Income tax to go up to pay for the NHS

[No Duff (troll)]

So now the So-Called BBC is establishing the narrative it was those damn machines! 

[Inoperational Bumblebee]

15 hours ago, No Duff said:

I think it insightful that just because you can, some choose not to.  Those simpleton PC rule makers out there could learn a bit.  But they know better.  Hats off to DOSBODS.  Not that I have an issue with dick and crap, just that they detract sometimes.

Agreed - I tend to keep it to the main forum. IMPO it feels a little incongruous when discussing something as dry as economics and investing, and I don't feel the need to 'spice it up'.

I can understand people's exasperation with the situation but to my mind, this is not the pub section of the site. If I was in a pub discussing serious economics and somebody weighed in with something like "Yeah, but TPTB are all wankers out to get us little people", it would seem defeatist and lazy to me, and wouldn't really add much to the conversation.

[PatronizingGit]

On 26/06/2018 at 06:49, One percent said:

You can say crap and dick on here.  We are the last bastion of free speech. 

Re the NHS, I think we are at end days. I for one am not prepared to pay more for the crap service they offer. 

Most everyone I know goes to hungary or similar to get dental work done...its cheaper than the so called 'reduced' NHS prices.

Perhaps if they start removing ops and putting charges on appointments  same will happen there.

 

Indeed, many americans have found Mexican hospitals cheaper and better quality than the excess on their US insurance policies. The cynic in me might say perhaps that why Obamacare (a fancy name for forcing people to participate in the health insurance racket) was introduced. 

 

Sadly, given its cult like status in the minds of many, i dont think the NHS can be killed. But there will come a time when it just dies as people realize they can get better for less elsewhere. 

The problem is that healthcare is broken in most western nations, so the NHS doesnt look too bad when the French, US, German etc systems have similar problems. 

[spunko]

The peculiar British pride in the NHS is, like their affection for the British breakfast, a source of bemusement to much of the rest of the world.

The NHS is a system that seems to work for the most part. But other countries have health care systems that work as well or better than that of the UK and have populations with better health overall than the Brits. And yet, unlike the UK, in those countries, politicians, media and citizens do not obsessively, and with devotion verging on the fanatical, hold up their systems to the status of a sacred cow.

I heard a snippet of a woman on BBC talking about how the NHS saved her mother's life when she had taken ill and been treated in hospital. This was presented as a kind of proof of the NHS's heroism. Well no. It's great that the woman received proper care, but how is that remarkable? That's what hospitals are for.

 

This comment is currently the top rated comment on... The Guardian. Don't believe me? https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jul/02/is-the-nhs-the-worlds-best-healthcare-system#comments

[ashestoashes]

8 minutes ago, spunko2010 said:

The peculiar British pride in the NHS is, like their affection for the British breakfast, a source of bemusement to much of the rest of the world.

The NHS is a system that seems to work for the most part. But other countries have health care systems that work as well or better than that of the UK and have populations with better health overall than the Brits. And yet, unlike the UK, in those countries, politicians, media and citizens do not obsessively, and with devotion verging on the fanatical, hold up their systems to the status of a sacred cow.

I heard a snippet of a woman on BBC talking about how the NHS saved her mother's life when she had taken ill and been treated in hospital. This was presented as a kind of proof of the NHS's heroism. Well no. It's great that the woman received proper care, but how is that remarkable? That's what hospitals are for.

 

This comment is currently the top rated comment on... The Guardian. Don't believe me? https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jul/02/is-the-nhs-the-worlds-best-healthcare-system#comments

the number of people bankrupted by a health emergency in the US is shocking and yet that's the model we are keen to follow

[King Penda]

does anyone know the historical rate of vat,thats harder to avoid for your avarage joe

[spygirl]

On 02/07/2018 at 16:53, stokiescum said:

does anyone know the historical rate of vat,thats harder to avoid for your avarage joe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value-added_tax_in_the_United_Kingdom#Historical_rates

[King Penda]

8 hours ago, spygirl said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value-added_tax_in_the_United_Kingdom#Historical_rates

fking hell.

[jm51]

There was also a 25% vat on 'luxury goods'. idk when that stopped.

e2a: A lot of prices went down when vat came in. Purchase tax could be huge. iirc, every time the product changed hands b2b, the amount of purchase tax payable increased.