bringing it home

[bagpuss]

My mean other half tells me the country is in a mess and we must all start doing our bit to economise. If I want trips north to see my family I must not fly, take the car or use a train (carbon footprint and cost prohibitive. Instead I must either take the cheapest bus available or hitch-hike. Given that he’s rich, and that I work and its nothing to do with him as he’ll only be coming up when the digger goes into the Thurso Tesco, I have my own suggestions,which I urge Orgers to consider.
If we were all to stop spending on anything other than essentials, these might be the results:
Use yesterday’s newspaper (he reads the Daily Mail) as loo paper (too hard on the old Farmer Giles)
No holidays, dinners out or treats except on very special occasions
No buying books- use the library
Now think Wick. Without this sort of expenditure- which many of us take for granted, what might be the implications?
Takeaways and restaurants to close (that’s half of Bridge Street). New Look and Edinburgh Woollen Mill deprived of their customer base. Only charity shops to sell furniture, fancy goods and clothing- and only Lidl viable as a supermarket.

Think how many other jobs will go in consequence.
Now think of how government spending over the next 5 years is going to affect our everyday lives.

[achingale]

You have made a very valid point. In fact several. Travel not only to Caithness, but in it, is made easier by the car and in my opinion is essential in the county. I live out in the middle of nowhere and would be stuck without my car and I really do not fancy lugging my essentials back from Tesco by hand. By cutting back maybe we should only treat ourselves to that something special if we can afford it or save up for it. Plant veg in the garden as it is cheaper then keep the money you have saved until you can go shopping and have a blow out without worrying about it. But you have to live and when you work it is just nice to be able to go out and say 'I'll have that.'

[bagpuss]

traditionally the Tories were the party of laissez faire ie don't interfere with business and keep tax and spend low as possible. However the Coalition is an Ebenezer Scrooge of a government- determined to pay back the national debt (which no government can ever do- ask any historian) and do away with profligate spending. (which includes sending troops to Iraq and Afghanistan). While I agree that the quangos etc weren't the best use of public money, and should be pared right back, other sypes of spending were designed to get the economy going again. This might have worked but tof the fact that the banks that had been baled out refused to lend money at all- in order to get a mortgage you need to already be on the housing ladder and enough equity for a substantial deposit.

Now take this local- the Dounreay companies are already laying people off- less money in the local economy of Caithness- so not so much money to go round. If someone's job looks shaky, they might not get a mortgage- hence property doesn't get sold, local house prices fall, and everyone is worse off. The economy begins to fail, fewer people come into the area with jobs/business plans, families with children begin to look elsewhere

At the moment the City isn't in total turmoil- but lots of the people who work there have had to go freelance in order to keep in a job (freelancers don't take holidays and put in the extra hours.)

So my suggestion to the Coalition is this- should those public service employees be treated in the same way as the City freelancers? An end to flexitime; do away with bomuses etc- but don't take away the public spending thatmight just keep the rest of the country going?