They need to make them and there are a few liberals on here so let's hear them. Where woul you start with the whole deficit thing?
It's Monday and we nee a good old STW argument.
spend a huge amount on building houses
I'd spend money on teaching the difference between you're and your.
You can't put a price on pedantry.
Hs2 & the carriers, I.e. build one not 2.
wwaswas - MemberI'd spend money on teaching the difference between you're and your.
You can't put a price on pedantry.
Beaten to the punch!
However rather than spending more money on it I would re-introduce the cane to enforce the correct use.
just to work the pedantic seam a little harder, the OP did say "Savings" not "spending". We all have wonderful ideas on how to spend other people's money, anyone got any on how not to?
just to work the pedantic seam a little harder, the OP did say "Savings" not "spending". We all have wonderful ideas on how to spend other people's money, anyone got any on how not to?
We should cut funding to the Department Of Pedantry.
[i]Department Of Pedantry.[/i]
I think the 'o' is lower case in 'of' when giving names of government departments?
igmc
They need to make them and there are a few liberals on here so let's hear them. Where woul you start with the whole deficit thing?
It's too late, they already started by giving all our money to the banks.
Remove tax relief on the mortgages for second homes?
Not quite a saving but as boosting income has the same net impact as savings then it is a place to start.
Personally I'd move a crap load more government/civil service departments out of London and the south east. There are very few that actually need to be in the capital
'Whose' my PM for the day?
Not a liberal here...
There is no 1 big ticket to solve everything so
Cut
Winter Fuel Payment to Pensioners above earning threshold of something decent
Child benefit to household income over £70k
Stop all final salary pensions schemes for new starters
Enforce IR35 rules
To get things going - remove VAT from fuel
I'd nationalise the personal banking sector, ditto water and power, I'd arrest the board of vodaphone and Sachs for tax evasion and any others that have done the same,
I'd honour the covenant with the armed forces, as while they fight for our country our government screw em over..
Things along those lines, till I wake up with a grump on..then the death squads are out....
Then I'd declare myself to be El Presidente glorious leader for life Khani...Yaaaaay!!!! 
You wouldn't need to make any savings at all if you just made the rich, and corporations, pay the same rate of tax as us 'little people'
Department Of Pedantry.I think the 'o' is lower case in 'of' when giving names of government departments?
igmc
I stand corrected. The DoP do vital work. Let's just cut tax breaks for orphanages, instead.
Immediate tax rise on Audi estates, pies, high end XC-oriented full suspension bikes and levies on IT sector salaries.
I'd ban all single occupancy car journeys under one mile made by able-bodied people without luggage. 😀
And I'd make all public transport free at point of use.
And ringfence 20% of the current transport budget to provide proper cycling facilities.
And I'd scrap Trident to pay for it all (in the short term. Long term the public health savings and extra carbon credits would cover it).
I've just re-typed my response about three times trying to fully express what I would do to make some savings. Unfortunately, I can't think of anything that we could do that would adequately undo the mess we are in. It would all just be pissing in the wind.
So basically just do a combination of what TJ and CFH say.
GrahamS - Member
I'd ban all single occupancy car journeys under one mile made by able-bodied people without luggage.And I'd make all public transport free at point of use.
And ringfence 20% of the current transport budget to provide proper cycling facilities.
£2bn is a lot of signage and green paint.
Trident could go.
Radical overhaul of the tax and benefits system to make it simpler.
e.g. try and stop people paying tax and then recieving it back in benefits and vica versa.
I'd also try and look to see where means testing can be removed and simpler criteria or universal benefits given (with a back of an envelope calculation first to see if it would be cheaper).
I'd raise the pension age to 70 for absolutely everybody. If you want to retire early then start saving. If you cannot work until you are 70 then at the point where work becomes impossible you can calim incapacity benefit* or whatever it is called.
I'd raise fuel duty - sure people won't like it, but they'll pay it.
*This was actually put forward except the idea was the complete removal of the idea of a pension.
