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highwaystar101 on 30 December 2009
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Soleron said:

The UK is useless diplomatically (and politically) anyway. Brown thinks he can influence the world, when he can't get his country to vote for him.

We aren't an economic power, save for the undue respect we get from when we were. We are in so much debt that not even optimistic propaganda-level predictions can forsee us with a balanced budget; our economy is all based on hollow consumer spending but we produce nothing of value except for financial services which have collapsed. Our government is unpopular but has refused to hold any elections until the last possible moment, while introducing stupid and unpopular policies(such as handing the music and film industry £1b to cut off the internet access of 'file sharers' while hoping to get the money back in increased VAT from music/film sales (which will fail)). The first thing they have promised to cut, instead of peripheral services, is higher education funding at a time when education is all that will save us from future economic disasters.

I hate living in Britain.

Same here. I hate living in Britain.

We're just a country which keeps giving away our power both economically and politically without even putting up a fight. The reason we're losing all of this power is our own greed. In the eternal search for cheaper and cheaper business costs we have managed to move our primary and secondary industries overseas. We don't produce any raw materials and we don't manufacture anything because countries like China undersell us, and we just let them. Our tertiary economy is what is keeping the country afloat and with the UK banking industry rapidly collapsing I don't see that supporting us for much longer.

Outsourcing our industry is going to bankrupt us (well, more bankrupt than we already are). Each year we export ~$442Bn whilst we import ~$621Bn, that means each year we are losing ~$179Bn mostly because we outsource our industry abroad because it is easier and cheaper to import goods.

The UK seriously needs to reconsider how we approach the economy, we can't just give our money away. We have to start producing something, we have to start producing raw materials, we have to start manufacturing goods, We have to start exporting more than we are importing... we have to start reversing the trend.

...

As for education. The good news is that the government has committed to increase the science budget over the next four years, which isn't hard as it is pitiful in the first place (0.5% GDP). But I doubt that as a nation we are competent enough to actually pull it off. As you said they are cutting the education budget and we are in desperate need of scientists as it is. A large science budget is no good if you don't have any scientists.