(V): I remember lots of musicians left GB when she jacked the highest tax rate to around 90%

The Col: Not quite true. She dropped the highest rate from 83% to 60% in her governments first budget of 1980.

While the lowest earners got a 3% rate cut in the same year from 33% to 30%

... Regardless, most of the top earners while being British officially live in tax haven countries to avoid paying UK income tax. Or if they are rich enough like the Barclay brothers... buy an island. In their case the island of Brecqhou just off Sark (one of the channel islands).

(V): Maybe the musician who mentioned the 90% rate was being a little over zealous

(V): I think she was one of the greatest PM ever

The Col: No... because it was like that before hand, but I think people only paid 90% if they had no advice from a good accountant.

Artful Dodger: No. She messed up lots. As someone said she had to wear the trousers of a man to be PM.... but she wore them roughly. Certain policies she made, while to a degree they were right... She was crass about how they were enacted.

She deliberately used a boom and bust economic policy that did make the country look great until the bubble burst.

And then there is Hillsborough. You know 'The Sun' paper is boycotted by most in the city of Liverpool because of it's reporting on the disaster.

"Two Harvard economists on Wednesday acknowledged errors in a study that has been cited by policymakers around the world as justification for government austerity campaigns, but said the "central message" of their research was still valid.

The 2010 study by Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff found economic growth throughout modern history has slowed dramatically when a government's debt exceeds 90 percent of a country's annual economic output.

But in a study made public this week, researchers from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst found spreadsheet coding errors in Reinhart and Rogoff's work.

The two Harvard economists said the mistake was an accident.

Speaking to Today business presenter Simon Jack, Professor Robert Pollin explained that research methods become more inaccurate the more recently you apply their test.

"The relationship evaporates entirely," he said. "

Mistakes that mean....

"First off, the researchers made a major error in their Excel spreadsheet's formula: they skipped 5 rows of data. Oops.

Second, they inexplicably (or maybe intentionally - no explanation has been presented) excluded post-WWII data for countries whose growth was positive while debt was above 90% of GDP from the spreadsheet.

Third, if a country had positive growth for multiple years while debt was above 90% of GDP, they averaged all those positive years together into a single number, then gave the multi-year aggregate result the exact same weight as a single year from a country that had negative growth.

The flawed (faked?) study concluded that economic growth in countries with debt greater than 90% of GDP is always negative at -0.1%.

But if you include the data that was left out of the spreadsheet, add in the rows of data that were skipped, and give each year's data the same weight, the actual historic growth rate when the debt exceeds 90% of GDP is 2.2%. "

http://www.greenmountaindaily.com/diary/9855/austerity-study-was-100-completely-and-totally-wrong.

Artful Dodger:

rod03801: Yeah, that one is a funny pic and says it all!

Artful Dodger: Is Romney holding the ladder for Gore?

The Col: Gore doesn't need a ladder. He's so full of hot air he needs to hold onto something so he doesn't float away.

The Col: probably waiting for his turn to take a peek!

Iamon lyme:

Iamon lyme: So Rick Perry walks around with lead weights in his shoes, or does he need quantum weighting??? ;P

Funny.... all the papers in the UK who took part in phone hacking and other media related scandals are objecting to the new media royal charter.

.... because they were not allowed to interfere with the set up of the charter, and the laws and rules that they will have to abide by.

Awwwwwwwwwwww did ums!!

Artful Dodger: or having an elevator built

The Col: He's not heard of cherry pickers!!

(V): maybe if you hum a few bars

The Col: Likely one with gold lining too!

Quantum weighting?

The Col: Nooooo, but I can drive a reach forklift ;)

Iamon lyme: Yep... right there next to a finite improbability machine.

Great for parties!! ;)

finite improbability machine?

Iamon lyme: Yes. Not to be confused with the infinite improbability drive.

You've never heard of the ship "Heart of Gold"?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_Improbability_Drive#Infinite_Improbability_Drive

UKIP has become the new darling for Daily Mail readers.

... less controversial then voting for the BNP!! eheheheheh

They are kinda like the Tea Party for the UK's Conservatives.

Iamon lyme: Most people don't know my true identity. http://www.forbes.com/sites/jameshenry/2012/07/17/mitt-romney-the-artful-dodger/

Artful Dodger: Just for fun I googled my brainking ID. Turns out Iamon is a surname and lyme is a disease.

(V): Ball of yarn?

Iamon lyme: I'm afraid to look any further

OK, so how did the Clintons slip out of the Whitewater scandal????

Artful Dodger: Clinton pressured someone into making an illegal loan, in a land deal that didn't work out. That person and her husband got into trouble because of it, but the Clintons didn't. So I guess the answer would be they slipped out of the Whitewater scandal by appearing to not be directly involved... even though they were directly involved, and were in fact the reason for the illegal loan in the first place.

