I was working on Wall Street in NYC in the 1990s and early 2000s, when the talk of the town was the EU and the UK. Everyone wanted a slice of the EU and the road to that slice went right through England. American companies and companies globally started repositioning themselves, using the UK as a diving platform from which to enter the EU. Entire departments packed up and move to the UK, people were given the option to move with it or get left behind. I remember when our datacenter migrated to the UK, a big fancy building in Canary Wharf. Then came Brexit and exit stage left.
@@VincentRE79we were controlling Brussels just as much as they were controlling us. We had veto powers, nothing happened without us approving it. Now the Tories have lost their scapegoat and they didn't even attempt to achieve anything in all the years succeeding the referendum.
@@VincentRE79 That your country was not being controlled by Brussels. That was a bag a lies by Brexiters. The UK has voted ‘No’ to laws passed at EU on 56 occasions, abstained 70 times, and voted ‘Yes’ 2,466 times. The UK was on the “winning side” 95% of the time, abstained 3% of the time, and were on the losing side only 2%. You call that control?
To say that the quality of UK public services has dropped in the last couple of years is an understatement. Crappy doctor appointment waiting times, overpriced non-punctual public transport, tripled supermarket food prices, commercialized education, useless consumer rights organizations and charities with lofty business goals.
Be lucky to get a phone appointment then they tell you to send picture in for them to examine but the pictures cannot be over 8mp and they can’t see it , absolute shambles
The UK is a carehome, the UK goverment is a carehome operator, local councils are the carehome staff. Turning the UK into a carehome is bankrupting the UK.
If you're not educating and training people to be productive, then make housing so expensive to boost GDP on paper but that everyone spends more than half of their salaries on rent, then no wonder the country is turning into a carehome. I left the UK in 2020 back to my country, each passing year the UK makes me happy i made that decision
Actually the average age in the Uk at 40 is younger than most other European countries and we spend a lot less on care and pensions for the elderly than most of them too. The problems are many but too many old people is much less of an issue here than elsewhere.
As always, simply an expertly put together video on a specific topic. Not only do you manage to make it understandable to those who may not have studied economics and other similar subjects, but you also manage to give it enough depth that those who have studied the subject can get something concrete out of it. Brilliant channel. Keep up the fantastic content!
I am danish, and if the standard of the danish health system is that it is run by “ A state of art IT system” then I feel really sorry for the citizens in UK. We Danes have had endless problems with the IT system, and we are currently building several so-called super hospitals, and that process has been met with an endless amount of scandals and problems. Sometimes people here in Denmark say: If you want to find out how well functioning everything here is after all, just try to go abroad for a while ! Maybe that statement is true ….?
The last generation borrowed to keep their taxes low and now it's the workers of today who are paying for their retirement. The interest on the debt alone is more than our entire defense budget. I wouldn't mind paying more tax if I though it was an investment in the future but it would be spent maintaining the triple lock for the same generation that squandered the North Sea oil profits and voted to borrow. All while the retirement prospects for today's workers look to be non existent.
That same generation then desperately try to point the finger at immigration and refugees, as well as the younger generation, rather than accept responsibility
Get council houses built and many of our problems will be solved. Reduce housing costs and more people will be able to afford private pensions and private healthcare.
@ It can only be called ‘investment’ if profitable. So rents will have to be high enough to cover the cost of the land, construction, finance and maintenance. Probably not what most hope for.
@@charlesbruggmann7909 The cost of land is a one-off payment, whereas rent will be paid in perpetuity, therefore the cost will obviously be recouped eventually. Even if owning council houses is unprofitable, the benefits to the economy of having a functional housing system will be massive.
The UK is an ageing society. You cannot look at how things were run in the past to find ideal solutions. New ones need to be found. You cannot have a massive amount of retirees vs the past but expect services to remain where they were. However I do agree that government overreach is a problem. But is any government in the UK running on reducing government involvement in your lives?
Pensioners can't expect to retire and live a comfy life on the taxes of the young. Carehomes are so expensive and pensioners need to pay more in their houses, giving up their pensions to pay for it and everyone needs to be told that living to 90 is a real posibility and it's extremely expensive!
