Thursday, April 23, 2009

How much?

I must admit, I didn't take much notice of the budget. I'm unemployed, it will affect me whether I like it or not and the government's statement that they really want to help the unemployed are weasel words, just empty promises and a decent sound-bite. They haven't got a clue. Not to put too fine a point on it, they shit on the unemployed and the civil servants paid to do their dirty work are the fundaments through which that shit passes. Got that out of the way.

Now, one thing I do remember from yesterday is that the government will now find 2 grand for you for your ten-year-old car if you can afford a new one. No. I do not want to buy a new one. It means energy and resources will be used to create something I don't need yet. It's more economically and environmentally sound to keep my old one in good order. However, today is the day my car insurance is renewed (I knew 23rd April was relevant). Will my premium go up now that my ten year old Rover 600 is now valued at £2000 instead of £500? I have a feeling that for the next couple of years this stunning piece of forward thinking will stimulate the market in 10 year-old cars and nothing else. What talent we have in government.

It was also reported yesterday that prices fell overall and are expected to do so again next months. No more inflation, it's deflation. Apparently this is a bad thing. Again, I can't understand this. I thought levelling inflation was the holy bloody grail of economic policy but strike me down if I haven't got that one wrong as well. I'm not allowed to understand this because I'm just a numpty who left school at 18 and has been struggling for the past 30 years without letters after my name. Surely if things are coming down in price, we will be able to afford them. Not crap that we don't need like Sky boxes, new cars and Wiis but essential items such as nourishing food, decent and well made furniture so we can sit on and around it eating the nourishing food and be families again, public transport, that sort of stuff. If we can afford this stuff it will stimulate the economy and give us some dignity back. Maybe it will even make our remaining manufactured goods competitive again and produce proper jobs as a result. But no, I haven't thought it through deeply enough. I've not produced any earth-shatteringly trite jargon. I'm not an economist or a politician. I'm just broke and wondering how to spend the little money I have wisely. Come on Gordon, gissa job.

0 Vegetable peelings:

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