False economy

One thing is for sure, the PM got it right about the economy we would inherit...it's in a right royal mess! So to be fair, the RGB Economic Manifesto could not possibly hope to promise any reasonable level of repair. that is going to take a gazillion years! (see what I did there with the 'gaz' thing!)

What we can do fairly quickly is stop the rape and pillage on our most valuable assets....the desecration of Education and Health - the 'muscles' that keep this country strong - rather we should massage them, make them stronger, to keep us all alive. Instead we should look at trimming the fat from what is becoming an economic carcass. As the PM says...it's easy to make bankers the scapegoat. Why. Because it's the single largest inequity in a democratic, albeit capitalist state that is supposed to be a socially aware and caring community.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for rewarding people, I'm all for wanting the best woman or man for the job, but please....nobody needs a £million bonus...on top of a 6 figure salary!...and there were over 4,000 City workers who received bonuses above that last year. Recession? Banks going bust? Banks bailed out by government? Please! That's at least £4Billion in bonuses JUST paid to those who received a MINIMUM bonus of £Million each! So start to count in those getting £900K, £800K....you get where I'm going with this...oh, and by the way, one individual received a bonus of £11million, all to himself!

The majority of citizens will work all their lives and not earn what 4,000 City bankers will receive in their christmas bonus...in 6 months time...in the middle of a recession.

I will be putting it to our new PM that we should be looking at a cap in City bonuses. Nobody can justify needing £1m bonus in a single year, no matter how good a job they have done. Cap them at say £500K. That's still amazing! 99% of the population would be delighted if offered that! It's still a motivational figure...and it would release up funds and profits for the banks to help stimulate the economy, make more loans to small and medium sized businesses, get more of us back in work, paying more taxes, funding more departments...let's try to stop the vicious circle of greed and stimulate a sense of fairness, of opportunity, of hope.

There are so many other economic issues that will need to be addressed, but no point making promises that can't be kept. From one small acorn. So I've got Seamus working on the figures, which in fairness he found a bit mind boggling at first. (Eyes nearly popped out of their sockets!!). I'm not sure if he realises what he's let himself in for, or even if he understood what I meant when I asked him to review the 'Green economy", but his eyes welled up, he says, at the thought of being back on his home soil.