This is only half true. Yes, there are fewer working age people, but we are also far more productive per capita than we used to be. If certain things like care homes were nationalised it would be cheaper over all because of the economy of scale.
The UK’s tax authority has not fined a single “enabler” of offshore tax evasion or non-compliance in five years despite landmark powers introduced in 2017, new figures reveal. HMRC has been under pressure to estimate the size of the tax gap after figures disclosed to the independent thinktank Tax Policy Associates by HMRC in September 2021 revealed that UK taxpayers held nearly £570bn in tax havens. HMRC estimates that it collects 95% of all the tax owed in the UK, but the remaining 5% accounted for about £36bn in lost revenue in 2021-22.
@@davidclark1545 The Paradise Papers (November 2017) contained 13.4 million leaked files that were investigated by 95 media establishments worldwide, and found to contain the details of a large number of individuals and offshore companies who were illegally utilising tax havens to avoid personal and corporation tax. Using a tax haven for monetary gain and neglecting to declare income to HMRC, gives the holder a financial advantage over those who are paying tax correctly, and inhibits economic cooperation and development. Those currently taking advantage of the system in this way are liable to be investigated by HMRC and may be found guilty of non-compliance, resulting in a hefty penalty. So it can be legal if declared, not if not declared and immoral is another question.
The use of tax havens means less tax revenue for the government, leading to an increase in taxes on goods and services, which ultimately hurts the poorest. On top of this, it facilitates money laundering, corruption, and hinders financial regulators to identify risks in capital markets. Using tax havens will only comply with HMRC tax regulations if declared to HMRC.
Excellent video indeed my good man. Just goes to show that the smaller our governments and the less power and tax we give to our politicians, they better our lives will be.
Government is a monopoly that has no real competition, and so suffers from all the consequent problems one would expect. Inefficiency, bureaucratic bloat, impossible-to-fire workers, lack of accountability to customers, etc - all while charging monopoly prices to taxpayers.
The biggest problem with our government is to tax more, and to continue taxing us more, it has to waste more aswell! There is no obligation for other tax payers to pay for people incompetence! It has no obligation to fund other peoples lifestyle!
There is no such thing as people's incompetence. Our power structures are all trees. Only 10% succeeds, the rest are losers. It is not the people, it is the system. Those at the top will always say, you are not at the top because you are incompetent, the truth is there is no room for great majority of people there. As you reach 40s or 50s you are no longer able to compete against most younger people, unless you are in power structure already. The only thing that counts is how deep up the ass of those who have power you have gone to get what you want. Most of your incompetent ones, just do not do that, because not many humans enjoy flowing through shit half of their life.
This is the problem with UK politics. We need parties to either set out the case for Denmark model or set out the case for a US model and then deliver. It seems the UK is not capable of doing anything these days and that has resulted in stagnation
Lol. Models are maps, not the territory. Don't confuse the two. We are neither the US nor Denmark. And thinking we can borrow models devised for other economies has brought us to the situation we are now in. Neoliberalism was devised in America, but it hasn't even worked there. And unfortunately for us, we dived into copying the Americans and ended up with a busted flush. All we got was a huge transfer of wealth to the already asset-wealthy, and a crumbling system brought down by savage underinvestment in education and industry and underfunding of public services. British workers work the longest hours in Europe, but are paid the least to the extent that Polish and Slovenian workers will earn more than the workers of the sixth richest economy in the world, leading to increasing income and wealth inequality. They say one's problems come from one's priorities, and if one doesn't like cleaning up the mess caused by one's problems, then one needs to take a hard look at the priorities that put them there. We've made rich people richer at our own expense. That is not just folly on the part of our short-termist politicians. We've played our part in electing them. So we too are responsible for losing our own way. It is our priorities that are skewed away from reality. Until we look at the truth of who we are without rosy glasses and unicorns, and commit to making the changes needed, we're not going anywhere, because we have to change before it will. We need to stop looking for easy answers to tough problems and commit to change. Because being Denmark is not a quick fix. It is literally changing not just our minds but the way we do things. And not just moaning at governments, scapegoating, and blaming. None of which achieves anything. But getting more involved in how our country is run. Our errors are rooted in how we see the world and ourselves in it. That distorts our relationship to reality. Nice things cost time, effort, and money to produce. Denmark didn't get nice things by thinking their national economy is run like a household. And even though they encourage people to grow wealth, they are not shy in taxing it to pay for the things that make it possible to have nice things. We don't subsidise wealth creation to make a few people rich and nothing else. We do it to ensure that everyone's boat can float to the extent that everyone is able to contribute to making wealth for the country as a whole. We have spectacularly failed for nearly half a century to do what we did after World War Two, when we were 100% worse off than we are now. Why? We followed the American overoptimistic model, and it's hurt us badly. We are now reaping the rewards of that folly. We can do better, but we are too complacent and are deceiving ourselves. We have found out that we need to change. We sat by as whole communities fell to the neoliberal attrition. And then no one can understand why they can't build themselves up, as the whole weight of the Big Con is standing on them.
