Austerity or what?

[Tarantella]

This is going to be fun! For all the sexist misogynists on this board who hate and fear "strident women", here goes...!!

You can all complain till the cows come home (oh, is that them mooing in the distance?) about society and austerity and so on, and on and on and on..
Everyone needs to work much, much, much harder to pay down the debt and lift productivity. That's the short answer, and also the long one. Otherwise, it's over for everyone. Don't look to Hegel or Kant or Socrates or Bob Downe, or the bloke in the pub - just get down and do some hard, hard yakka.

I like Cameron, but I think he'll be defeated - too much negativity in GB. Cameron has class and style and he's pretty direct. Not rough enough around the edges for the average Pom. In the end we all get the leaders we deserve. Stop complaining, just get your butts into gear and work like dogs. Making money - now that's much better than moaning and complaining about conspiracy theory (the last refuge of the loser, I'm afraid). Long live success!!

[Tarantella]

Post duplicated!

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

it is the rich chaps game innit

[Tarantella]

it is the rich chaps game innit

Yep, so do the business or get off the pot!!

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

nah can't get off the pot just yet .... too early in the morning, i could be here some time ...

[amateur51]

it is the rich chaps game innit

Indeed it is

In an article in yesterday's London Evening Standard I read:

'Today, savers need to aim for a pension pot of £458,300 to ensure an annual retirement income of £15,000. That’s 29% more for men than in 2009, when the savings target was £354,100, and 14% more than for women in the same year, when they needed £400,600.

Equity Release Council chairman Nigel Waterson said: “It is perfectly understandable why many prefer to focus on the present and not dwell too much on their financial future, especially if their outlook for retirement is less than sunny. Unfortunately, that inaction could prove costly in later life.”'

http://www.standard.co.uk/business/money/londoners-on-the-ball-over-pensions-8615260.html?origin=internalSearch

How in the name of blazes is your average punter going to save a pension pot of £450k+? Never mind in this 'crisis' - ever? And a £15,000 income is scarcely a recipe for a luxurious old age.

So yes, back to the rich guys ...

[eighthobstruction]

....It's misanthropy really....I was confusing misogyny as dislike of soya-based products....

[amateur51]

....It's misanthropy really....I was confusing misogyny as dislike of soya-based products....

That took me a second or two 8thO

[Tarantella]

nah can't get off the pot just yet .... too early in the morning, i could be here some time ...

Whereas everybody else is at work right now, presumably.

[Tarantella]

....It's misanthropy really....I was confusing misogyny as dislike of soya-based products....

This kind of confusion is probably one of the reasons why you think the way you do! Group-think.

Long live affluence, success and prosperity. I don't see many advocates for this on the old messageboard, so I need to balance things up!!

[Tarantella]

Indeed it is

In an article in yesterday's London Evening Standard I read:

'Today, savers need to aim for a pension pot of £458,300 to ensure an annual retirement income of £15,000. That’s 29% more for men than in 2009, when the savings target was £354,100, and 14% more than for women in the same year, when they needed £400,600.

Equity Release Council chairman Nigel Waterson said: “It is perfectly understandable why many prefer to focus on the present and not dwell too much on their financial future, especially if their outlook for retirement is less than sunny. Unfortunately, that inaction could prove costly in later life.”'

http://www.standard.co.uk/business/money/londoners-on-the-ball-over-pensions-8615260.html?origin=internalSearch

How in the name of blazes is your average punter going to save a pension pot of £450k+? Never mind in this 'crisis' - ever? And a £15,000 income is scarcely a recipe for a luxurious old age.

So yes, back to the rich guys ...

The problem, as I see it, is perceiving yourself as "an average punter". Locked into a mind-set which is self-defeating. If you don't want to work 70 to 80 hours a week, probably in your own business, and sacrifice a great deal to get what you want you probably don't need to bother. It's much easier to just resent others who do. Victimology 101.

Come and live in Australia, go bush and work in 52 degree heat 12 hours a day as a fly in/fly out miner and earn the big bucks. Much easier to whine.

[amateur51]

The problem, as I see it, is perceiving yourself as "an average punter". Locked into a mind-set which is self-defeating. If you don't want to work 70 to 80 hours a week, probably in your own business, and sacrifice a great deal to get what you want you probably don't need to bother. It's much easier to just resent others who do. Victimology 101.

Come and live in Australia, go bush and work in 52 degree heat 12 hours a day as a fly in/fly out miner and earn the big bucks. Much easier to whine.

Thanks so much for your vacuous hyper-generalised account of my life-position about which you know nothing.

Are you by any chance a consultant?

