Is this not a perfect reflection of the effect of socialism on all economic situations? We are being hit with higher fuel prices, partly because the tax we have to pay is rising, but also because incompetent management of the economy is having the effect of reducing our ability to pay for the commodity in question.
Squeezed between the two, it is us who lose out; the State never loses out and (true to form) Gordon and Alistair claim that now is not the time to eliminate the waste that they have identified. We should fund their wasteful spending through higher taxes instead. In the case of fuel, we are less able to pay for the oil because the money we take home is itself worth less. In other aspects of life we are seeing our incomes drop whilst the taxes we are called upon to pay are rising - both in real terms and also as a proportion of our reduced income.
This can't go on.
It will. It has to.
ReplyDeleteWho else is there to pay for Gordon's profligacy? ;-(
I have a leather punch I can lend you to make new holes in your belt. ;-)
I was with a rep the other day buying some goods and I had the 2009 lists while he had the 2010 ones.
ReplyDelete15% is the minimum increase. Many items are 30% higher.
One of the toy sales firm has tried to hide the increase by keeping the old R.R.P. effectively squeezing the sellers margin from 35% to around 20%-25%.