Gary of GarysEconomics put it nicely when he said we have a Uniparty system. The problem is both political options are to a greater or lesser extent brought and when the public were given the chance to start to break this up (the A.V. referendum) they voted to keep the current, corrupt and broken system. And without even the will for structural reform we are well and truly fu...
@@loc4725 I am danish, and we have a system with several political parties . When you voted no to rethink your political system, I felt very sorry for you.. I agree completely with what you have written about the UK system. The danish system with several political parties may not be perfect, but at least the winner doesn’t take it all, and to achieve something you have to work it out with other political parties , which creates a lot of dynamics.
Let's not forget the legendary wastage of money in the public sector. Its fine saying the govt spends x or y on healthcare, police or whatever, but how much of that goes up in smoke through bureaucracy and non-jobs?
It is this kind of unfocused, generic comment that could have been written at any time since 1950 that is part of the problem. As you say it is a legend, even though there is truth in it the function is to invoke dissatisfaction. Most of the serious economic and organisational analysis gets ignored.
@ you can woffle and bluster all you like, it does not make it untrue and it still sucks up money that could be spent on healthcare, roads etc etc. My comment is not part if the problem, the subject of my comment is. It’s not rocket science.
@@hughjohns9110 you're suggesting one is morally worse. public services and private services should both be ran competently as they both impact the public, whether paid for with public or private funds. failure to properly manage staffing costs (including your execs) to a degree that it threatens the continuation of he business is incompetence and potentially corrupt - just as is doing the same in the public sector.
We are spending over £8b on "irregular" migrants every year. That is not the cause of our problems, but it is a pretty significant representation of why we are where we are. Lawyers and politicians are getting rich, everyone else is getting rinsed.
This is utter nonsense Migrants have always been a net financial benefit because they pay more in taxes than they consume in benefits Check for yourself
I have a theory on immigration. It was a hot topic of the Brexit argument, yet we saw the highest immigration figures ever in the period POST Brexit, when it should've decreased, per the wishes of so many pro Brexit voters. The theory is that at a high level our govts understand that we need care based labour for our aging population, which is typically a low paying industry. Our domestic population is largely unwilling to enter that area due to poor working conditions and low pay, so the borders are effectively but somewhat subtly opened to allow a care workforce to enter and manage our aging population. One that is willing to work for lower wages due to coming from areas of lower opportunities. It's anecdotal, but in my area, we've seen a huge increase in foreign nations working in elderly care based roles. But this isn't publicised, because immigration is such a hot topic.
@@iian050 Just a reminder Sajid Javid (and Rishi?) supported Brexit specifically because the EU was unfair to ‘people like them’. Then, given the structural labour shortages in Britain, the plan was always to import workers from the ‘Commonwealth’ - in practice, India and Nigeria of course.
@@iian050 its not just elderly care. its the low wage service sector, healthcare, prisons, so many other industries and institutions where british wages have fallen behind what british people want to work for (this has been an intentional wage suppression for the sake of increased asset values). someone has to fill the gap. left or right, governments are going to not reduce immigration because if they do, our social order will collapse as all these important low pay jobs do not get done. i get that people on the right are scared of people who dont look or sound like them, but sometimes you have to overcome your fears for the better of you, your family and your country.
