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What’s in the box? – politicalbetting.com

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  • kjhkjh Posts: 11,859
    HYUFD said:

    kjh said:

    Foxy said:

    Foxy said:

    Stocky said:

    The big one was the bringing in pension funds to IHT. Massive.

    This will not affect public sector workers with DB schemes.

    So the balance once more from private sector to public.

    Details to come but thoughts include:

    What about inheritance by spouse?

    At what rate - 40%?!

    Death below age 75 too?

    What about tax on withdrawals*?

    * people think that unexhausted pension funds can pass down tax free. This is not true - IHT free yes but withdrawals are taxed at withdrawer's marginal rate of income tax as earned income (assuming deceased was over 75 on death).
    If these unexhausted funds are to be brought into the estate for IHT calculation, does this mean no further tax on withdrawals by the beneficiaries. Or will the fund be taxed twice?

    The logical thing is that the pension wrapper ends on transfer out of the estate. So no further income tax on withdrawals but also no further tax shelter from dividends or CGT.

    Not sure if that is what they will do but think that is fairer than the current system. Pension tax shelters should be for individuals retirements not passing inter generational wealth.
    Indeed, and those of us on DB pensions can not bequeath the pension at all, with or without tax.
    Yeah but that is apples and oranges. Private sector annuities would be the comparison there, which are treated identically aiui.
    Yes, it's people who use drawdown as an inheritance dodge that are brought into line with the rest of us.
    Yep. I predicted that would happen and also I approve of it, although it will hit me (well my children) significantly. It will I think have a big impact on IHT in the South East (as previously discussed and agreed with @hyufd) as it will bring a lot of people into IHT who have medium sized houses and DC pensions who previously would have been well outside of it. For someone like @hyufd with his views on IHT it really isn't good news and I understand why he will not be happy about this.
    It won't actually really hit me at all, it will hit a lot of family farms and family businesses around here hard though
    I wasn't thinking of you personally @hyufd but the principle of it which you disagree with. And although I disagree with you on this I do appreciate and understand your point of view and the issue is now exacerbated.

    It will hit a lot of people in the South East who it previously would not have impacted. Many will have houses in the £500k - £800k regions which won't be mansions in London and the South East. The £1m limit was never an issue for them. However if they are couples both of which worked and have DC pensions they could each easily have £250k or more in each pension. Ignoring any savings and other stuff they are now way over the £1m limit for IHT.

    I don't have an issue with this, but it is significant.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,381

    It can’t be bargained with, it can’t be reasoned with.
    The MAGA Republican Party that is.

    https://x.com/schwarzenegger/status/1851627802027758005?s=61&t=LYVEHh2mqFy1oUJAdCfe-Q

    Although Trump is obsessed with the other Arnie. Or parts of him.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,524
    Russia still advancing.

    Ukrainian composer of the world-famous "Carol of the Bells" music, Mykola Leontovych was executed by the Russian chekists in 1921. Statue honoring his life and legacy in Pokrovsk had to be evacuated as the Russian fascists invade again.
    https://x.com/igorsushko/status/1851468942461841432
  • numbertwelvenumbertwelve Posts: 6,850
    glw said:

    Pulpstar said:

    UK 10 year gilts may end on a year to date high, getting close.

    The markets seemed to like it when she was talking and then not so much when all the traders looked at the guts of the budget after lunch.
    I suspect that once people have had proper gander this budget is going to stink.
    I think from a short term political standpoint Labour have had an OK day. I expect their poll ratings to stabilise or even tick up slightly, because everyday people are not going to feel worse off immediately - and there was a lot of fear put about that they would.

    People who were worried about their pensions and savings will be breathing a sigh of relief. And nobody will see their take home going down in April.

    Where the budget will either succeed or fail is in the medium term. If employer NI causes wage stagnation as forecast, growth is anaemic and unemployment rises, people will start to notice. The danger for Reeves is that in the next fiscal cycle she doesn’t raise as much as forecast and then we get into a death spiral of further unpopular measures. But if she’s blessed with some stronger growth and improvement in public services, it will all start to look much better.

