What's your government doing about the economy?

[Octavia]

Any bright ideas from the idiots in charge?

In NZ, we've just had a "job summit", trying to hash out some ideas to keep people employed over the recession. According to the NZ Herald, three big ideas have come out of it:

1) Shorter working weeks - some employees can't afford to keep on so many employees, so it's been suggested that instead of laying some off, they keep them all on, but only for a four day week (or nine day fortnight). The fifth day is paid for by the government, with the workers engaging in training or community service on the fifth day.

(Aside: I would like to see something like this mandatory for all workers, all the time.)

2) Some big investment fund idea that I really paid no attention to.

3) And the PM's pet idea, which is employing 4,000 people to finish Te Araroa, a walking/cycling track the length of NZ - kind of like the Appalachian trail idea in the US. I love this!

Whether these are good, bad, or tinpot crazy I don't know. What light bulb moments have your lot had?

[Lisa0315]

Uhm, President Obama is throwing tons of money at the problem. How that is going to work, time will tell. He is very focused on the economy as his number one priority, and he is projecting confidence about it. 2009 is going to be rough, but there are some analysts that are predicting, we will see improvements in the final quarter of 2009.

Lisa

[Goodchild]

Best idea i've heard yet comes out of California where a congressman is suggesting legalizing pot and taxing it while also reducing the prison population and police workload by no longer spending time and wasting money trying to stop people from getting high in the privacy of their own homes.

[Ray Moscow]

Here in the UK, we're strongly criticising a failed banker who says he's going to keep his very large pension.

That should solve things.

Seriously: if they want the money back, just tax the fucker and those like him, and spend the money helping those who are hard hit by this thing.

[Pendaric]

The most immediate concrete reaction over the last few months in the UK has been dropping interest rates. The base rate has gone from 5.5% to 1.0% since October, and there may well be further reductions to come.

I feel that very personally. As a property investor, I've got going on for £2,000,000 owed in mortgages, most of which is now off of fixed term. It's saving me an absolute fortune each month.

Then again, my properties have dropped in value by an absolute fortune as well. Swings and roundabouts.

[Christina]

If I tried to sell my house now I would get about 300K less than I would have a year ago. Luckily I'm not planning to sell. Mortgage rates are very low for qualified buyers. I'm thinking about refinancing but I can't quite make the payments converting it to a 15 year mortgage and I don't want to start over at 30 years. I have to think it through some more and do some more figuring.

[Joykins]

Our lot have taken a huge funnel and are dumping cash down it at an alarming rate to banks that apparently have hollow legs.

[PostMortem]

They are screwing it!....
Oh you said "what are they doing about the economy" sorry I thought you said "what are they doing to the economy"....

http://img.skitch.com/20080925-1qugb97bqfb6wehg75qqxgtm97.jpg

[Lisa0315]

They are screwing it!....
Oh you said "what are they doing about the economy" sorry I thought you said "what are they doing to the economy"....

http://img.skitch.com/20080925-1qugb97bqfb6wehg75qqxgtm97.jpg

Love me some Gilda. I might have to change my avatar. :D

[PostMortem]

Love me some Gilda. I might have to change my avatar. :D

Cool!

[Lisa0315]

Cool!

You like? :D

[dug_down_deep]

If it ain't one thing, it's another...

[PostMortem]

You like? :D

Absolutely! :thumbup:

[Spherical Time]

Uhm, President Obama is throwing tons of money at the problem. How that is going to work, time will tell. <snip>
LisaIn other words, he chose Octavia's number 3. Except, you know, not in NZ.

Best idea i've heard yet comes out of California where a congressman is suggesting legalizing pot and taxing it while also reducing the prison population and police workload by no longer spending time and wasting money trying to stop people from getting high in the privacy of their own homes.While that's a good idea, it seriously misjudges the size of the problem. Unfortunately, this economic crap isn't going to be solved by pot.

Here in the UK, we're strongly criticising a failed banker who says he's going to keep his very large pension.

That should solve things.It could be worse. We United States weirdos are not really criticizing our failed bankers that are keeping their very large pensions. That's probably not going to solve things either, but it sure would make me feel better.

[DMB]

The thing about the Government in the UK attacking the banker they don't like gets funnier and funnier. Main attack has been from a minister called Harriet Harman. It is generally supposed that this is part of an attempt on her part to get popular support and supplant Gordon Brown as Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party.

The bank in question, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) was the darling of the Government until recently. It CEO, Fred Goodwin was seen as a wizard and he was rewarded with a knighthood. When this was pointed out in the House of Commons a couple of days ago by the Opposition, HH claimed that he got his knighthood for his charity work and not for banking. Then she had to backtrack when the citation was shown to be "for services to banking". Sir Fred's wonder coup was to take over the Dutch bank ABN-Amro. This was a bit like a python swallowing an elephant. Someone perhaps didn't do their due diligence properly, and RBS ended up saddled with huge toxic debt.

So 60% of RBS was bought by the Government to save them from ruin and naturally Sir Fred was no longer persona grata. He was therefore pushed into early retirement, with a consequent doubling of his pension to nearly £700000 a year. This was honouring a contractual obligation.

Harman started banging on about how the Government were going to stop him from collecting. But they would not win in a court of law. She even started threatening legislation to get at him retrospectively. But that would get thrown out by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. (And Harman is lawyer and must know all this).

So then she made a statement that while he might win in court, there was such a thing as the court of public opinion. Some wag posted wondering if that court had not been sitting at the time the Government decided to invade Iraq.

I await further installments of Harriet Harman versus Sir Fred Goodwin in the Court of Public Opinion.

[Spherical Time]

He was therefore pushed into early retirement, with a consequent doubling of his pension to nearly £700000 a year. This was honouring a contractual obligation.Seriously, if you think that's bad, then you should see some of the contractual obligations in the states. Even at best, that's only 2 million or so.

[Goodchild]

While that's a good idea, it seriously misjudges the size of the problem. Unfortunately, this economic crap isn't going to be solved by pot.

It would be a drop in the bucket, but it needs to be done anyway and any idea to raise revenues should be looked at seriously.

Plus, well, it'd be nice :)