How to sell – just about anything
Large companies know how to sell, they have whole marketing departments dedicated to selling their products and services. They have all kinds of devices and tricks to make us part with our money. We can use some of those tricks to sell stuff too! It doesn’t matter whether you’re selling crafts or your used car.
Finance Friday | Breaking away
I read this morning that Amazon will be opening another London office with space for another 1,600 employees. That gets another cheer from Boris Johnson and boos from the North of England. Why does all new investment go to London? Why not Britain’s second city Birmingham or even Newcastle?
Finance Friday | Loose money
It’s difficult these days to even define what money is. It can be coins in our pockets, notes in purses and wallets or numbers on bank account statements. Money can be just bits in a computer or tokens of any kind.
Finance Friday | Easy Money
When I was younger, there was a lot of industry in the Black Country. Working and making money was hard, but there was also ‘easy money’. Making beer could be considered a lot easier than working in a foundry or down a mine.
Normal April showers?
I took this photo a year ago. I look at the sky a lot now in an attempt to predict the weather. The sky looked a paler blue last year, today it’s been a deep blue with white clouds and April showers. We had a very wet summer last year, are we back to normal now?
Finance Friday | Recession–what recession?
It seems the British economy is growing and we aren’t in recession after all. GDP has increased 0.3%. Well it’s better than nothing. That means spending has increased by 0.3%, that’s combined spending, the government’s and ours. The government is spending less. Are we spending more?
Finance Friday | The economic fiasco
Rents for social housing have gone up over the years in the UK and have been subsidised first with rent rebates and then that was changed to housing benefit. They went so high that workers couldn’t afford them.
Thrifty Thursday | Keeping down foods costs
The Aldi super-six this week are plums (400g), fun-sized apples (9), kiwi fruit (8), cocktail vine tomatoes (250g), red onions (1kg) and sweet potatoes (750g). They are all 69p each.That’s the same as last week.
Finance Friday | The last Easter Egg
The government’s austerity programme really begins to hit the poorest in society next week as benefits cuts make the poorest even poorer. This could be the last Easter that some kids will get Easter eggs.
A market economy?
Imagine you had to buy meat at the butchers because no one else sold it. If the prices kept going up, that could be because there was a lack of competition. If there are only two butchers on the High Street and the nearest one apart from those were 50 miles away; they might take advantage of that.
London – just for the rich?
I’ve used a summer picture to begin today’s post; we need something to cheer us up. In the Guardian this week was news that councils in London are planning to move thousands of ‘poor’ people out of London, because they won’t be able afford the rents when housing benefit is cut. Are we surprised? People are caught between the Labour councils with their empire building and the rich Tory tax dodgers who want to have London, just for the rich.
We are all in this together
The recession appears to be getting worse. I was watching a programme on television last night about people who become homeless. They get evicted from their homes, because they can’t pay their mortgage or rent. Is it their own fault because they got sick, lost their job or their business failed?
Is it time to stop listening to economists?
We have advanced technology, supercomputers, Facebook, Twitter, wide screen televisions, space travel, economic models, highly qualified economists, highly qualified bankers and experts of every kind and colour.
So why is the world economy is such a bloody mess?
Thrifty Thursday | Stay thrifty
I popped down to Aldi last night. The Super Six this week are cucumbers, beetroot (500g), new potatoes (750g), tomatoes, radish (200g) and avocados. They are all 39 pence. They have some special buys today, but I didn’t see anything very exciting. The petrol powered hedge trimmer might be worth it. For computer and electrical goods check out Comet, they seem to have a few good offers now.
What can we waste money on now?
Things are looking up, there is some hope for the future. The weather seems better and the bloody Olympics is nearly finished! I’m sure that the powers that be will come up with something to waste the nations money on now all the usual summer jollies are over. I read somewhere that David Cameron wants to turn Britain into a tax haven. If we didn’t have tax havens there wouldn’t be a world economic crisis mate! Instead of squirrelling money away in secret Swiss bank accounts, try investing it in the country you were bloody born into.
This week in the trenches
I might take some photographs of historic vehicles on Sunday. For the benefit of local people that will be in Walsall Arboretum (extension). I hope I can park my car. I went there when the circus was there and took a few photos. Anyway, I wrote half a dozen blogs on this site this week and some on a zillion ideas too. That site is slowly getting more readers, but it is slow. Please take a look at it and comment, tell me what you think. I always need new readers and so I hope you will also share with your friends on Facebook and other social media sites. I hope everyone enjoyed last night’s opening ceremony for the Olympics. It’s costing enough…
Thrifty Thursday | supply and demand
It’s the 15th of July on Sunday and St Swithin’s Day. Folklore says that if it rains on St Swithin’s Day, it will rain for 40 days after. I think in England we have had the 40 days rain already. The forecast here for Sunday is quite good, but a little cooler. It looks good today, blue skies and sunshine. The rain has caused problems and caused some vegetables to be in short supply. Broccoli has been flying off the shelves in some supermarkets apparently. Fortunately it freezes quite well and so you can choose frozen broccoli. If you use frozen try not to cook it too much or it goes quite soggy. I have had frozen peas from Aldi for 99p and even cheaper in Asda at 95p. (more…)
Neodigital Art | Light and colour
I was trying to get my printer/scanner working the other day and scanned this picture. This is an old picture, but it shows that you can do something interesting with a scanner. I used to play on that field as a child! The land and the road was actually on fire because of the coal and gas underneath. The coal has since been removed and there is a sports field and new houses there now. That row of little workers houses is still there! (more…)
What’s wrong with this country?
I wanted to write about stupid stuff this morning. Like, why do we erect stupid statues of 6 legged horses, that no one can see. Why does the new college have a wave shaped roof? Why is the art (gallery?) pink? Why are the stupid people in charge of everything? Why has petrol gone up from 128.9 before Christmas to 138.9 now? Why did the government give lots of money to councils to put disabled crossings on the roads everywhere and then cut benefits for disabled people? Why do I have to pay vehicle excise licence on my car as well as putting petrol in it at an obscene price? Why are they obsessed with stupid acronyms? (more…)
The Post Code lottery
Unequal Britain
In Britain your post code; where you live, tends to determine a lot of things. How you are viewed by society in general and by public servants in particular. It tends to determine whether you get a good education, good health care, a decent job and equal opportunities in life. It also determines the way you speak and the way you behave. It can even determine whether you are polite or not! (more…)
The search for a better tax system
Fairer taxes
I live in Britain but taxation is very similar all over the world. Many countries copied our system! I read an article that proposed a different tax system the other day but it only covered income tax and wasn’t a lot different. We need a fairer system. One that acknowledges social injustice. (more…)
Victorian legacies
Black Country canals
The canal in the picture was built in the 18th century and was part of a valuable transport system for the goods that were made in the Black Country. It runs into Walsall and to the ‘Waterfront’ near the new art gallery. The canal goes past those factories then crosses the M6 motorway; the modern transport link to the Black Country. Then on to cross the railway that was to come later as a major transport network then an aqueduct takes it over the River Tame. The Tame looks like little more than a brook there but that was an important source of power at one time driving the hammers of a local forge. (more…)
How can people save?
All governments print money and come up with new ways to tax people but in the past few years they have been printing even more than usual and calling it quantitative easing. The British government has also introduced new taxes on things like insurance and increased VAT. How can people save for anything when the government keeps devaluing our savings?
Image via Wikipedia
The pound in our pockets isn’t the same, the more money they pump into the economies the less we can buy with our money. They create inflation and that forces up commodity prices like oil, gas, housing and food. (more…)
