A fair society ...

[SeanMacGabhann]

to be fair the EDF hadn't been going very long so there aren't many earlier quotes you could find

But I remember plenty of similar sentiment for years dating back.

[red devil]

Can I be the first to predict they'll be another boom, fook knows when though...

[????]

the next crash is 2023, that'll kill us off

[SeanMacGabhann]

in the meantime...

.... can we all go for a pint?

[????]

I'm baby sitting....all day

Missus back in Pompey on the razz

Soon?...Please

[DJKillaQueen]

I hear we a huge meteor is bound to hit us at some point!

[HAL9000]

It's called Apophis.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Deal

[david_carnell]

Can't we all just pop over once the kids are asleep, Quids?

I'll even bring some manky stella for you as well as some proper beer. We can get drunk, set the world to rights and predict the price of your house this time next year!

[DJKillaQueen]

Yep that would be the one HAL.......we are all doomed I tell ya!

[Senor Chevalier]

How about.....

we take the emphasis slightly off taxing those with high incomes and refocus ever so gently on those that already have piles of loot? Someone earning ?1 - 200k is being taxed to b"ggery at the moment. Clearly they do OK, so no complaints, but there comes a point when it isn't really fair (as alluded to up the chain). Post tax and expenses that's a few 10's of K's but never going to amount to enough to buy a nice gaff in a nice bit of London (cue outrage - yes yes it's all relative).

Why not tax wealth (IHT / Asset tax) rather than income.

At an extreme IHT of 100% and no income tax.

Everyone born equal.

Old gits take a punt on their longevity and at some point sp*nk all their remaining cashish stimulating the economy.

Most expensive house in country is total amount earnable by 1 person in a lifetime.

100th best house...

1000th best house...

So house prices become sensible, everyone has equal opportunity, old people drive the economy rather than burdening it.

OK the extreme is clearly a bit ridiculous, but switching the emphasis a little would let the current crop of earners have a fair shot at changing their station, rather than the current system which keeps the rich rich and the poor poor.

Whether the earners deserve their income due to skill, effort and risk-taking or not in absolute terms, they certainly apply more skill, risk-taking and effort in relative terms when compared to someone who was given a pile of wonga or has a huge property asset because they were lucky enough to buy a house at the right time.

Harrumph..

[louisiana]

Tonight, I took a posse to see a pre-premiere screening of The Flaw, with post-film chat with the director and some of the participants. Interesting in terms of data (it's all US), explanations (commentators form both sides of the pond), and personal stories.

http://theflawmovie.com/

Premieres as the Sheffield International Documentary Festival next month.

[mockney piers]

Oh how lovely. I've just learned that 'Trickle down economics' the great cri de coeur for those advocating tax breaks for the rich was coined by an American entertainer called Will Rogers, who observed of President Herbert Hoover's 1928 tax cuts:

The money was all appropriated for the top in the hopes that it would trickle down to the needy. President Hoover didn?t know that money trickled up. Give it to the people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it before night, anyhow. But it will at least have passed through the poor fellow?s hands.

[mockney piers]

...and while I'm at it, these interesting figures, I'd love to see a similar study done here. I realise it's at least an election out of date, but given the apparent shift of popular opinion to the right, I can only guess that the reality - perception disparity has widened in the intervening years.

 

[louisiana]

Given that in 1975, the top 1% of US citizens earned 9% of income, and that in 2007 the top 1% earned 22/23/24% (sources vary), yes MP, the perception-reality divide is probably continuing to grow. People are basing their perception on a historical situation which has not been true for some time.

With the top 10% and 1% both now gaining a much higher proportion of total income than they did 35 years ago, their wealth pots are just growing and growing.