That shut the old windbag up!

[Bereta_Eder]

Originally posted by Bugs ****ing Bunny
the rich get richer while the poor get poorer.

I remember that line from my childhood.
It was brought unaltered to Greece and used to describe Thatcherism, at least to the left wing of Greece.

That and that she was the same as Reagan. That alone brought images of two - headed monsters in one's mind.

[TCO]

Bugs, what do you mean that you rioted? WTF. Did you break inot a liquer store? Did you go in the street and bash a truck driver's head in? Did you start an insurrection? Did you throw down your rattle and stamp on it?

Seriously, I get more and more the sense that the disagreements are visceral...and are about looking cool with the music scene. Thatcher had guts to stand up for her views (free market, anti-communism, etc.) Of course...her opponents seem pretty childish...so maybe it didn't take that much.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Didn't you read it? With a couple of friends we picked up a concrete bollard (which had been broken off by a police van) and used it as a battering ram to break into the council offices. I admit that I had no clearly thought-out plan beyond that, and concentrated on getting away before getting arrested. One of those who helped went on into the building with the intention of destroying all the records he could find, but settled for barricading himself inside and getting arrested a few hours later.

You know what? It worked.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Originally posted by GP


Seriously, I get more and more the sense that the disagreements are visceral...and are about looking cool with the music scene. Thatcher had guts to stand up for her views (free market, anti-communism, etc.) Of course...her opponents seem pretty childish...so maybe it didn't take that much.

By that point, Thatcher's approval rating was below 10%. It takes quite a stretch to describe most of a nation as "pretty childish".

Thatcher had the guts to stand up for her views. I had the guts to stand up for mine. Hey! The world's a nicer place.

[TCO]

Originally posted by Bugs ****ing Bunny
I admit that I had no clearly thought-out plan beyond that, and concentrated on getting away before getting arrested.

Sounds silly. But if it made you feel like you were doing something even though you weren't, good for that.

Got any more cool lyrics for me?

[Adam Smith]

Much of US local services (especially education) are funded through the property tax, with the amount paid per family depending on the value of the property owned. These would sound similar to the existing local rates which Thatcher objected to. Was there something more to it than this? I seem to remember the argument being made that the local rates in northern areas were so much higher on higher valued properties that they were almost confiscatory. One B&B owner I talked to said he moved from the north to Bath because he couldnt afford to pay the taxes to stay in business.

[Alexander's Horse]

The poll tax was like a property tax but everyone had the pay exactly the same whether they were living in a hovel or a palace.
That was what made it so unfair and unpopular.

[Adam Smith]

I understand that, and recognize it as a massive political blunder. Other posters said the status quo needed reform. I was just trying to get a sense of how much reform (as opposed to outright demolition followed by replacement with something quite possibly much worse).

[TCO]

It's not unusual to pay a flat rate for waste disposal in various regions of the US. Still haven't heard anything to make me hate Maggie. And still seems like the Maggie-haters have punk-rock-induced buttlock.

[Alexander's Horse]

Of course - you're used to governments which provide little or no services to the community. The rest of us get value for our taxes

[Grrr]

Originally posted by Case
...or ask a New Zealander about any of their leaders from the mid 80's onward. Jennie Shipley (sp?), the PM before the current one, had a 2% approval rating at one stage

2%, yeah, that's right. And shes down to that level again.

[Solly]

The poor aren't getting poorer.

[Solly]

Originally posted by Boddington's
The poor aren't getting poorer.

I assume since no-one responded, it is now accepted that the daft phrase "the rich are getting richer, and the poor getting poorer" has been totally discredited.

[Provost Harrison]

Originally posted by Boddington's


I assume since no-one responded, it is now accepted that the daft phrase "the rich are getting richer, and the poor getting poorer" has been totally discredited.

The poor stay at gutter level, or the numbers that remain at the poverty level increase, whilst the rich get richer. It is a relative gap. The problem that arises is that although financially the poorer aren't any poorer, due to changes in the economic climate, things like buying property (especially in the south of England) have become beyond the reach of normal people. To buy a property down there, you have to be earning a phenomenal wage.

[Solly]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison


The poor stay at gutter level

"The poor" get richer too. And "the poor" is rather a vague term. It seems to insinuate that the same people stay poor all their lives. That is a false idea. People who are classed as poor when they are twenty could be among the richest when they are 40.

or the numbers that remain at the poverty level increase

Can you define poverty level for me please...

whilst the rich get richer. It is a relative gap.

Ah, so your beef isn't actually that the income of the poor is growing at a low rate, but that a number of people are doing well for themselves?

And again, "the rich" isn't the same group of people. It's just those who are doing best for themselves in the current time period. In the next decade or two, they can be replaced by a new breed of people who have taken educated risks and done well for themselves.

The problem that arises is that although financially the poorer aren't any poorer, due to changes in the economic climate, things like buying property (especially in the south of England) have become beyond the reach of normal people. To buy a property down there, you have to be earning a phenomenal wage.

There are a limited number of houses in the south of England.

How do you propose (without vague statements please) we distribute this limited resource?