Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

Why does it need to be international?

The electricity is for UK consumption, why export the profits?

you missed the point .... i was talking about all and any major international investment
if country x gives country y a contract to build a dam, the price for that won't be anything like the deciding factor; it'll be the reciprocal trade-offs

We complain about our energy prices being so high. Here is a chart showing that we are average.

H it would be useful to have a chart showing average earnings as well.
2517

and then you have to ask about income and social tax rates too, and no doubt a few other things too, so the numbers can be made to look whatever you fancy!

If you look at the chart you will see that we are not that much different to the ten countries above us. So we are by no means a high energy price country.

disposable income of households per capita

Short Description: Real adjusted gross disposable income of households per capita in PPS is calculated as the adjusted gross disposable income of households and Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households (NPISH) divided by the purchasing power parities (PPP) of the actual individual consumption of households and by the total resident population

You can see we have a relatively high disposable income and at least 10% higher than the EU average.

How is it compared to Norway, Switzerland, France, Germany, Holland?

The rest of this article can be found on the Telegraph website. I was under the misguided view that the young have it easier now than they have ever had it!

"Alan Milburn, the former health secretary and a Coalition adviser on social mobility, said older people have been spared the impact of austerity measures and said benefits for the elderly need to be reviewed in order to make life easier for the young."

No good showing disposable income levels if inflation isnt shown at the same time. And its going forward that counts on disposable income ie, just how much in disposable income have we lost to comparable countries..........

Overview of CPI inflation rates published most recently

current inflation / country inflation period monthly basis yearly basis modified
Inflation Austria september 2013 0.74 % 1.69 % 10-17-2013
Inflation France september 2013 -0.23 % 0.89 % 10-17-2013
Inflation Great Britain september 2013 0.32 % 2.67 % 10-17-2013
Inflation Poland september 2013 0.08 % 1.22 % 10-17-2013
Inflation Slovakia september 2013 -0.06 % 0.98 % 10-17-2013
Inflation China september 2013 0.80 % 3.02 % 10-15-2013
Inflation Czech Republic september 2013 -0.41 % 0.99 % 10-15-2013
Inflation Finland september 2013 0.35 % 1.20 % 10-15-2013
Inflation Germany september 2013 0.00 % 1.43 % 10-15-2013
Inflation Hungary september 2013 0.44 % 1.34 % 10-14-2013

Britain second highest and it cant be cost push as wages have either fallen or stayed still, so demand led?........probably, as lower manufacturing output as meant too much money (QE, low interest rates) chasing far less goods produced.

We could go into this far more deeply with a look at money supply, but most should get the general jist.

Hays, your table hasnt opened out up above on disposable income.

Sometimes it shows and sometimes not. Here is a link to it

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/tgm/graph.do?tab=graph&plugin=0&language=en&pcode=tec00113&toolbox=type

Hays, cheers got it now but it says year 2011.

Got anything for last year or is that the latest up to date?.

A lot of talk about today of need to redistribute income from pensioners to young people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Totaly disagree, pensioners for a kick off hit by low interest rates, high inflation, and care costs that arent what they first seemed under this present government, plus some having to work past 65 to make ends meet.

Youngsters need proper jobs, not mickey mouse jobs and courses to improve their living standards, its as simple as that.

not courses to improve their living standards per se, but courses through which they can become employable ..... i'm sure i'm wrong, but i see very little gov't promotion to encourage (small and medium) companies to give meaningful work experience let alone some form of apprenticeships ..... i don't hear of the schools approaching local businesses to get more involved in simple things like coming to talk to pupils about the skills or even general presentability to make themselves employable

No small business will take on young-uns if they can help it.

The costs of training, health and safety, maternity cover etc make it a very iffy proposition for a small biz.

A lot easier to take on experienced people on 1 hour contracts.

Hmmmmm Cynics idea seems what should happen in an ideal world but Max is probably whats happening in the real world.

Buried in yesterdays unemployment figures, 1.45 million who are part time working but really want full time jobs.

MY idea.

1. ban immigration for 4 years, everyone ( i know a lot will think im blaming them iM NOT. ) this should hopefully open opportunitys for unskilled lower paid jobs but some skilled jobs aswel.

2. Make it worthwhile for pensioners over 65 to retire, some kind of pension supplement to cover for lost earnings. Fed up of seeing knackerd out old men on the till at Tesco. Im sure theyd rather be elsewhere. Young kids would take their place.

3. Tax breaks/incentives for companys to move away from the crowded south east and London to the Midlands and the North plus Scotland.

4. Kids must be offered guranteed jobs for 9 month plus if they are signing on. Proper paid jobs at least the min wage.

5. An income tax rise on the basic tax rate across the country. Some wont like this but drastic action is required if we are to stop youth unemployment becoming a permanent fixture. In the med to long term it would be the best for the country as a whole.

sticky
#1 - Don't be preposterous! With regard to unskilled jobs, even when they are available, youngsters her don't want them as they are either hard work and/or they feel they don't get paid enough

#2 - Don't be preposterous! How would you fund that? Many over 65 (me!) have a lot of skill and experience that is still very valuable

#3 - Don't be preposterous! Have you any idea at all what it costs for a business even to move down the road?

#4 - Don't be preposterous! Jobs guaranteed by whom?

#5 - Don't be preposterous! How much? Who will vote for that?


Do you have any realistic ideas?

A poll of part time workers showed that 80% do not want to work more hours.

Cynic, put kids back in jobs and they can pay board and lodging charges to parents (like I used to and my generation)which would compensate for parents paying more income tax. Less energy and perhaphs food consumed in house.

More kids working would lead to mutiplyer in economy expanding jobs in general as they have higher propensity to spend, bigger tax intake help to pay for pensioner supplement.

You cant sit back on the fence and ignore this huge problem.

Hays dont know where your poll came from this figure I used was from the dept that puts the figures together. It was on Sky news last night.

* pisstake policy on hays, post 31240.....sunshine tax.