Very Low

[Mega]

Going off for a while.......try to sort my mind out, i waited 5 years for the crash & its still not here............i can't handle it.
Mike

[Forrest]

Re: Very Low

Come back soon.

[Mega]

Re: Very Low

Taken so Meds, can't drive for a day or 2 because i tend to forget to turn the wheel or brake..
Walked the dog tonight & was heartend by what i saw......lots of "For sale" signs......lots of them appeared to be not in use & "No Chain" signs on the door.............i guess ex B2L stock.........

Also the local gangster Pizza shop is now CLOSED......& lots of other vacant shop units........i sense full blown rescession close now.

Mike

[Mega]

Re: Very Low

Ah..........Yes without Northsea Oil/Gas to prop them up..........

Ministers urged to forget about saving 'failing' cities and towns such as Hull, Hartlepool and Burnley

Ministers have been urged to abandon "failing" cities and towns across the north of England such as Hull, Hartlepool and Burnley and concentrate instead on helping the locals to get jobs elsewhere.

General views of English towns (clockwise from top left) Hull, Burnley, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough Photo: ALAMY









By Steve Hawkes, Consumer Affairs Editor

4:13PM BST 11 Oct 2013



The Economist magazine said that despite years of Government money and "heroic" efforts the towns were decaying and it was time for a change in policy.


The globally-respected publication, in an editorial entitled 'City Sicker', said the fate of the once confident places was "sad".


But it urged ministers to forget about using tax breaks or spending money to encourage people to go the cities and towns as it diverted them from areas where "they would be more successful".

The Economist cited the example of the Cotswolds, once an industrial engine and now so pretty because "centuries ago, huge numbers of people fled them".


In a withering verdict, the magazine said: "Despite dollops of public money and years of heroic effort, a string of towns and smallish cities in Britain's former industrial heartlands are quietly decaying.

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"Middlesbrough, Burnley, Hartlepool, Hull and many others were in trouble even before the financial crisis.
It added: "That so many well intentioned people are trying so hard to save them suggests how much affection they claim.
"But these kindly efforts are misguided, Governments should not try to rescue failing towns. Instead they should support the people who live in them.

"That means helping them to commute or move to places where there are jobs - and giving them the skills to get those jobs."

The Economist argued more money should go in schools in the "urban ghost towns" and the transport network should be upgraded so it's possible to run more regional services to each of them.

The controversial article comes as Hull bids to be voted the 2017 City of Culture. The city is down to the last four in a race even locals thought they would never win.

And Burnley two months ago was voted the most enterprising area of the UK for its "pioneering" culture and economic prospects.

Despite these successes, experts claim the north-south divide is growing with house prices in southern England now more than £100,000 more expensive than those in the north.

The Economist argued that unemployment rates in the "failing" cities and towns were double the national averge and the high streets are dominated with betting shops and payday lenders. Wolverhampton, it said, was among the worst have "condemned parts of its town centre for a shopping mall that never came".

It said that in Wolverhampton 22 per cent of the people have no qualifications - and the overall performance of schools in Hull and Hartlepool is "appalling".

It added: "Even with growth, the most ambitions and best-educated people will still tend to leave places like Hull. Their size, location and demographics means theat they will never offer the sorts of restaurants or shops that the middle classes like."

Michelle Dewberry, the Hull-born winner of BBC's The Apprentice in 2006, told the Daily Telegraph the article was an "insult".

She said: "For people to give up on an entire city, it's insulting to the people. We have the BBC there, Siemens, there's lots more investment.

"The people shouldn't be told to get out but they should be helped, the entrepreneurial spirit should come from within. The city deserves a say when the ambition for it dies."
A spokesman for Hartlepool County Council added: "We know unemployment is high but there are tremendous amount of positives. We know what the problems are."

[Forrest]

Re: Very Low

I'm glad you are heartened by all the signs of the collapse that is to come. Change cannot help but come...the politicians simply will not admit that what they have been doing just doesn't work.

No matter what they try, they cannot micromanage an economy and make it come out right. But they will tell themselves that they can until the economic floor drops out from under them.

[aaron]

Re: Very Low

My mood seems to follow the gold price. I have tried to stop checking the daily price. It helps. FWIW

[Forrest]

Re: Very Low

It's even better if you don't watch any more news than the weather. All those people lying out there is very hard to cope with.

We have no control over what is going on...and it is pointless to try and make it come out better by watching it anxiously.

When something starts to show is soon enough...like Mega seeing a lot of 'for sale' signs while on a walk with his dog, or noting that your last fill up at the gas station cost you ten bucks more than you thought it would.

We will only hit a high or low on gold by accident. What I want is merely to buy more gold near the lows, and some day much later sell it for a lot higher than I bought it for.

Between us all at iTulip, and with EJ watching everything all the time, we will know what to do soon enough.

[Slimprofits]

Re: Very Low

My mood seems to follow the gold price. I have tried to stop checking the daily price. It helps. FWIW

You should try not paying any attention at all to the noise, er I mean the "news". It's done wonders for me.

[Mega]

Re: Very Low

Strangly not worried about the Gold price!
Has ANYTHING changed since 2000 or 2008 ?
Yes, the debt level is VASTLY bigger.......their abilatly to service the debt is almost over even at zero %.

Peek (Cheap) oil IS here.........i can't see Brent going under $100 again....Gold & Oil now linked once more........Oh am sure "They" would much rather play the FIAT game for another 30 years.....but its not going to happen.

You know i wonder at just what IS going to happen when they can't borrow any more?....when the books need to balance........?

[Forrest]

Re: Very Low

I think they grab anything in any account above the insured limit, which is only $250,000.00 per person per bank.

That means anyone in cash...businesses in particular are going to get hurt. And that causes a major slowdown in the economy, and again, a little dis-inflation due to people's unwillingness to spend their money except for essentials.

It might hit the price of gold and oil a bit, but in the end, all that debt floating around in derivatives has to be dealt with. The US only owes about $17t. It's the $600t that worries me that is in derivatives worldwide...the only way to get rid of that is to dis-avow it worldwide as illegal (not really likely, but I suppose could happen) or allow inflation to take care of it.

Which is why we should be holding gold in the first place.

[charliebrown]

Re: Very Low

hey you forgot sports. The only part of the news that has any truth. At least they don't manipulate and spin the scores .... yet.

[Mega]

Re: Very Low

Goldman sex "Sell" every chance they get, i draw great heart from that.
Forrest, they won't grab $.....they have a printing press...
Mike