“I repeat my prophecy England will not only not be able to stop Marxism but its own development will inevitably follow the course of this degenerative disease" Austrian painter 1945
HOTEL UK: There are more Cooks in the Kitchen and more Waiters in the Diner than there is Guests. The Management has taken over most Floors, and the Cusstomers can't get a seat to eat because all the chairs are filled with fat-ass Bureaucrats... but there are Bugs to eat in the Dumpsters out back - and if you're lucky - some might be chocolate-coated. Hurry up before those Dumpsters are emptied and converted into temp-housing, though! ;)
Great informative video. These problems need solutions for our grandchildren not to have to face huge government and private debt. I work with care homes and the costs are unnecessarily large. One solution is to bring these costs down. It can be done.
Taxes are rising for us, but not for the rich, the highest tax burden on the average household since WW2, yet the top rate of tax is the second lowest it has been since WW2 and corporation tax up until a year ago was at a 50 year low. As Marginal Propensity to consume coupled with velocity of money means that growth is being constrained, reversing to the old model of the 60s to the 40s where the burden was on the wealthy is the way to go.
Also before someone comments but the rich pay more if you go by certain metrics, of course they do they earn more and take more from the government from roads to the Internet, i.e. Bazos would have made not one penny if it was not for government infrastructure. The point is as you can see by the roads they need to be paying more to improve society. It improves their lives as well look at the UK of the 50s and 60s 97% top rate of tax and the UK was the centre of art, culture and research, streets clean etc.
@@Alex-cw3rz Exactly and it's why the rhetoric about the rich deserving to pay less tax because they've 'earned' it is so frustrating since their success hinges heavily on the state providing a steady stream of working infrastructure and healthy, skilled workers.
What amusing about this argument is the evasion of the fact that "the rich" run (actually own) the country and any perception fairness was always peddled by their politicians for public consumption. Tax the rich, tax the hell out of them, it'll only bite the common people.
These are very insightful videos about the UK economy and fascinating to see. Thank you for your contribution. It’s tough to be asked to keep paying higher taxes with no real context as to why they never result in meaningful improvements. Countries like Japan and Switzerland seem to get the best bang for their buck. I wonder what we can do to improve. Somehow I think culture and work ethic play a big part in these differences, and I think changing that is really very challenging.
Instead of the large versus small state debate, we need to focus on investment to make the state more efficient - private organisations that don't invest and only retrench fail so why do we treat the public sector like this? An example is how poor, means tested social care provided by a postcode lottery patchwork of local authorities results in longer more expensive stays in hospital. The first wave of network connected Information Technology in the late 90s and into the first decade of the 21st century created huge economic growth everywhere and we need to leverage the next wave of tech to do the same to tackle productivity. The NHS is way behind with IT and diagnostics and at the end of the day this is what needs to be funded but they can't do it like the Blair government (big top down IT programmes). Also, the tendency in the UK is to consider cost over quality of life - probably a cultural overhang of the class structure - I don't find this as much in Europe and Australia.
government helps landlords get their rent on time. Social housing has been in decline for decades, so councils can't get the rents. Restore mass social housing or face downwards spiral. Private rented sector should be a tiny minority and taxed very heavily, but we have the opposite.
@@swojnowski453 I agree, but they won't do it because all the parties subscribe to the same economical fallacy - I said on another video on another channel, all they will do is change the 10 to a 12 and the 45 to a 46; government are lazy and incapable of doing what we regard as work, they tinker and that's all they will do until eventually the system collapses and someone does some actual work.
Thanks for that really good analysis. It sounds like the difference between the approaches is difference between paying the absolute minimum necessary and getting something that just about gets the job done but feels grotty and paying more to get something that does the job well and feels a lot nicer. I'd be interested in knowing why the USA seems to have escaped the decline in economic growth that seems to affected the UK and Europe and if there is anything the UK and Europe can learn from this.
I'm not convinced that the USA has escaped, its just a bit behind us. There have been lots of recent videos on YT about US job layoffs. recruitment freezes and so on. There was one today about MacDonald's there running out of money because customers can't afford to eat out so often. Other indicators are the declining futures price of petrol, and industrial metals like copper. With the Chinese economy on the slide as well, I wouldn't be surprised if we end up with some sort of global recession which will make the UK situation even harder to deal with. We are all doomed.