    It’s a big gamble.
  • Barnesian said:

    Nigelb said:
    Powerful stuff. 5 million followers.
    A lot of registered Republicans will be voting for Harris. It all adds up.
    As we saw with Taylor Swift, endorsements look great and ground-breaking until they are not.
  • FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,879
    The big question: why are the growth forecasts so poor?
  • sarissasarissa Posts: 1,995
    So, £35bn from tax rises, +£35bn extra borrowing 'cos RR magicked the official measurement down = one year Hail Mary boost or all bets are off.
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,244
    Good Lord am I glad my mortgage renewal period began before the budget. All the cheap deals are surely going to be pulled pdq.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,900

    Barnesian said:

    Nigelb said:
    Powerful stuff. 5 million followers.
    A lot of registered Republicans will be voting for Harris. It all adds up.
    It's smart framing from Arnie. He's not gushing about Kamala or indeed the Democrats but "I'm an American before I'm a Republican" is a great line. And he makes the case well.

    Great line: "a candidate who will send his followers to storm the Capitol while he watches with a Diet Coke..."
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,885

    The big question: why are the growth forecasts so poor?

    Because taxes are rising so much, the state isn't known for high productivity or good multipliers.
  • On the predictions for piss-poor growth, one could thank the immediate Tory targeting of Miliband's original Green New Deal plan, which many economists still want him to bring back in some form.

    On the raised Employer tax contributions, what some posts omitted to mention below, was that the OBR also said that the level of output hit from these would be almost exactly balanced out by the raise in the levels of public investment.

    This reminds me a little of the Telegraph's coverage from last week, conveneniently ignoring the assessments that increases in workers' productivity would partially balance out the effects of the increases in workers' rights.

    Finally , the Green Hydrogen hubs plans give me at least a little hope for future investments and growth.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 11,859
    edited October 30

    kjh said:

    I think it is nuts to comment on the budget at this stage and silly that Rishi has to, but I am going to. It needs a few days for stuff to unravel.

    I'm pleased with myself that the DC pension pot thing happened, as I predicted that. Will seriously cost my children though when I die. Long way off hopefully and I'm doing my best to spend it.

    I am pleased with the PO and Blood Scandal payments are being met (if they actually do) and more hopeful for a similar campaign that I am supporting.

    Shocked by the lack of fuel duty increase. Politics?

    The draught beer one is politics as well because people will expect a 1p off their pint, but I suspect they will go up because of the NI increases.

    The employer NI is as expected, but also there is the big reduction in the threshold which I didn't expect. This must be a blow to businesses but the money had to come from Income Tax, NI or Vat and they had painted themselves into this corner. So be it.

    I predicted that there would be an increase in the PA (not the other bands) for next year. Got that wrong and 28/29 is a long way off. I suspect that they can make the same announcement next year making it 27/28 and so forth.

    I got confused by the EV announcement re road tax and cynically I interpreted the good news announcement for EV owners to be bad news for ICE car owners without being said. Zoned out at that point.

    I thought RR performance to be very good. Presented big tax rises surprisingly well.

    I'm not sure why some people here are surprised by the lack of fuel duty rise.

    It's not politics, it's economics that says its a horrendous tax to rise.

    It's massively regressive. It's always been regressive, the poorest have always spent a higher proportion of their income on fuel duty than the wealthier have, but now that those with an EV can opt out of paying it entirely that disparity has become a gulf.

    And it's a pointless tax to rise. It raises no money in the long term. If you want a balanced budget in the future why raise a tax that won't exist in the future?

    HMRC needs to detox from getting money from drivers and rebalance away from it, simply ensuring drivers pay for roads and that's it.

    Raising fuel duty is like a problem gambler chasing their losses.
    @BartholomewRoberts you make very good points and I wasn't arguing about the rights and wrongs. Just shocked it wasn't increased and, I suspect, done so not to alienate the petrol lobby and not because of the good economic arguments you put forward i.e done for political reasons.

    Come on I bet you were surprised as well, just like everyone else, even if you think it was wrong to do.
  • SlackbladderSlackbladder Posts: 9,773
    Pulpstar said:

    Good Lord am I glad my mortgage renewal period began before the budget. All the cheap deals are surely going to be pulled pdq.