Obama does the same, he influences people to "take action" but manages to keep his distance from the action, so his name doesn't appear on anything later. Although that doesn't apply to the lies we were treated to with the Benghazi cover up, because it's pretty obvious who the key players were in that mess. It's more of a mystery (than Whitewater) how that got swept under the rug.

Whitewater wasn't the only scandal the Clintons managed to slip out from under. There was Travelgate, Filegate, and the circumstances surrounding Vince Foster's death. Some people would have us believe the sex scandals were Bill Clintons only "indiscretions". Wow, talk about selective memory!

Iamon lyme: And the media stays silent.

Artful Dodger: Not always. As I'm sure you already know, the media does have a double standard to uphold. And it's not just the media. Liberal special interest groups have a curious habit of remaining silent when members of the party they support violate their own particular core beliefs. For example, American feminists proved what a joke they were when they were silent about Bill Clintons escapades, and even went so far as to blame his victims.

Iamon lyme: thank God for Fox News

Iamon lyme: Aye... ball of yarn is part of improbability.

I feel the use of the word 'gate' here in recent posts is over used compared to 'Watergate'. There again.. If JFK and the rest of the family were today held upto the spotlight regarding Marilyn Monroe.. ..

..kinda like the use of 7/7 by the UK gov in light of 9/11... the scale and events of 9/11 make me feel the use of 7/7 as being disrespectful to the 9/11 victims.

It's not as if the UK hasn't been targeted by terrorists before. The IRA groups were much more organised then those who now use the brand name of Al Qaeda.

Yes.. Al Qaeda is now a brand name rather than an active organisation. Just like Coca Cola and Mac D's...

Strange though that Coca Cola and Mac D's and the like are linked to more deaths and illness in one year, than Al Qaeda in all the years.

.. apart from the time they were killing Russians possibly.

They were Freedom Fighters of course back then.

Artful Dodger: Part of his cunning plan?? ;)

(V): yeah that would be a good word to describe it.

(V): Yeth. And a cunning plan it ith.

(V): [I feel the use of the word 'gate' here in recent posts is over used compared to 'Watergate'.]

I'll bet you do feel that way. After all, Watergate was a misdemeanor compared to Travelgate and Filegate... and Whitewatergate. And now we have Benghazigate. So now, after all of the fuss liberals made for years following Watergate, I think there may be a few out there who are finally starting to get the point as to why so many Democrat scandals are tagged with the word "gate".


And for those who still don't get the point, it illustrates the double standard hypocrisy of the left.

Artful Dodger: As in a Baldrick cunning plan?

Iamon lyme: So we should now use 'gate' on all political scandals? I know the Met police got labelled with "Pleb-gate" recently after being caught lying.

I get that there are scandals committed by members of all the parties and various people in the public eye.

... but 'gate' .. .. personally, Iran-gate would be a better example of the right lying, or WMD-gate... but on that we had a Labour PM (supposedly left wing) lying as well.

(V): a plan so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a weasel.

Artful Dodger: But is it the ineffable one? Adam Young stopped the apocalypse on that point!!

(V): "So we should now use 'gate' on all political scandals?"

What do you mean "should"? How would you enforce that?

"I get that there are scandals committed by members of all the parties and various people in the public eye."

Unless they are commited by members of a party or by people you don't particularly like, then it's okay to focus all of your attention on them. Right?

"... but 'gate' .. .. personally, Iran-gate would be a better example of the right lying, or WMD-gate..."

Well there ya go now, that's the spirit! By the way, thanks yet again for proving my point... not that you understand how, but that's okay. As long as you keep validating my points it doesn't really matter to me whether you know it or not.

Iamon lyme: You can't enforce it. I was referring to how it could get ridiculous using the term at every 'opportunity'.

"Unless they are commited by members of a party or by people you don't particularly like, then it's okay to focus all of your attention on them. Right?"

Wrong!!

"Well there ya go now, that's the spirit! By the way, thanks yet again for proving my point... not that you understand how, but that's okay. As long as you keep validating my points it doesn't really matter to me whether you know it or not."

Ok..... as long your not keeping a tick mark system on points. That would be creepy!!

;P

(V): Hello? Wake up V!

Tagging scandals with the word "gate" wasn't my idea. I was simply explaining to you why it's done.

I thought you might catch on when I gated the words 'Whitewater' and 'Benghazi' when no one else has, but apparently the significance of comparing Watergate to other scandals is lost on anyone other than conservatives.

Iamon lyme: ok.. I get why in the world of politics such needs to 'get at' your opposition is used... We see it all the time in the UK by all the parties.

Left, Right and Centre leanings all do it.

"but apparently the significance of comparing Watergate to other scandals is lost on anyone other than conservatives."

Significance being opportunistic 'loud' mud slinging, like in PM's Question time? Some scandals they go on about often are molehills... but they are trying to paint them pink/tartan and other bright colours.