The Times Business Section have polled their Power 100 panel of City businessmen to ask what UK PLC really thinks about some important questions of our time. A few snippets...
Would David Cameron make a better Prime Minister than Gordon Brown?
62% YES, 19% No
Should the Government use taxes to fight the threat of climate change?
81% YES, 19% No
Should the government reconsider membership of the Euro?
17% YES, 81% NO
Does it matter if the London Stock Exchange dalls into foreign owenership?
44% YES 52% NO
But will the government - or would a Tory government, for that matter - really use taxes to fight the threat of climate change?
ReplyDeleteDaffy Duck would make a better PM than the one we have. (good to see DC doing well)
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice if the government spent tax money on the electorate full stop, and not on Tone and Prezza’s jaunts. I’m sure there’s 16 Million floating around somewhere that they could use, but I could be wrong.
I don’t want our currency reduced to the EU monopoly notes
I don't agree or believe a single word they say in this survey and conclude that their answers are why the Conservatives are unwanted.
ReplyDeleteDoom.
If nothing else, this "survey" shows how incredibly well the snake-oil of "climate change" has been packaged and marketed!
ReplyDeleteHere is a really simple test of whether a new tax really is a 'green tax':
ReplyDeleteA green tax = A binding reduction target that uses taxation to bring behaviour down to the target level.
Take away the binding reduction targets and you don't have green taxes but a regular revenue-generator.
Now let's stop the spin. If it has no binding reduction target, it's a simple an old-fashioned cash-grab.
pogo:
ReplyDelete...the snake-oil of "climate change...
How could you sat that!
The science is settled.
The consensus is clear:
We face catastrophic global cooling (1890s version)
We face catastrophic global warming (1900s version)
We face catastrophic global cooling (1910s version)
We face catastrophic global cooling (1920s version)
We face catastrophic global warming (1930s version)
We face catastrophic global cooling (1940s version)
We face catastrophic global warming (1950s version)
We face catastrophic global warming (1960s version)
We face catastrophic global cooling (1970s version)
We face catastrophic global cooling (1980s version)
We face catastrophic global warming (1990s version)
So, the 'Power 100' panel of City businessmen have spoken have they? I'm quaking in my boots. Though I doubt whether anyone other than their immediate family would piss on them if they were on fire.
ReplyDeleteFeel free to delete this comment Iain if it's over the top. But when I hear the rich talking about ordinary joes being penalised with green taxes, it brings out the worst in me.
I do not know who the sample are but I wonder if a similar sample had been polled at the time we were about to join the ERM whether they would have been for or against it. As I recall the establishment (in the widest sense) were pro the ERM at the time. Of course they did not pay the price for the folly.
ReplyDeleteThey are not "City" businessmen, but UK PLC CEOs and chairmen. Contrary to what UK daily pundit says there are some big names and major players on the list, but I am unsurprised that they agree with green taxes to curb climate change. This is not due to a new found allegience with green politics! Few have picked up on this but for many of the Big Oil, Maufacturing and Investment Banks, the new political emphasis on global warming is a huge business opportunity for them. Barely remarked upon has been how much money such firms have made this year from the carbon allocations given to them by the government (under EU directive) which they have been able to trade at huge profit. Massive profits have been made in Germany which massively over allocated generous carbon allowances, to which Germany AG said Ta very much!. Big Oil and the Investment Banks are planning to go large in this area, in Carbon trading and Carbon based derivatives. BP is planning massive investment in its oil trading business to facilitate this. More trebles all round! A total disgrace, basically a transfer from UK taxpayers to Bil Oil and Investment Banks in the name of "Green". Check it out if you disagee.....
ReplyDeleteStandard Government response: When in doubt raise taxes.
ReplyDeleteOf course the revenue will not be spent on measures to deal with climate change. It's the same as Road Tax, Fuel Tax, Speeding and Parking Fines etc. How much of that goes back into improving public transport and so on?
Already the City is considering the potential for new business arising from public concern. 'New Technology' is apparently the answer!
Switching off a few lights, walking to the shops and turning the thermostat down by one degree doesn't boost these fat cats' remuneration package one little bit. So they won't be too keen on promoting those simple measures. It will all be about new and truly wonderful products for us to buy to help reduce climate change. For example, just take a look at BP and note the discrepancies between what it says and what it does.
Even now the factories in China and India are retooling in anticipation. And the coal-fired power station programmes are being accelerated to meet anticipated new demand.
James Barbour - "But will the government ... really use taxes to fight the threat of climate change?"
ReplyDeleteI sincerely hope not. Anyone who thinks he can call a halt to an infinitesimal change in the cosmos (or even thinks that he and his kind are powerful enough to cause such a change) is too crazy to be running a government - or even a corner shop.
I wonder how many of the 81% City slickers have a mortgage? Perhaps only the 17& have that do want to join the Euro.
ReplyDeleteThe ECB is laughing at Britain tonight.
Doom.
If 19% of City businessmen, the tories' core constituency, are in favour of Gordon Brown, what hope does "Dave" have of winning over their opponents?
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean reconsider their blood lust for schemeing and lying and generally doing anything evil and mendacious to try and convince us the stinking Yoorow is a good idea ?
ReplyDeleteOh boy they are loaded and have hefty pay packets so its terribly shocking to see they don't really mind CC taxes. What a bunch of tosers.
ReplyDeleteBit like the MPC-who picked them in the first place?
ReplyDelete