    I just exchanged on my house move (phew), but the people at the bottom of the chain couldn't get a mortgage extention beyond Oct....now we know why....
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,524
    Dualling of the A1 into Scotland canned.
    Again.
  • bigglesbiggles Posts: 6,170

    glw said:

    Pulpstar said:

    UK 10 year gilts may end on a year to date high, getting close.

    The markets seemed to like it when she was talking and then not so much when all the traders looked at the guts of the budget after lunch.
    I suspect that once people have had proper gander this budget is going to stink.
    I think from a short term political standpoint Labour have had an OK day. I expect their poll ratings to stabilise or even tick up slightly, because everyday people are not going to feel worse off immediately - and there was a lot of fear put about that they would.

    People who were worried about their pensions and savings will be breathing a sigh of relief. And nobody will see their take home going down in April.

    Where the budget will either succeed or fail is in the medium term. If employer NI causes wage stagnation as forecast, growth is anaemic and unemployment rises, people will start to notice. The danger for Reeves is that in the next fiscal cycle she doesn’t raise as much as forecast and then we get into a death spiral of further unpopular measures. But if she’s blessed with some stronger growth and improvement in public services, it will all start to look much better.

    It’s a big gamble.
    But with Trump planning a trade war, and Russia pressing on, this gamble sees her betting against the house.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,311
    Was there any word on uni fees and extra funding for unis?

    We have repeatedly been told a load of unis are ready for being bankrupt because Chinese aren't coming and Nigerians are busto in addition to the large inflation over the past few years, while fees haven't gone for a long time.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 51,889
    edited October 30
    Trussesque

    https://x.com/edconwaysky/status/1851643404381278530

    UK government cost of borrowing climbing...👇

    image
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,244
    A1 dualling north of Morpeth binned.
  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 38,885

    On the predictions for piss-poor growth, one could thank the immediate Tory targeting of Miliband's original Green New Deal plan, which many economists still want him to bring back in some form.

    On the raised Employer tax contributions, what some posts omitted to mention below, was that the OBR also said that the level of output hit from these would be almost exactly balanced out by the raise in the levels of public investment.

    This reminds me a little of the Telegraph's coverage from last week, conveneniently ignoring the assessments that increases in workers' productivity would partially balance out the effects of the increases in workers' rights.

    Finally , the Green Hydrogen hubs plans give me at least a little hope for future investments and growth.

    You sound delusional. Like @Luckyguy1983 when he was praising Liz Truss.

    This budget is a disaster, record tax rates, lower growth and huge additional borrowing. This is going to get very messy. We may end up needing a second budget as this gets digested.
  • FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,879
    Nigelb said:

    Russia still advancing.

    Ukrainian composer of the world-famous "Carol of the Bells" music, Mykola Leontovych was executed by the Russian chekists in 1921. Statue honoring his life and legacy in Pokrovsk had to be evacuated as the Russian fascists invade again.
    https://x.com/igorsushko/status/1851468942461841432

    One would hope that once the election is out of the way in the US Biden will allow Ukraine to take the gloves off. The most recent claim, that they will allow Ukraine to strike North Korean troops with their long range weapons, doesn't bode well though.
  • FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 82,311
    Pulpstar said:

    A1 dualling north of Morpeth binned.

    I don't understand why they aren't building this sort of infrastructure.
  • rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 62,900
    edited October 30
    Ed Conway
    @EdConwaySky
    ·
    7m
    Markets were sanguine about the Budget when
    @RachelReevesMP

    was delivering it. But now investors are absorbing the actual details and numbers, they're considerably less sanguine.
    UK government cost of borrowing climbing...👇

    https://x.com/EdConwaySky/status/1851643404381278530
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 22,952

    Barnesian said:

    Nigelb said:
    Powerful stuff. 5 million followers.
    A lot of registered Republicans will be voting for Harris. It all adds up.
    It's smart framing from Arnie. He's not gushing about Kamala or indeed the Democrats but "I'm an American before I'm a Republican" is a great line. And he makes the case well.

    Great line: "a candidate who will send his followers to storm the Capitol while he watches with a Diet Coke..."
    Do they not have Coke Zero in the States yet? Much better.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,632
    It's notable how much they're front-loading the increase in spending. They're really banking on people noticing improvements from that.
  • While Labour are posting and boasting about a pint being 1p cheaper, this Wiltshire publican reckons he will have to put a pint up by 30p after the budget. Inflationary.

    https://x.com/MDWestburyWest/status/1851640532948160854
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 78,244

    Pulpstar said:

    A1 dualling north of Morpeth binned.