It's because they, surprisingly, still believe in government investment at least a bit. Look at the CHIPS act. As far as I know there's no equivalent to that in the UK. We categorically refuse to invest in our own industries. All we do is tinker with things to try to encourage private investment, which doesn't work when business confidence is so low. And it's low because the government refuses to invest first. Contrary to market orthodoxy, government investment can and does crowd IN private sector investment, especially after a down turn like we had in 2008. But instead of investing they chose to cut based on a single, and now debunked, research paper. It's honestly embarrassing. Imagine basing an entire economic strategy on a single researcher.
The UK needs an ID/Health card system. Nothing should happen without it. Then we have more control over spending. We need to stop signing everyone off with mental illness too, it is becoming a national sport. We need a little control, and we seem to be giving it all up. Very interesting examination of the number one question that people are asking these days.
Human has a tendency to inactivity and, to be it straight, laziness. We can't assume that everyone is being honest and getting what they need, instead of what they want. People can easily fake mental health issues, not doing anything and are entitled to all sorts of benefits. The current welfare schemes will kill this nation in this century. Things need to be fixed and Brits need to work harder, not less.
It isn't going to be easy but I am a science person so I would put the priority on new technology which can increase producitivy and replace human workers. New medical breakthroughs can help us work for longer. Just increasing the retirement age by one year leads to a marked reduction in pension payments. the other issue os that means tested state pensions are almost inevitable with middle class people being forced to abandon part or all of their state pension. I would cut the state pension by ten percent for every addition house a Man owns with the result that a man who owned ten houses would get no state pension but if he were to sell them then he'd get some more. Id offer to abolish the standard rate of income tax for a man who continues to work over the age of 65 if he agrees to not claim the state pension for that year,
In the US health outcomes follow the money, where the bulk of money is spent.you have great outcomes, and where you have very low spending you get people dying earlier. This the demographic that scews the life expectancy down.
Have the elderly considered they might be living beyond their means? Perhaps they should downsize on their homes and spend less on the red wine and cruises they love so much. I remember when pensioners were war veterans and not the fragile snowflakes crying over having to weather the cold like we have now
Surely it's normal for the richest council areas also to have the most debt, since they have a higher capacity to borrow. The problem is that you need to increase your population and output in order to continue to service that debt sustainably. If you have a load of debt *and* expenditure rising faster than revenue, *then* you have a problem. Places like Hampshire, as you describe, need to grow their working-age population.
You can't beat something that that grows exponentially with something that grows linearly longer term. Debt longer term is something that will break any neck. Once you in it, you are on your way to collapse. Debt cancellation is the only way out then. Increasing number of people will not help. What needs doing is directing rents to council's hands rather than to private ones. If not done, collapse will follow ...
The government should be brave and make these difficult decisions now, scrapping the triple lock and cutting welfare spending. The problem with the post 2010 austerity is that it was prolonged over a decade, I think people will understand and tolerate austerity if is implemented over a short period of time rather than prolonged period of decline. For example, between 2010-2012 spending should have been cut back to 2007 levels as a share of GDP, then given real terms increases in the following years. Similarly, between 2021-2023 spending should have returned to 2019 levels as a share of GDP and we would now be talking about increasing investment without raising taxes. This would have been a lot easier if the government dealt with recessions with one-off cash injections, rather than core departmental spending increases.
I object how he casually derides the CAP - as if feeding 500 million people was a cinch. When the CAP was in its pomp there weren't years when food prices rose 20 odd percent and we had reseerves against upheavals such as the Ukraine war. The CAP was supposed to slow the depopulation of Europes rural areas which it didn't but it did try to allow the displaced population to find work in urban areas.
Norway has it right its GDP tripled over 70 years but its population not increased greater than 38% and a big chunk of that was migration 3.5 vs 5.2M (1954 2024)
Partly right. My sister lives in Waterlooville and it is under Winchester. I thought Winchester was a unitary authority, but it is part of Hampshire Council
Because it's not really relevant. The underlying cause is low fertility rates and ageing populations which is happening regardless of whether you are in the EU or not. We are living off a welfare state that is effectively a glorified Ponzi scheme that is unsustainable in the long-term.
