I’m a Pundit

I was pleased to see that the Government has decided to officially tackle the obesity problem. Yes that’s right, all you fat bastards out there, you are now officially a problem.

This new campaign has been brought together after an obviously shammed together report claimed that in 2050 90% of people will be overweight.  Judging by this I have looked at decent trends and deduced from the governments recent interest rate cuts that in 2050 interest rates will be at minus 30%.  Good news for mortgage holders but sorry savers, your lucks not in.I am not sure exactly how the government is deducing it’s priorities, I mean lets face it, they are pretty much removing all aspects of fitness from our every day lives, take for instance the following :-Rising taxes on pub beers forcing people to shop for booze at the supermarket - This not keeps people at home rather than visiting the pub! (On a serious note I know 3 pub football teams that have collapsed due to the insane rises in alcohol tax), forcing people to stay at home is not only damaging pubs but removing a lot of social activities, many of which ARE fitness related.Increased benefits for single parents - Gone are the days when b***rdry was a crime.  Today we promote single parentage and following that the number of children eating at Macdonalds everyday on non working single parent support has risen drastically.  (On a serious note here a huge percentage of obesity comes from government supported families, this is not coincidence)Compare this to times past when single mothers were flogged and sent to the work house while their children had to walk to London and survive on stolen vegetables while performing spontaneous song and dance routines with surprisingly athletic stall holders.  You can suddenly see why obesity has risen drastically from 200 years agoClosing Sport and Health Facilities - I am not so sure about other areas but due to lack of funding my local city has wait for it NO inner city sports facilities.  This means no cheap government subsidised gym, no swimming pool, nothing infact other than quite a lot of paths which can be run along with only minor damage caused to your knees.Anti Bullying Legislation - Yes I know it may seem cruel and no one likes to see a child picked on.  But lets face it, nothing will get a kid on the sport track faster than 50 of his peers calling him fatty and throwing pies at him.  I think a lot of problems that are around today come from too many rights organisations and do-gooders making life too cushy, these same people have caused countless c*ck ups with their mis-management and shot sightedness.All in all I am not surprised obesity is increasing.Infact the only light at the end of the tunnel I can see most surprisingly came from Gordon brown (although in some ways it isn’t that surprising, the money grabbing retard doesn’t see the benefits the scheme will have on the country he merely sees a quick buck).  Yes that’s right, in the near future it will be much harder to claim benefits unless you are actively looking for work!British Economy

written by Oli \\ tags: Depression, Law, Politics, Recession

I was browsing some of my blogging hangouts this morning and found what can only be described as one of the funniest summaries of the economic climate I have seen so far.

The quote comes direct from I am Livid, a fantastic British blog by the disturbingly anomynous, and scarily hairy, Mr Angry.

I have fond memories of the recent men’s 100 metres final in Beijing. Usain Bolt put in a performance that quite literally, made track and field history.

Then I look at the state of the country today, with rising inflation, falling house prices, banks on the verge of collapse, recession looming large on the horizon, and a feeling among many that things are about to take a significant turn for the worse.

Then I look back to just over three years ago to the Live 8 concerts, and I wonder if the Government completely misunderstood the stated aim of Making Poverty History. Because right now, it looks like they could be about to do just that.

written by Oli \\ tags: Depression, Economy, Funny, Government, Humor, Humour, Live 8, Poverty, Recession

For a lot of people the recession brings tidings of woe, house values are dropping like stones, business are going broke and people are suffering from bankruptcies. There is however a silver lining to the recession.

It has been more than acknowledged in passing that house prices in the UK are insanely high. Not even 60 years ago a house could be bought for 3 times annual earnings, hence why mortgages have usually been given at 3 times annual earnings. Today however people earning around £20,000 ($40,000) a year are expected to spends between £200,000 ($400,000) and £500,000 ($1,000,0000) on a home in Britain. How can people afford this?