    I don't understand why they aren't building this sort of infrastructure.
    Particularly as Reeves has specifically changed the rules to increase CAPEX borrowing. All being pissed up the wall on Ed Miliband's hobby horses.
  • numbertwelvenumbertwelve Posts: 6,850

    Ed Conway
    @EdConwaySky
    ·
    7m
    Markets were sanguine about the Budget when
    @RachelReevesMP

    was delivering it. But now investors are absorbing the actual details and numbers, they're considerably less sanguine.
    UK government cost of borrowing climbing...👇

    https://x.com/EdConwaySky/status/1851643404381278530

    Brace?
  • kjhkjh Posts: 11,859
    Sandpit said:

    kjh said:

    I think it is nuts to comment on the budget at this stage and silly that Rishi has to, but I am going to. It needs a few days for stuff to unravel.

    I'm pleased with myself that the DC pension pot thing happened, as I predicted that. Will seriously cost my children though when I die. Long way off hopefully and I'm doing my best to spend it.

    I am pleased with the PO and Blood Scandal payments are being met (if they actually do) and more hopeful for a similar campaign that I am supporting.

    Shocked by the lack of fuel duty increase. Politics?

    The draught beer one is politics as well because people will expect a 1p off their pint, but I suspect they will go up because of the NI increases.

    The employer NI is as expected, but also there is the big reduction in the threshold which I didn't expect. This must be a blow to businesses but the money had to come from Income Tax, NI or Vat and they had painted themselves into this corner. So be it.

    I predicted that there would be an increase in the PA (not the other bands) for next year. Got that wrong and 28/29 is a long way off. I suspect that they can make the same announcement next year making it 27/28 and so forth.

    I got confused by the EV announcement re road tax and cynically I interpreted the good news announcement for EV owners to be bad news for ICE car owners without being said. Zoned out at that point.

    I thought RR performance to be very good. Presented big tax rises surprisingly well.

    I'm not sure why some people here are surprised by the lack of fuel duty rise.

    It's not politics, it's economics that says its a horrendous tax to rise.

    It's massively regressive. It's always been regressive, the poorest have always spent a higher proportion of their income on fuel duty than the wealthier have, but now that those with an EV can opt out of paying it entirely that disparity has become a gulf.

    And it's a pointless tax to rise. It raises no money in the long term. If you want a balanced budget in the future why raise a tax that won't exist in the future?

    HMRC needs to detox from getting money from drivers and rebalance away from it, simply ensuring drivers pay for roads and that's it.

    Raising fuel duty is like a problem gambler chasing their losses.
    It also feeds into inflation like no other tax the government can raise.
    Yep it does. Still surprised though. One can be surprised that someone doesn't do the wrong thing.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,674

    Trussesque

    https://x.com/edconwaysky/status/1851643404381278530

    UK government cost of borrowing climbing...👇

    image

    Whoa, up 5% in an hour.
  • david_herdsondavid_herdson Posts: 17,763

    Nigelb said:

    Russia still advancing.

    Ukrainian composer of the world-famous "Carol of the Bells" music, Mykola Leontovych was executed by the Russian chekists in 1921. Statue honoring his life and legacy in Pokrovsk had to be evacuated as the Russian fascists invade again.
    https://x.com/igorsushko/status/1851468942461841432

    One would hope that once the election is out of the way in the US Biden will allow Ukraine to take the gloves off. The most recent claim, that they will allow Ukraine to strike North Korean troops with their long range weapons, doesn't bode well though.
    Biden is intimidated by Putin and won't allow anything he isn't pushed into by others. I don't expect him to change his stance after next week. He doesn't want to be a war leader and has done his best to act as if there isn't a war. He doesn't want Ukraine to lose but he doesn't want Russia to lose either. It's a policy that makes no sense on a strategic level but makes a great deal of sense if he's just trying to make it go away.
  • NEW THREAD

  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,674

    Pulpstar said:

    A1 dualling north of Morpeth binned.

    I don't understand why they aren't building this sort of infrastructure.
    These road projects being cancelled are nuts.