They need to make them and there are a few liberals on here so let's hear them
We do not need to make them and therefore I refuse Please dont buy into the TINAS [ ther eis no alternative argument] - given the double dip do you really think it is working/ Have the banks been lending? Has private enmterprise rushed into the void to save us all?
My personal bug bear is pensioners. Whilst it is undoubtedly true that there are some poor pensioners there are also some phenomenally rich ones.
I know a couple who bought a house for £42 k now worth £550k for example. retired income of circa 40 K + state pension. They get discounts everywhere they go for being penisoners and they get winter fuel allowance. A lot of money to be saved there by not giving to those who dont need it so means test the hell out of pensioner benefits *- sadly these people vote so it will never happen so we will target the poor who dont vote and thse under 25
Stop child benefit for those 2 SD above the average wage - we can argue about mean ,modal and household later Graham 😉
Stop trident
Punative taxation to those [ individuals and corporations] who use aggressive tax avoidance measure - yes we can argue what this means later.
Cut charitable status to private schools and make them pay proper rates of tax and the church as well.
I will think of some others I am sure.
* when they maoan just explain that the fact they rare living longer means they did not pay enough into thterir pension pots to cover what they will get back and they can **** off if they think I will pay for theirs and mine at the same time when they actually have a higher income than me and no mortgage.
£2bn is a lot of signage and green paint.
No, no, [i][u][b]proper[/b][/u][/i] cycling facilities.
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[url= http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3545/3654552685_7dcf64cc1b.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasondcruz/3654552685/ ]Airport bike lane, Copenhagen[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/jasondcruz/ ]albanylife[/url], on Flickr
I'd default.
I'd tax stupidity.... it seems that there is a rich seam in the UK. Specifically your tax code would derived from you exhibiting certain behaviors, the folowing examples would all attract an aditional tax burden:
Wearing sportswear while shopping
Watching of reality TV shows
Not understanding/observing box junctions
Hopefully this would bring-about some sort of finacial natural selection.
Obviously, I would be in charge of the list.....
There's one perfect solution, 30 years old and you're out. Might stretch it to 40 if the savings are better than expected.
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Stop all payments to anything child related including maternity hospitals. When are you going to learn, the young are here to replace us! They don't deserve it for one thing and they are going to get real mad when they find out we have borrowed a shit load of money and left them to pay it.
See what I mean with that Logans Run reference. That has got to be posted by a young waster.
I'd get the **** out of Afghanistan. That'd save us a lot of lives, as well as money. And not get involved in any more pointless imperialist posturing. How much have Iraq and Afghanistan cost us? And for what?
I'd tax stupidity.... it seems that there is a rich seam in the UK. Specifically your tax code would derived from you exhibiting certain behaviors, the folowing examples would all attract an aditional tax burden:
Wearing sportswear while shopping
Bugger, I regularly wear baggies as everyday clothing.
simple..
1.no one can take any pension until they are of state retirement age.
that would save the govt a boat load and the pension companies freeing up cash for investment ( as pension funds do)
2.sort out council tax so that the bands go on to infinity with bands spaced out every 50k and with properties reassigned to new bands when they are sold
cheaper homes would be cheaper expensive homes would pay a cracking share and as homes are bought and sold the tax would represent thier value.
3.introduce workfare.
after 2 years on the rock and roll. you HAVE to work for your benefits.
two choices..
either street maintenance, ( you 'd be given a street and held accountable for it..)
or domestic service.. helping little old ladies single mums etc 20hours per week
4. armed forces..cut the raf by half cut the navy by a quarter and make the army a flying cavalry enforce a rigous management structure so thier are no longer more leaders than those been led.
- Bit late now but we should never have bid for the Olympics -but seeing as we do have them we should have stuck to the budget, not gone ludicrously over.
- Scrap trident.
- Immediate withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
- Give much better funding to the authorities investigating tax evasion/avoidance (as every penny spent earns itself back and more - the Tories cut the funding strangely enough).
- Get rid of winter fuel allowance and child benefit for the well off.