Well quite simply they can’t, interest rates will keep increasing what is owed to such an extent that nearly a fifth of new mortgage buyers are expected to never pay off the loan themselves, instead leaving the remainder as something for the kids.

For this reason the incoming recession is a good thing, house prices should be brought back into the realm of the reasonable and affordable. Houses that once cost £15,000 shouldnt, half a century later, cost £150,000.

As recession bites strings will need to be tightened, but a lot of things that have grown in price will fall, while the basics become more expensive. It does however need to happen, for too long Britain has stood in the shadow of a false economy, a problem which has haunted it in a million different ways.

written by Oli \\ tags: Depression, Economy, Recession

Despite multiple cash injections around the globe the stock markets finally slumped as the major banking institution Lehmen filed for bankruptcy. While the global economy crisis itself is not unexpected it seems amazing to me that those in charge remain so blind as to the effect it has on the world.

Hell American Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said today that;

“Americans could remain confident in the “soundness and resilience” of the US financial system.”

Now excuse me for just a second her, saying the American Economy is resiliant is like saying the George Bush is going to be President again, completely unrealistic.  Seriously the US economy has been floating on thin air for a long time, and it has been long overdue for a crash.

The first step to fixing problems is admitting tehm, and this seems to be something that neither the American or English Governments are willing to do yet.

written by Oli \\ tags: Crisis, Depression, Exconomy, Gobal, Recession

I can’t help but wonder to myself how Alistair Darling came into power in England, We are talking about a man who seems to have no sense of the fact that the economy rises and falls, that inflation goes up and down 

Infact Mr Darling and Gordon Brown, in true US style have spent so long shooting down the small temporary inflations and minor economic downturns, all while spending the money the Conservatives saved to keep the country afloat, that they have built up to a massive tidal wave that could quite possible be the next economic depression.

I am having trouble coming to terms with the fact that Mr Darling can refuse to talk with public sector union officials after giving them a below inflation pay rise, chiding the workers of the UK for wanting enough money to live on, when one of the major reasons for the recession is labours insane levels of taxation, which rather than fostering businesses and prosperity to bring in revenue have instead focused on taxing more for more money.  If there is any lesson learnt throughout history it’s that the damage this causes to small businesses and the vulnerable is catastrophic.

Already bankruptcies in the UK are at an all time high, this is not down to consumer spending going down, its to do with increased fuel prices, increased business tax rates and a multitude of red tape laws strangling small business.

Mean while our Gordon Brown is busy licking the old American mud rim, while George Bush is sat their wondering if Tony Blair has been at the pies a bit too much recently and had a mild heart attack.

I really wish we had a party in power that wasn’t full of privately schooled, out of touch wankers who have been trained as Politicians and seem to live in a world that is mostly constructed within their own mind.

written by Oli \\ tags: Alistair Darling, Depression, Downturn, Economy, Gordon Brown

The BBC today reported on how rent has risen by aroun 10-11% while house prices are expected to drop by 20%.  When they interview landlords on this they give reasons such as increased market (People selling houses and renting for a while)

Of course they avoid the major issue on this.

The Reason Rent is rising so dramatically in some areas is because Buy to Let investors are in serious trouble.  Many of them have found rent not covering rather significant mortgage increases, and with few other places to turn they are placing the burden on their tenants.

The Reason Property owners are admitting this to the press is that it would be an admission of their own guilt

By admitting they are raising rents to keep up with mortgage prices they are admitting it is their fault, they stretched themselves too thinly over debt and failed to keep enough money in reserve to cover high interest periods.  For that reason when times get tougher they have no choice but to massively increase rent, despite the fact it carries a significant risk of putting them out of business.

Despite the facct that there are a huge amount of unlet properties currently on the market as people return to house and flat sharing the Landlords will continue to spout their bullshit to remove any possible blame to themselves, in the end however a lot of them will go bankrupt as the market normalizes

written by Oli \\ tags: Depression, Housing, Lettin, Renting