    I now have a default assumption that whoever is in the way of the Stonehenge Tunnel and A303 dualling project, has a fleet of helicopters running between London and Cornwall all summer.
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,975
    edited October 30
    Stereodog said:

    Stereodog said:

    Stereodog said:

    Stereodog said:

    I don't know what she means by unlocking the potential of Cambridge. The whole of greater Cambridge is a bloody building site already.

    I hope she's referring to things like East-West Rail. Although that's usually promoted as being 'unlocking the potential of the Oxford to Cambridge corridor."
    I was selfishly hoping that East-West rail would be dumped as it's going to result in another half decade of building noise outside my flat and the proposed station for St Neots is actually out in the middle of nowhere so won't be very convenient for me anyway.
    But Cambourne station will be very convenient for me. ;)

    I wonder where your flat is... Central Cambridge shouldn't be too affected by EWR AIUI (though I might be wrong, and the plans are still flexible). The first impact further south will be where the four tracks from Shepreth Junction become two, I *think* south of the new Cambridge South station?
    I live in St Neots near the current railway bridge which I believe will need to be upgraded because EWR. It's been a while since I looked at the plans though. Despite my own personal annoyance it's a good idea really.
    Oooh, my turf. I'll have run past your place, potentially many times. Not that I'm trying to be stalkerish or anything... :smiley:

    I've not been keeping up to date with the latest EWR proposals as I've been expecing the Bedford to Cam section (BedCam? (*)), but I thought it was going to go slightly further east, skirting to the east of Wintringham and the hideously-named 'Monksfield' development (**).

    (*) Bedford to St Pancras electrified services were known as 'BedPan'. I quite like the idea of this being BedCam...
    (**) Hideously-named as there's a 'Monkfield' area in Cambourne, just eight miles away, including a Monkfield Medical Practice, Monkfield School etc. Having a 'Monkfield' area and a 'Monksfield' in such close proximity is utterly stupid.
    Agree with you on the naming. I live on the equally hideously named Love's Farm development. There's a street in that development called 'The Runnels' which sounds like a horrible digestive disorder.
    Ah yes, Love's Farm. I've run every path and street there (and I ran through last week as part of a run to see what's happening at the top end of the Monksfield development - answer: not much). It doesn't look too bad a place to live, tbf. Though the path into St Neots proper from the station is rather unattractive.

    If you live at Love's Farm. then I reckon you've got 10 to 15 years of housing development coming along around you anyway, regardless of EWR.
  • ohnotnowohnotnow Posts: 3,854

    Barnesian said:

    Nigelb said:
    Powerful stuff. 5 million followers.
    A lot of registered Republicans will be voting for Harris. It all adds up.
    It's smart framing from Arnie. He's not gushing about Kamala or indeed the Democrats but "I'm an American before I'm a Republican" is a great line. And he makes the case well.

    Great line: "a candidate who will send his followers to storm the Capitol while he watches with a Diet Coke..."
    Do they not have Coke Zero in the States yet? Much better.
    Diet Coke is "the ladies" low sugar coke. Coke Zero is "the real mans" low sugar coke. Whether he used Diet Coke knowingly - not sure.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 51,963

    Ed Conway
    @EdConwaySky
    ·
    7m
    Markets were sanguine about the Budget when
    @RachelReevesMP

    was delivering it. But now investors are absorbing the actual details and numbers, they're considerably less sanguine.
    UK government cost of borrowing climbing...👇

    https://x.com/EdConwaySky/status/1851643404381278530

    Brace?
    I would like to have seen Montana the Ashington Line...
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 22,198
    Nigelb said:

    Seems a bit unlikely for a couple of the states, but interesting set of polls.

    Presidential Polling Leads:

    MN: D +10
    VA: D +8
    NH: D +7
    MI: D +5
    NV: D +4
    WI: D +3
    PA: D +1

    NC: R +2
    TX: R +4
    AZ: R +4
    GA: R +5
    FL: R +6
    OH: R +7

    CCES/YouGov / October 25, 2024

    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1851397569206947900

    Doesn't she win on those numbers?
  • MaxPB said:

    On the predictions for piss-poor growth, one could thank the immediate Tory targeting of Miliband's original Green New Deal plan, which many economists still want him to bring back in some form.