- Stop the massive bias/subsidy in public spending that London receives, eg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-16235349
- Stop using UK taxpayers money via the ECGD/UKEF to fund buying weapons for dictators and awful human rights abusing projects by oil companies (don't care if this doesn't make a saving overall - it's a disgrace and needs to stop)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/17/arms-oil-bosses-corporate-responsibility
UK Export Finance claims it is owed £2.3 billion. This includes loans for General Mubarak's Egyptian army to buy British defence equipment, Argentina's 1970s military dictatorship to buy British warships, and Robert Mugabe's police to buy British Land Rovers.
1 Change the emphasis of the MOD to actually do what it is described as.
Pros
- save a fortune, every year
- cancel the aircraft carriers
- cancel Trident
Cons
- can't invade countries
2 Means test all benefits - including state pension/winter fuel etc
3 Change the law so that anyone who looses their job has their mortgage capped at 1% over BoE base rate, and only this is paid by benefits. Law will also include a clause to stop any claw-back once they get back into work.
4 Rent controls that slowly reduce the value of property.
anyone who looses their job
Another high profile case for the Department of Pedantry. 😀
armed forces..cut the raf by half cut the navy by a quarter and make the army a flying cavalry
I see what you're saying, genetically create a bread of highly aggressive soldiers with wings, who can fly in to battle.
When this country inevitably falls under Cougar Law, I pledge that:
I'll decrease income tax for lower earners and increase it for higher earners.
I'll implement remote working for MPs and then if they still want a second home they can pay for it themselves.
I'll round up every bank manager and credit company owner who's paid themselves a massive bonus in the last two years, and I'd have them publicly hanged.
I'll impose a tax on sugar and fat in preprepared foods.
I'll make human-powered land-based transport tax exempt.
Families with more than two children are no longer eligible for child benefit. If you can afford to breed a football team then you don't need help from the state.
Partners are legally equal. In the even of a separation, both are valued irrespective of gender. (This should save fortunes in legal expenditure)
Euthanasia will be legalised, making big savings in healthcare and allowing people to check out with some dignity.
Jobseeker's Allowance will require a number of hours community service per week.
My personal bug bear is pensioners. Whilst it is undoubtedly true that there are some poor pensioners there are also some phenomenally rich ones.
I suspect that in about 30 years you'll be seeing quite a different picture.
I see what you're saying, genetically create a bread of highly aggressive soldiers with wings, who can fly in to battle.
Wouldn't work, they'd just loaf about.
jon1973 - MemberI see what you're saying, genetically create a bread of highly aggressive soldiers with wings, who can fly in to battle.
It's worked well in the past...errr future...
I'm voting for cougar.
I see what you're saying, genetically create a bread of highly aggressive soldiers with wings, who can fly in to battle.
I'm imagining a drop zone in my mouth where these winged soldiers deposit their payload of runny egg yolk.
I'll decrease income tax for lower earners and increase it for higher earners.
So people that earn more should pay a larger percentage, and those that earn less should pay a smaller percentage, perhaps all the way to zero.
Like this?
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Image: [url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11733896 ]BBC[/url]
But preferably without the anomalous blip in the middle.
Put a stop to the empty, futile, expensive posturing of the War On Drugs.
Reclassify all drugs according to the societal harm they do - including tobacco and alcohol. Decriminalise, properly regulate the supply of and tax those which people are using anyway and are gaining access to by illegal means.
properly regulate the supply of and tax those which people are using anyway
Thus creating a black market of drugs, which you'll need a war on. 🙂
Hmmm
Well to start with I'd kick all of the MP's out of their London pads and move them into 1 London tower block with security and coaches to and from Parliament.
I'd abolish voting and instead select MP's at random from the electoral roll so that they will have a real interest in representing their constituency, and they aren't just conniving career politicians.
I'd introduce licensing before people can have kids.
everyone on more than 100k gets 90% tax.
I'm voting for Cougar too. We need to get a campaign going.....
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