Car worker subsidies 'considered'

[jonren]

Wow! now it's panic stations.


news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7855363.stm

[omnipleasant]

3 day week.

Hehe. I'm loving all this.

[policecar]

I think we should shift car production to tanks and helicopters and invade Germany

[tarrant]

Has echois of the 70s doesn't it??

Just waiting to see who'll fit the part of Red Robbo.

[flatandy]

The real benefit to invading Germany is that we can employ lots of the unskilled on low wages to sit in the trenches and get killed, putting cash into the economy and reducing unemployment.

[jonren]

Bet you Trident is definitely cancelled now. PMQ will be a hoot if he announces that. His short love in with Obama will be over before consumation.

[flatandy]

If he spent the trident money employing infantry instead, it would be much better for the UK's military and economy.

[omnipleasant]

I think I'd prefer a manned UK mission to Mars. We've been there, done that with the whole Germany thing.

[VikingHumpingWitch]

Does Germany have anything worth taking though? Would we not be better invading Norway?

[flatandy]

It's not about whether Germany (or Mars) has anything worth taking. We'd invade because it would be a good way of spending money and keeping people in work.

[VikingHumpingWitch]

But wouldn't it be even better if at the end of it we had loads and loads of lovely sticky oil as well?

[omnipleasant]

There might be sh!t loads of stuff on Mars, though.

[VikingHumpingWitch]

If you want red dirt, no visible surface water and a population with the collective brain power of an amoeba you could invade Oklahoma instead and save travel time.

[Victor Meldrew]

Yet more bollox from this Government. What's so special about the car industry in comparison to, say, the construction industry?

I work in the construction industry and I see all the letters coming in from Begbies and other administrators on a daily basis telling us that another customer has gone bust, owing us some money. Our orders are also hitting rock bottom, and one branch of our operations has been on a three day week since the end of October, with no immediate signs of a return to normal working. No one has offered our industry any bail outs.

When you look at the car plants on the news, all you can see are tens of thousands of unsold cars sitting in parking lots. Even on a three day week, that's only going to add to the finished stocks given the lack of new car sales.

Surely, the way forward for the car industry is giving liquidity to the car finance companies which may allow them to lend to potential customers. Good to see Mandelson trying to 'go forward' with this scheme, but that should have been route one, not an afterthought. Without customers, no business can survive, even paying staff for a one or two day week. Once again, his actions are completely arse about face.

[Scooby Do]

So Prudent Brown decides to subsidise Japanese car makers, so that UK workers can make cars Brown would prefer we tax and insure but don't drive.

Brilliant, fantastic.