Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Only the private sector are cutting jobs and making savings

The news came in tonight that another of our friends will find out if he has a job tomorrow as his bank cuts 10% of its staff. I know a number of people who have lost their jobs so far.

I was speaking to a car sales man this week and he says that availability of new cars is actually now getting worse. That suprised me, surely they would be falling over themselves to off load cars ? Apparently not - other companies are doing the same thing as Honda and cutting back or stopping production. Indeed I read in a paper somewhere today that one senior executive saw his function as top try to guard their cash as the recession runs its coarse.

One of the friends of ours who have lost their job has learnt of the 16k savings limit on getting any return from all those taxes and NI contributions they made ( some of which will of course have been income tax on those savings - which were taxed when they were earned also ). They will have to cut back, and have already sold one of their cars in the first week.

Those who have savings are learning that the government needs to use their money to bribe those who borrow, so negative real term savings rates are instituted ( really another tax on saving ). Those people will cut back, which will be hardest for the pensioners.

Many people with private sector pensions suspect, but do not yet know the full horror of what has happened to their futures. The combination of the credit bubble, Gordon's stealth taxes, and now the government forcing the purchase of its debt at about 4% by pension funds - when it lends the same money to the banks for 12 %. They are having their futures cut back.

Everyone suffers - except, except - the Government and public sector.

We have no Navy to speak of any more and an army on its knees, yet state spending is massive. If you hint at cutting back at Labour's client state - as David Cameron has done today - then Yvette Cooper ( double super rich government salary with her husband with pensions and wonderful commons expenses X 2 to live in cheap parts of the country ) turns up on the radio to deliver a set of spin lines about Cameron taking money away from people.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It really is ghastly, isn't it? Two of my close friends have already lost their jobs, and one more is likely to go in the new year. I work in the public sector - a real job, not one of Gordon's made up ones - and it's actually getting rather awkward to look some of these people in the eye knowing that my job is about as safe as they come at the moment. Not trying to boast - it's just very depressing. Meanwhile, national debt is rising. Yippie.