UK Healthcare v Banks bailout.

ColinEssex

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I think it's disgusting that the NHS air ambulance helicopters are funded purely by charity donations because of the expense and save hundreds of lives per year.

Yet a bank (or banks) have a bad time and suddenly billions of government pounds are found to bail them out - and still the CEO's will get millions in bonus payments.

Justice?

Col
 
I'm impressed Col! You found something to complain about other than US politics/finances/gun laws/obesity/arrogance/cold beer/war on terror/oil/music/beer/eating habits/television/censorship/sports/rights/economy/.......

Bravo! :D
 
Colin, for once I have to simply say that you are right. No bashing. No defensiveness. You are right.

Were it left to me, the "fat cats" would be so thoroughly investigated for possible criminal wrong-doing and civil liability for fiduciary mismanagement that they would end up owing the lawyers more than they ever made in their lifetimes.

But first, of course, I need to go to law school. As usual, I find I'm in the wrong job.

I sincerely hope that at least SOME of the fat cats get sued for mismanagement so that even if they win the case, the legal fees leave them staggering. Of course, they will try to collect from the losers of the case, but if the stockholders have no money, the lawyers will revert to payment from the fat-cat defendants.

Yeah, I know it'll never happen. But I can dream, can't I?
 
Agreed. I don't know why the UK Government are bailing out citizens who have invested in little better than "off shore" banking. They try to hide their money out of the country, then when it goes tits up they go crying to their MP for help, and get it!

It would be interesting to see how much money invested in Iceland was being laundered. Pardon the pun, after all, they've all been taken to the cleaners.
 
It would be interesting to see how much money invested in Iceland was being laundered. Pardon the pun, after all, they've all been taken to the cleaners.
The problem there is that local councils could lose £millions there and we'll end up paying the cost anyway:mad:
 
I refer to a post I made (somewhere in the thousands of threads on anti-American capitalism/elections/financial meltdown etc) regarding the need for an alternate socialist system (that actually works) that would address issues such as this.

Like 99.99% of the world's population, I am appalled by the the current injustices of most political systems. unfortunately, I'm not smart or meglomaniac enough to offer a solution, but pray that someone can, coz the world as it is sucks
 
You are 100% correct Colin. The banks are the biggest bunch of crooks in the western world.

The banks are happy to lend you money when you prove you don't need it. If you want a friend in life, get a dog. - Harry S. Truman
 
You are 100% correct Colin. The banks are the biggest bunch of crooks in the western world.

The banks are happy to lend you money when you prove you don't need it. If you want a friend in life, get a dog. - Harry S. Truman

I agree.

But what baffles me is that all NHS areas in the UK hold fund raising events to raise the several million per year it costs to keep the helicopters flying and saving lives. It's totally charity run.

Yet our government says they can't justify the cost (if they had to do it) and yet they find billions to bail out a mismanaged bank.

Personally I hope I never need an air ambulance, but if I did I would be thankful it's there.

Col
 
I agree.

But what baffles me is that all NHS areas in the UK hold fund raising events to raise the several million per year it costs to keep the helicopters flying and saving lives. It's totally charity run.

Yet our government says they can't justify the cost (if they had to do it) and yet they find billions to bail out a mismanaged bank.

Personally I hope I never need an air ambulance, but if I did I would be thankful it's there.

Col
I too hope I never need an air ambulance but am grateful it is there if the worst happens. Also I am glad that there is a guarantee in place so I don't lose my hard-earned savings if my high street bank went down the pan.

We must remember that the bank guarantees being giving by governments at the moment are just that - guarantees - and the actual amount that may need to be paid out is likely to be much smaller. After all Northern Rock seems to be on a much sounder footing now. Bonuses should not be paid to bank employees at any level until the bank is back on a sound footing and the government have been repaid in full including interest.
 
While there some banks that are in danger of going under, most of the banks have lots of money.
They're just not lending it at the moment because they're frightened about the current economic conditions.
The so called bailout is not to keep most of the banks from going broke, it's to get them lending again so the whole economy doesn't go down the toilet.

BTW - this procedure worked the last two time the stock markets had "major downward adjustments" (gotta love the people who make up these expressions). The governments told the banks to just bring their wheelbarrows up to the Central Bank and help yourself. Result, no recession.
 
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Just to make matters worse.....

RNLI (Lifeboats for our American cousins) and Mountain Rescue, amongst other essential emergency services, are also funded by charitable donations.

Over this weekend, 2000 people decided to do fell running for "charity", in one of the worst stoms this year. Millions have been spent in a full scale recue exercise to recover these people, thankfully all safely. But these millions have come not from government pockets. OK, the RAF Air Rescue was involved, and so were the Police, but i hope you get my point!

It is just wrong that these services could disappear if the public was not generous. Had 2000 people died on Saturday I'm sure there would be a huge cry for better emergency services, so do we need a disaster to sort this out?

Mind you, as these peeps were Northerners the government propbaly would be happy in the reduction of benefit payments, but that is a rant of a different colour.
 
Just to make matters worse.....


Mind you, as these peeps were Northerners the government propbaly would be happy in the reduction of benefit payments, but that is a rant of a different colour.

I didn't realise only northerners got benefit payments. Where on the map is the line drawn?

Brian
 
This is where the lottery funds could be used
1 air ambulance per county paid out of the lottery fund ...

Yes I do realise this is just an alternative to a tax - but it would be a better use of the lottery funding than ballet ...


as to the bankers well they are just #ankers...
 
Canada has universal healthcare, but only for the moment. The Canadian government and their porvincial counterparts are constantly debating putting a price on everyones health like all the other backwards thinking countries and territories of the world.
People need to ask their MNAs (or what ever you call you public office representatives) when they are running for election what the current dollar value of your life is and if elected how will this number change :mad:

I think it's disgusting that the NHS air ambulance helicopters are funded purely by charity donations because of the expense and save hundreds of lives per year.

Yet a bank (or banks) have a bad time and suddenly billions of government pounds are found to bail them out - and still the CEO's will get millions in bonus payments.

Justice?

Col
 
I think this is something we can universally agree upon.
Unfortunately, as is said, money is the root of all evil.
It is absolutely disgusting.
It amazes me that so many people such as ourselves can agree on things like this and yet supposedly have no voice in our own governments to affect change.
Is it because we are not willing to devote time to the issues and unite as a whole?
Here is a question... if we did universally band together as a whole... which issue would we put on top of our priority list to fix?
(am I opening a can of worms for more dissent or will I be surprised to find out there are more things we all agree upon?)
 
Free Beer....

I don't think that you would get a collective group to agree on a single issue as we all come from different backgrounds - it would be best to try to achive an understanding rather than try and sort 1 issue out
 
I think this is something we can universally agree upon.
Unfortunately, as is said, money is the root of all evil.
It is absolutely disgusting.
It amazes me that so many people such as ourselves can agree on things like this and yet supposedly have no voice in our own governments to affect change.
Is it because we are not willing to devote time to the issues and unite as a whole?
Here is a question... if we did universally band together as a whole... which issue would we put on top of our priority list to fix?
(am I opening a can of worms for more dissent or will I be surprised to find out there are more things we all agree upon?)
Love of money is the root of all evil. Money spent in the right places can do a lot of good.
 
Yes but what is the the right place.
You and I agree on shelters for the homeless.
The government wants to spend money on beautifying Main St. Theres a lot of votes on Main St. The homeless don't vote.
 

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