    On the raised Employer tax contributions, what some posts omitted to mention below, was that the OBR also said that the level of output hit from these would be almost exactly balanced out by the raise in the levels of public investment.

    This reminds me a little of the Telegraph's coverage from last week, conveneniently ignoring the assessments that increases in workers' productivity would partially balance out the effects of the increases in workers' rights.

    Finally , the Green Hydrogen hubs plans give me at least a little hope for future investments and growth.

    You sound delusional. Like @Luckyguy1983 when he was praising Liz Truss.

    This budget is a disaster, record tax rates, lower growth and huge additional borrowing. This is going to get very messy. We may end up needing a second budget as this gets digested.
    MaxPB said:

    On the predictions for piss-poor growth, one could thank the immediate Tory targeting of Miliband's original Green New Deal plan, which many economists still want him to bring back in some form.

    On the raised Employer tax contributions, what some posts omitted to mention below, was that the OBR also said that the level of output hit from these would be almost exactly balanced out by the raise in the levels of public investment.

    This reminds me a little of the Telegraph's coverage from last week, conveneniently ignoring the assessments that increases in workers' productivity would partially balance out the effects of the increases in workers' rights.






    Finally , the Green Hydrogen hubs plans give me at least a little hope for future investments and growth.

    You sound delusional. Like @Luckyguy1983 when he was praising Liz Truss.

    This budget is a disaster, record tax rates, lower growth and huge additional borrowing. This is going to get very messy. We may end up needing a second budget as this gets digested.
    The only area where I think Reeves and Starmer may have second thoughts is that huge boost for the NHS.

    The lack of pro-growth policy is essentially the result of the Tories bullying the Green New Deal policy out of this platform. The.NHS clearly needs more money, but some of that money should clearly be going to larger scale growth policies, too.

  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 22,952
    ohnotnow said:

    Barnesian said:

    Nigelb said:
    Powerful stuff. 5 million followers.
    A lot of registered Republicans will be voting for Harris. It all adds up.
    It's smart framing from Arnie. He's not gushing about Kamala or indeed the Democrats but "I'm an American before I'm a Republican" is a great line. And he makes the case well.

    Great line: "a candidate who will send his followers to storm the Capitol while he watches with a Diet Coke..."
    Do they not have Coke Zero in the States yet? Much better.
    Diet Coke is "the ladies" low sugar coke. Coke Zero is "the real mans" low sugar coke. Whether he used Diet Coke knowingly - not sure.
    Rishi imports his Coke from Mexico!
  • david_herdsondavid_herdson Posts: 17,763

    Taz said:

    Birmingham tram extension gets funding. Anything for Nottingham, Manchester metros etc?

    Nothing for North East transport either.
    She announced that she is to fund the electrification of Church Fenton to York - which is already funded and underway. And various other existing live being delivered schemes.

    Would you have been happier had she announced funding of rail services to Ashington in a similar vein...?
    Electrifying Church Fenton to York is completely pointless unless the programme is continued through to Leeds (at least), now that HS2(Yorks) has been binned.
    Not *completely* useless - I believe that faster acceleration of Transpennine Services out of York on electric power will add a little more capacity.
    If you're using bimodal kits then they'll be under electric power out of York anyway for the first few miles until the junction off the ECML.
  • BarnesianBarnesian Posts: 8,657

    Barnesian said:

    Nigelb said:
    Powerful stuff. 5 million followers.
    A lot of registered Republicans will be voting for Harris. It all adds up.
    As we saw with Taylor Swift, endorsements look great and ground-breaking until they are not.
    We don't know that. We don't know much at all.
    I don't trust the polls or the betting.
    But these endorsements are part of the big picture. They do no harm and they might do good.

    I can't see a Kamala supporter saying "I was going to vote Harris but if Taylor is voting for her, I'm not". But I can see an Undecided saying " I don't really know who to vote for but if Taylor or Arnie are supporting Harris, I will too".
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 22,952
    viewcode said:

    Nigelb said:

    Seems a bit unlikely for a couple of the states, but interesting set of polls.

