will people allow others to die. I fear, based on the number of 'I'm alright Jack' types on here, quite a while yet.

 

[QR]

Who do you consider the ”I’m alright jack“ types are on here then? And do you really think they are happy for people to die? More than just a passing reference below.

I'm not going to name names but look out for those who give the impression that people who unnecessarily die of Covid because of their underlying health conditions is in anyway acceptable.

 

[SteMerritt]

Maybe we need 10 year governments rather than 4?

When was the last time the tories were out of power? We almost have that now I'd guess...

 

[RyanioBirdio]

When was the last time the tories were out of power? We almost have that now I'd guess...

We’ve had one Labour government since 1979, when they had to rebrand themselves New Labour and adopt a number of Tory Lite policies to get the media moguls onside, so that they wouldn’t take them out at the knee. That government left office 12 years ago.

Given we’ve pretty much been a single party state for going on half a century, it’s pretty incredible how much said party’s opposition is consistently blamed for.

 

[chuckbert]

I`m fully in favour of fracking.

There’s a shock!

 

[Foley]

Capitalism is the biggest ponzi scheme of all. A system built, when largely unfettered (as Tories call for less regulation!), to let the few take out a disproportionatal sum to the efforts they expend.

The flip of this is the suffering of others.

The more the few take the more everyone else suffers. We are now at the point where for those at the bottom of the ladder 'suffering' is and will increasingly manifest itself as malnutrition and unbearably cold houses. The rachet up as the few take even more will be the death of the poor.

How long will people put up with this? Will people allow others to die. I fear, based on the number of 'I'm alright Jack' types on here, quite a while yet. Covid has soften them up to 'accept deaths' as you can read on here most days.

Out of interest what system is better in your view?
Sweden have a more social capitalist system albeit it is capitalist system.
There are a lot of systems in the world that many will see as worse (Russia, China, and numerous dictatorships)
Which non- capitalist systems are far better?

 

[chuckbert]

Out of interest what system is better in your view?
Sweden have a more social capitalist system albeit it is capitalist system.
There are a lot of systems in the world that many will see as worse (Russia, China, and numerous dictatorships)
Which non- capitalist systems are far better?

I think you are confusing “western liberal democracy vs authoritarian regime” with “capitalist vs other”.

For what it’s worth, Russia is most definitely capitalist, it just doesn’t operate like a western liberal democracy (is be interested to hear @RussianOx view). China has also adopted many capitalist principles which have allowed some of its citizens to become hugely wealthy through the market.

Many Americans would disagree that Britain is capitalist because of its socialist healthcare and extensive welfare state.

Pure capitalism is unregulated free market libertarianism which no one seems to have really tried yet (especially not the US with its heavy handed protectionism). You can definitely see that as a Ponzi scheme. However you only have to watch Chernobyl to see how the system of soviets was also a massive Ponzi scheme, just one that didn’t use capital as its currency.

My personal choice would be a heavily regulated free market economy where values other than the market (ecology, humanity) have substantial weight. This would look more like some of our proportionally -represented Western European neighbours, and not the adversarial public school 19th century capitalist oligarchy we’ve chosen.

 

[QR]

Out of interest what system is better in your view?
Sweden have a more social capitalist system albeit it is capitalist system.
There are a lot of systems in the world that many will see as worse (Russia, China, and numerous dictatorships)
Which non- capitalist systems are far better?

There is no perfect system but @chuckbert has gone a long way to describing a least bad option. When I said 'capitalism' above I should more accurately have said 'unfettered capitalism' or 'laissez-faire capitalism' as is the popular term for it here (although I believe I did nod towards this) .

Any system needs a degree of incentive but also controls (i.e regulations) to temper the extremes. So this points to a form of regulated capitalism. This itself has built-in problems as it needs continuous growth to survive and this is proving to have a unsustainable negative impact on finite natural resources and climate change.

Of course to even have half a chance of making it work you need the right people at the helm. You know, Gordon Brown as PM with Rory Stewart as his deputy kind of thing.

The problem then is what to do with the rest of the world?!!

 

[Oslernorth]

Its been a very mild winter so far, the flip of that will be lower consumption of domestic fuel.

More folk are travelling less so demand for transportation fuel is lower.

I thought the whole "green thing" was wanting us to use less fuel??

So now we use less they charge us more for the less we are using...... got it!

It’s because the entire tax system is a mess allowing many to avoid their fair share. So the burden has to fall on the rest of us unable to take advantage of tax loop holes.
Although ironically, fuel is a tax few can avoid.

 

[Sheik djibouti]

 

[RussianYellow]

I think you are confusing “western liberal democracy vs authoritarian regime” with “capitalist vs other”.

For what it’s worth, Russia is most definitely capitalist, it just doesn’t operate like a western liberal democracy (is be interested to hear @RussianOx view). China has also adopted many capitalist principles which have allowed some of its citizens to become hugely wealthy through the market.

Many Americans would disagree that Britain is capitalist because of its socialist healthcare and extensive welfare state.

Pure capitalism is unregulated free market libertarianism which no one seems to have really tried yet (especially not the US with its heavy handed protectionism). You can definitely see that as a Ponzi scheme. However you only have to watch Chernobyl to see how the system of soviets was also a massive Ponzi scheme, just one that didn’t use capital as its currency.

My personal choice would be a heavily regulated free market economy where values other than the market (ecology, humanity) have substantial weight. This would look more like some of our proportionally -represented Western European neighbours, and not the adversarial public school 19th century capitalist oligarchy we’ve chosen.

You are definitely right. Russian capitalism is simply concentrated in only one pair of hands.

 

[Oxymoron]

All capitalists are equal.

It's just that some are more equal than others.

 

[QR]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1489604093349871618