Continently failed to mention the massive decline in council house building under Labour in Blairs era. 450 in one year. Council house building balances rent price and rent price balance mortgage driven housing costs. Failure to build council housing is the biggest failure of modern governments.
It’s an interesting problem. I think the issue is the politics and everyone making different decisions. Rishi spent £500m on Rwanda scheme and Kier cancelled it. So £500m wasted? Why do we fund care services, can pensions cover this? The NHS is a nice idea, badly managed and very wasteful with spend. £10 billion on unusable PPE. I wonder if UK would be better off with just one decision maker and removal of the government. So if someone says deport everyone who came here via boats, we don’t have a million policies, rules, lawyers blocking this.
"I wonder if UK would be better off with just one decision maker and removal of the government" Your other name would not be Ms Truss by any chance? 😀😀😀
The the trendlines on the charts misleading ? Economic conditions changed dramatically as a result of the credit crunch in 2007-2009. There appears to be one trend rate up to this and, unsurprisingly, a differing rate after.
Went into pensions and welfare benefits due to an ageing population. It's just simple maths. The more old people you have that survive into their post-70s, you need more money for State Pensions and more money for healthcare.
I second this claim. As a migrant who worked as a teacher in my home country, it took me 11 months to get my QTS here with DfE, which people say it's the fastest. My application was just sitting in the queue gathering dust for 10 months as I received email asking for supplementary documents and further verification in month 10. Beforehand, it took a week to respond to my enquiry with no specific details or progress at all. Honestly, in my home country, emails are mostly answered within 24 hours, both in private and public sectors. Other examples include Land Registry (3 months in my home country vs 1-2 years), passport (2 weeks in my home country vs 3 months here), fixing poleholes (almost never had one vs forever to fix here)... the list goes on and on The bureaucracy of the UK government makes things really inefficient. In the end, the citizens and our economy suffer.
!!!I just switched up my Roth IRA to 50% SCHD, 25% SCHX, 25% SCHG, and my Roth 401k is 70% vanguard S&P 500 index, 20% vanguard growth index, and 10% vanguard international index. Seeking best possible ways to grow $350k into $2m+ before retirement
As a newbie investor, it’s essential for you to have a mentor to keep you accountable. Ruth Ann Tsakonas is my trade analyst, she has guided me to identify key market trends, pinpointed strategic entry points, and provided risk assessments, ensuring my trades decisions align with market dynamics for optimal returns.
I managed to grow a nest egg of around 120k to over a Million. I'm especially grateful to Adviser Ruth Ann Tsakonas, for her expertise and exposure to different areas of the market.
I don't really blame people who panic. Lack of information can be a big hurdle. I've been making more than $200k passively by just investing through an advisor, and I don't have to do much work. Inflation or no inflation, my finances remain secure. So I really don't blame people who panic.
Without a doubt! Ruth Ann Tsakonas is a trader who goes above and beyond. she has an exceptional skill for analyzing market movements and spotting profitable opportunities. Her strategies are meticulously crafted based on thorough research and years of practical experience.
The problem is that citizens have become far too dependent on the welfare state and therefore forget to take responsibility for their own lives. In the future, we will therefore have to take more responsibility for our own lives and the lives of our immediate family.
@@altechuk return of feudalism will definitely make things better... and you're paying 50% of your income in tax because the rich can afford best accountants who can use all the loopholes and get them to pay 0 in tax revenue..
@@krzysiukrul1183 And what is the current idiot in charge of the exchequer doing.... raising them for me again!! You seem to think Labour is not corrupt
Stop hiring those incompetent and unqualified managers and CEOs and ministers who think sitting on government jobs is a safe haven and doesn’t need performance or any pressure, and still rake in hundred of thousand annual in compensation package. Start there and the productivities will increase. Everyone should be performance based and out the door is couldn’t keep up.
@hotbeefo Jimmy Starmer and his pretend Labour party are "sucking this country dry" by gifting Zelensky unaccountable billions and providing unlimited military support to Israel.