[eighthobstruction]

Are you by any chance a consultant?

....I think we are generallly group thinking what he/she is.....

....if you turn a card board cut out sideways.....they just about disappear.....and become easier to ignore....

[vinteuil]

... I have recently been reading much Arthur Hugh Clough. Here's some verse which I'm sure Tarantella would like :




As I sat in the Café I said to myself,
They may talk as they please about what they call pelf,
They may sneer as they like about eating and drinking,
But help it I cannot, I cannot help thinking
How pleasant it is to have money, heigh-ho!
How pleasant it is to have money.

I sit at my table en grand seigneur,
And when I have done, throw a crust to the poor;
Not only the pleasure itself of good living,
But also the pleasure of now and then giving:
So pleasant it is to have money, heigh-ho!
So pleasant it is to have money.

They may talk as they please about what they call pelf,
And how one ought never to think of one’s self,
How pleasures of thought surpass eating and drinking—
My pleasure of thought is the pleasure of thinking
How pleasant it is to have money, heigh-ho!
How pleasant it is to have money.

II
Le Diner

Come along, ‘tis the time, ten or more minutes past,
And he who came first had to wait for the last;
The oysters ere this had been in and been out;
Whilst I have been sitting and thinking about
How pleasant it is to have money, heigh-ho!
How pleasant it is to have money.

A clear soup with eggs, voilà tout; of the fish
The filets de sole are a moderate dish
À la Orly, but you’re for the red mullet, you say:
By the gods of good fare, who can question today
How pleasant it is to have money, heigh-ho!
How pleasant it is to have money.

After oysters, sauterne; then sherry; champagne,
Ere one bottle goes, comes another again;
Fly up, thou bold cork, to the ceiling above,
And tell to our ears in the sound that they love
How pleasant it is to have money, heigh-ho!
How pleasant it is to have money.

I’ve the simplest of palates; absurd it may be,
But I almost could dine on a poulet-au-riz,
Fish and soup and omelette and that – but the deuce –
There were to be woodcocks, and not Charlotte Russe!
So pleasant it is to have money, heigh-ho!
So pleasant it is to have money.

Your chablis is acid, away with the hock,
Give me the pure juice of the purple médoc:
St Peray is exquisite; but, if you please,
Some burgundy just before tasting the cheese.
So pleasant it is to have money, heigh-ho!
So pleasant it is to have money.

As for that, pass the bottle, and d—n the expense,
I’ve seen it observed by a writer of sense,
That the labouring classes could scarce live a day,
If people like us didn’t eat, drink, and pay.
So useful it is to have money, heigh-ho!
So useful it is to have money.

One ought to be grateful, I quite apprehend,
Having dinner and supper and plenty to spend,
And so suppose now, while the things go away,
By way of a grace we all stand up and say
How pleasant it is to have money, heigh-ho!
How pleasant it is to have money.

III
Parvenant

I cannot but ask, in the park and the streets
When I look at the number of persons one meets,
What e’er in the world the poor devils can do
Whose fathers and mothers can’t give them a sous.
So needful it is to have money, heigh-ho!
So needful it is to have money.

I ride, and I drive, and I care not a d—n,
The people look up and they ask who I am;
And if I should chance to run over a cad,
I can pay for the damage, if ever so bad.
So useful it is to have money, heigh-ho!
So useful it is to have money.

It was but this winter I came up to town,
And already I’m gaining a sort of renown;
Find my way to good houses without much ado,
And beginning to see the nobility too.
So useful it is to have money, heigh-ho!
So useful it is to have money.

O dear what a pity they ever should lose it,
Sine they are the people that know how to use it;
So easy, so stately, such manners, such dinners,
And yet, after all, it is we are the winners.
So needful it is to have money, heigh-ho!
So needful it is to have money.

It’s all very well to be handsome and tall,
Which certainly makes you look well at a ball;
It’s all very well to be clever and witty,
But if you are poor, why it’s only a pity.
So needful it is to have money, heigh-ho!
So needful it is to have money.

There’s something undoubtedly in a fine air,
To know how to smile and be able to stare,
High breeding is something, but well-bred or not,
In the end the one question is, what have you got.
So needful it is to have money, heigh-ho!
So needful it is to have money.

And the angels in pink and the angels in blue,
In muslins and moirés so lovely and new,
What is it they want, and so wish you to guess,
But if you have money, the answer is Yes.
So needful, they tell you, is money, heigh-ho!
So needful it is to have money.

[vinteuil]

[ I should perhaps have indicated that in this poem, 'Dipsychus', it is not the poet speaking : it is "The Spirit", viz Mephistopheles... ]