Keir Starmer at it again..

[Elephant Pyjamas]

He's just doing what his Russian paymasters tell him to.

But he's a multi billionaire, why does he need cash off anyone?

I can't get my head around it.

 

[Tredman]

But he's a multi billionaire, why does he need cash off anyone?

I can't get my head around it.

He was forced to buy X and didn’t have the cash without selling his Tesla shares - he clearly didn’t want to do that since X is worth fuck all and Tesla is worth billions.

 

[Tony Towner]

But he's a multi billionaire, why does he need cash off anyone?

I can't get my head around it.

Because he made a bid for Twitter out of bravado, tried to get out of it, but was legally bound, he didn't want to spend his own money on it, so got investment from elsewhere which comes at a price

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Billionaires like having more billions. This is not new news, especially with a bloke who approved his own $28bn annual salary.

 

[BillyDee]

But he's a multi billionaire, why does he need cash off anyone?

I can't get my head around it.

As others have said, he painted himself into a corner. His wealth is mostly tied to SpaceX and Tesla shares he couldn't easily liquidate and wouldn't want to.
He had already made commitments to buy Twitter and couldn't walk away, though he tried.
He's not actually very smart, he's fallen upwards spectacularly and been incredibly lucky.

 

[visage]

He made a huge investment in X, leveraged off his assets in the form of shares in Tesla and SpaceX.

And then used his position in X to act like a fucking moron, tanking the price of X and casting into doubt the value of his Tesla/SpaceX shares that underpin his rapidly shrinking X investment.


Yes, hes a fucking genius.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I saw a post a few weeks ago from someone along the lines of:

- I heard Elon talk about rockets and someone said he was a genius, and I know nothing about rockets, so I assumed he must be a genius. I heard Elon talk about electric cars and someone said he was a genius, and I know nothing about cars, so I assumed he must be a genius.

Then I heard him talk about software. And I know a hell of a lot about software, and he was saying some of the dumbest shit known to man. So now I think I'll stay the fuck away from his rockets and cars.

 

[EpsomWolf]

View attachment 11421

Have got a bit of current ongoing involvement in this and also some fairly close anecdotal experience too so can’t let that Acorn spin go unchallenged.

The spin itself is very misleading. Labour know there is no such thing as “affordable” housing, only “subsidised” and we need to change that narrative to enable an open conversation about that and the way forward. It looks to me like they are taking a fairly realistic approach to the costs involved in managing a crisis and are not going to simply bankroll mass state-subsidised (taxpayer funded) house building. That of course will irritate many who believe they have an obligation to, but that’s a separate story and different to how this appears to be playing out.

Much has already been said about landlords abandoning the sector, (section 21 removal, 2025 EPC regs, 2024 RRB and a whole lot of other stuff that’s not worth getting bogged down with for the moment) but in recent weeks have had a few conversations and experiences that seem to confirm a pattern that is developing.

Essentially cash offers from charities, with the purchase price offered fixed and pre-determined by the yield, which itself is underpinned by the amount of subsidy necessary (caused by the below market (affordable) rent received) and where that subsidy is coming from. Others will know more about charity finances and housing association government support than me, but some discussions suggest the government are looking to support charities/HA’s in rapidly acquiring stock which has a much more immediate impact than long-term house building projects, and raising social rents facilitates that by keeps the subsidy manageable and accelerates the transition - in other words, just let charities and HA’s do the work and solve the problem for you. My understanding is (some of) the charities and HA’s are themselves in favour of the increase in social rents as this supports their expansion programmes and Labour seems to be listening to them. Looks like the short to mid-term view at least is it’s better to help a lot of people a bit than fewer people a lot.

All going to depend on where you sit on that one and your expectations of a Labour government of course. Going to be interesting too to see if Labour put their hands in their pockets to fill the subsidy gaps or just talk a good game and allow the social rent rises to do it for them.

Anyway, interesting times ahead.

 

[Dire Wolf]

I'm so glad we got a government full of integrity, open-ness and honesty. At least they aren't as blatant about it as their predecessors, though.

Peter Geoghegan · Labour and the Lobbyists

The closer Labour got to power, the closer the business lobby got to Labour. The party conference in Liverpool last...

www.lrb.co.uk

 

[Dire Wolf]

Labour pre-election:



Labour in government:

 

[Dire Wolf]

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

 

[Dire Wolf]

If you're still positive about what the Labour Government is doing fair play to you. I know it is early days but the signs are not good. They are treading exactly the same neoliberalist economics path as their predecessors: it failed for the Tories, it will fail for Labour. And all it will succeed in doing is driving swathes of people into the waiting arms of the extreme right. The Farage Riots of a few weeks ago are just a precursor of what is to come under this government.

The only hope is ditching their current economic policy and tackling the huge economic disparity by taxing wealth, ditching all austerity measures, properly funding public services and the NHS, properly enforcing an energy cap, taking energy companies back into public control, penalising price gouging supermarkets (£10.50 for a jar of instant coffee? Fuck off), doing pretty much the opposite of everything they are currently doing. They won't. They have been bought and owned by corporate lobbyists. Tories by any other name. I detest what the Labour Party have become. And seemingly so do vast numbers of the country as they are already plummeting in popularity. It isn't any wonder. People are feeling massively let down.

 

[Tredman]

This thread.

 

[sycophantia]

The number of people moaning about how crap Labour are, no better/worse than the Tories is starting to piss me off. They may turn out to be but fucking hell they're a couple of months into trying to put the last 15 years of Tory misrule and corruption right. What do people expect to have been achieved in such a short time? Such entitlement and lack of patience.
After their first term its possible I may be of the same opinion as the nay sayers but for fucks sake let's give them the chance.
For people who have further left politics than me, I think you'd better steel yourselves for a lifetime of disappointment.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Also - Parliament has been in recess for the last month.

Take away all the swearing in stuff which is all ceremonial nonsense, there's barely been three weeks in the Commons since they got elected. Being as you can't generally just unilaterally rip up and impose laws, not sure what scope there has been to do anything.

 

[Tredman]

The announcement on ofsted today seemed very sensible.

 

[Dire Wolf]

It's not about what they have or haven't achieved in 2 months. It's about the message they are putting out, which differs very little from the the message of the Tories. They could at least offer a vision of hope, instead they want to hide behind the 'mess we were left' message. You can bury your head in the sand and pretend they'll suddenly change and actually make a difference or you could believe what you're actually seeing, which is that they are firmly hand in hand with the corporate lobbyists.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Or they could go down the Johnson route and just blatantly lie?

It IS a mess.

 

[Dire Wolf]

Or they could go down the Johnson route and just blatantly lie?

It IS a mess.

Then tax the wealthy, tax corporations, take control of energy companies... they have plenty of options that don't involve making life shit for ordinary people. They are choosing to make ordinary people pay for the mess, rather than the wealthiest. That is a shit choice for a Labour Government, no matter what way you want to paint it.