The Budget.

[Workingman]

I live in hope that one day there will be a budget that works for all. It has not happened in my lifetime. The rich get richer and the majority stay the same, or get worse. The latest is no different.

Bankers (who were a big problem in 2008) get a 5% cut to corporation tax to make them more profitable. We, plebs, get pennies, 59p per/hr on min wage.

Companies now, operate by paying min wage topped up using universal credit or in-work benefits, to make themselves viable. They are not. They then give their 'investors', (chancers) dividends to keep them sweet. Without in-work benefits they would fold, as should be the case.

[cromwell]

I didn't bother watching it, I'll catch up tomorrow.
What does strike me is how much money is being splashed around. It seems like money has little value any more.

[TheOstrich]

I haven't read all the small print, but overall it seemed very much a "ho-hum" affair.
I would have liked to see more measures to help the disadvantaged and poorer off, because this Government's current "Work Will Set You Free" message provides little or no practical help to those that have been left behind.

Some measures such as halving business rates for selected sectors, and imposing a levy on big construction companies to assist the costs of cladding removal are good; others like the reduction in airport taxes and champagne taxes are plainly idiotic.

I still can't help feeling this Government's mantra is more akin to "Let The Devil take the Hindmost" though, and it does nothing to encourage me to support them.

[Suff]

I must admit I wasn't looking. But the only thing I can find on corporation tax is a 6% increase in 2022. It currently stands at 19% and it is not being raised.

For the NLW it is going up 6.6% and inflation is expected to be 4% in 2022 and is currently 3.1%.

In general it looks fairly neutral except for lower alcohol level drinks which look set to be a bit cheaper.

Nothing radical in it.

[Kaz]

Looked like an election budget to me….

[Workingman]

Looked like an election budget to me…

Eh, hang on.... The Cons have been brilliant. They have handled the Covidemic brilliantly - £s billions for their families and mates has been spent on the useless test and trace system, and on Dido Harding and Matt Hancock and their mates.

And don't forget how stonkingly well Brexit is going, as promised..

Why on Earth would they need to bribe us thichos to voter for them? Three p off a pint having put it up by 30p should do it.

We are, indeed, doomed..

[Kaz]

Pretty much, Frank xx

[Suff]

We are, indeed, doomed..

I still remember exiting school in 1978 to a collapsing economy and local jobs vanishing faster than a spring frost off a black roof on a sunny morning.

I recall leaving the Army not long after the miners strike and moving up to Fife to run a motorcycle workshop. Only to find that the new business was not doing well and that Fife was running 50% unemployment due to the closed mines from irreversible flooding during the strike.

I guess my measure must be off then. I see us at a crossroads with a choice of paths. We've been doomed and we got through it.