    Presidential Polling Leads:

    MN: D +10
    VA: D +8
    NH: D +7
    MI: D +5
    NV: D +4
    WI: D +3
    PA: D +1

    NC: R +2
    TX: R +4
    AZ: R +4
    GA: R +5
    FL: R +6
    OH: R +7

    CCES/YouGov / October 25, 2024

    https://x.com/USA_Polling/status/1851397569206947900

    Doesn't she win on those numbers?
    Pre the Supremes.....
  • david_herdsondavid_herdson Posts: 17,763

    GIN1138 said:

    Freezing fuel duty again is CRAZY.

    Don't worry, drivers will pay for it with Pay-Per-Mile in a couple of years...
    A good way to kill their political chances with anyone not living in a metropolitan centre.
    Fuel duty is going to bring in less and less in not all that long with EVs, so unless you ramp up tax on electricity (with all the side-effects that brings), then road charging is the only sensible way to replace it. But that runs into the problem of simplicity v fairness. You'd also need a comprehensive and effective monitoring network to process all the fees. But it could, in principle, be done.
    Drivers have been the golden goose that were fleeced but that should come to an end now.

    For drivers who need to pay commercial rates to recharge vehicles its not remotely plausible or reasonable to do that and pay road fees too.
    People said similar about congestion charges, which quickly became a way of life.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,674
    MaxPB said:

    I think this is more borrowing than Liz Truss proposed in her ill fated few weeks.

    Anyone who thought Labour would balance the budget was deluding themselves.

    Way more, and Truss’ proposals would at least have laid the foundations for future growth
  • state_go_awaystate_go_away Posts: 5,817
    Pulpstar said:

    Pulpstar said:

    A1 dualling north of Morpeth binned.

    I don't understand why they aren't building this sort of infrastructure.
    Particularly as Reeves has specifically changed the rules to increase CAPEX borrowing. All being pissed up the wall on Ed Miliband's hobby horses.
    yes the farce of carbon capture instead of using it to build more wind and other renewable energy infrastructure=
  • RobDRobD Posts: 59,970
    New thread.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,580

    Barnesian said:

    Nigelb said:
    Powerful stuff. 5 million followers.
    A lot of registered Republicans will be voting for Harris. It all adds up.
    It's smart framing from Arnie. He's not gushing about Kamala or indeed the Democrats but "I'm an American before I'm a Republican" is a great line. And he makes the case well.

    Great line: "a candidate who will send his followers to storm the Capitol while he watches with a Diet Coke..."
    I think it was George McDonald Fraser who said his abiding memory of Arnold was on set, in costume as Conan, sitting in a chair reading business magazine between takes, making notes. With the Conan sword jabbed into the ground by his side.
  • DopermeanDopermean Posts: 566

    Dopermean said:

    Stocky said:

    Foxy said:

    Very impressed with Rachel Reeves even disregarding the content

    Yep. It was a sound performance, but the devil is always in the detail. Not too much sounding awful to me.

    The cut in employees NI followed by the rise in Employers NI is like a compulsory payrise for everyone at their employers expense when looked at overall.
    Foxy, you might want to spare a thought for those who don't have DB pension scheme's. For us it's awful believe me.
    How so? The only change to DC pensions seems to be bringing the pension fund into IHT. Could be an issue if you and your haven't balanced your pensions and one dies, but otherwise it's supposed to be a pension but not an IHT avoidance tool.
    Will affect most those with dodgy genes or tickers in their late 50s who have large untouched balances in pension pots -
    It'll affect their estate
  • turbotubbsturbotubbs Posts: 17,515

    Was there any word on uni fees and extra funding for unis?

    We have repeatedly been told a load of unis are ready for being bankrupt because Chinese aren't coming and Nigerians are busto in addition to the large inflation over the past few years, while fees haven't gone for a long time.

    See also employers NI going up.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,632

    Pulpstar said:

    A1 dualling north of Morpeth binned.

    I don't understand why they aren't building this sort of infrastructure.
    They're prioritising the NHS.
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,578
    MaxPB said:

    Absolutely huge increase in borrowing and a lower growth forecast. Wtf are they doing, surely a big fiscal stimulus like this should increase the growth rate not lower it.

    Maybe the damn beast of growth needs five minutes of prodding, before it finally gets out of bed for us - and this is just the prodding stage?
This discussion has been closed.