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British pound hits record low against the dollar

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Re: British pound hits record low against the dollar

#181

Post by DanBC »

echelon wrote: post #95
chanc3e wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nearly all A&E (ER) rooms are managed by the NHS. Private ones are few and far between so it’s likely that a tourist with insurance will end up in a standard A&E - which can have very long wait times[1]. The NHS is also using private clinics to help clear backlogs - so even private insurance can lead to a long time to see a consultant. Ambulances also do not have good response times. [1] https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/…

I hate to chime in with an ask, but does someone have a good read on healthcare in developed nations and mind commenting? I always hear and read complaints that the US doesn't have a single player public option for health insurance, and that it makes our country one of the worst. Other nations with "good health care" seem to pay their workers less, have higher taxes, have long wait times at the ER, weak militaries, e…

> Other nations with "good health care" seem to [...] have long wait times at the ER,

How are you measuring wait times? How are you defining Emergency Departments?

In England there's a 4 hour target for people to be seen, treated and then discharged (or for a decision to admit to be made). Currently the English NHS is meeting that target for 75% of all attendances. This has declined from a 95% rate a few years ago, and it's seen as a massive problem.

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas...

Re: British pound hits record low against the dollar

#182

Post by nopinkglasses »

411111111111111 wrote: post #101
echelon wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to chime in with an ask, but does someone have a good read on healthcare in developed nations and mind commenting? I always hear and read complaints that the US doesn't have a single player public option for health insurance, and that it makes our country one of the worst. Other nations with "good health care" seem to pay their workers less, have higher taxes, have long wait times at the ER, weak militaries, e…

I think a lot of people aren't aware how greed as reduced the previously decently run healthcare systems in a lot of places. Germany for example had pretty decent healthcare 10 yrs ago, then a few regulations were passed and it's been doing downhill at a staggering pace. Nowadays hospitals prefer amputations over simple treatments in diabetes cases as a pretty well known example, as it's me profitable.

And let's not even start about their 2-speed healthcare system, where the privately insured can get immediate specialist appointments while the pleb can join the back of the queue on the 6 month waiting list. Oh, the privately insured also get access to the hospital department head, and private rooms with a second bed in case relatives need to sleep over.

Re: British pound hits record low against the dollar

#183

Post by nopinkglasses »

Semaphor wrote: post #83
nyokodo wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> intentionally cutting themselves out of a massive common market probably isn't helping much. My understanding is that they never intended to leave the common market but to gain a trade deal that would leave market access substantially the same. However, the EU wouldn’t let them keep access in the divorce if for no reason other than as a cautionary tale for other member states. So, it turned ugly and there they are.

My understanding is, that they didn’t want to keep all those laws that would be required for a trade-deal. They wanted their sovereignty.

The number of laws and regulation have _increased_ in the UK since leaving the EU, not _decreased_.

Re: British pound hits record low against the dollar

#184

Post by lottin »

plasticchris wrote: post #164
lottin wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having a weak currency means you're selling cheap and buying expensive, so it's not clear how it benefits you. It certainly benefits everyone else.

Pay your workers in cheap local currency, sell in strong foreign currency.

So how does a cheap currency benefit Germany according to this theory?

Another thing is that if production costs go down (although you don't say why they're going down, it seems a random assumption on your part), then competition among exporters will drive the price of exports down. I mean, this is Economics 101.

Re: British pound hits record low against the dollar

#185

Post by [deleted] »

dmichulke wrote: post #131
random_kris wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well the northern European will blame southern for not being frugal enough. But this is the same as drug dealer saying their dead customer was not responsible enough. Yeah it true, but some people just are not responsible for their own actions and the dealer was happily benefiting all the time from him

Well, this! Except that the dead customer still owes 590 billion to (mostly) the drug dealer mentioned above and won't be able to pay it. And the goods delivered were not drugs but things that usually don't alter your way of thinking (like cars, machines, ...), even less if we're talking about a group of people (like the government or a country of 60mn people) Oh and there was also trading (i.e. delivering goods back…

[deleted]

Re: British pound hits record low against the dollar

#186

Post by I-M-S »

malermeister wrote: post #141
nyokodo wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No other country or state structure in the world allows its constituent members to carve out only the bits that they themselves like The EU more or less does exactly that with Norway, a non-EU country with common market access and freedom of movement etc. That was the model I recall being promoted for a UK/EU relationship. They never intended to leave the common market or eschew all regulatory commonality.

The UK was offered a Norway-style deal, where they kept market access in exchange for following EU rules. They refused, because that would effectively mean they still have to follow all the same rules, but now without any say in how they're decided. But turns out you can't just demand all the benefits of a club without following any of the obligations and now the UK is where it is. People were being sold a lie and th…

Precisely. The UK probably had the best status with the most privileges in the EU, and even that wasn't enough.

Re: British pound hits record low against the dollar

#187

Post by I-M-S »

rsynnott wrote: post #176
eloff wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So almost 10% drop relative to the Euro in addition to both of them falling against the dollar. I wonder what's behind that particular weakness for the pound.

Brexit plus a completely bonkers set of tax cuts. The UK will vastly increase borrowing, to give a tax cut to high income people. The markets are unimpressed.

I'll admit I thought this was the kind of thing that impressed the markets? (or at least the people who make the market turn the way it does)

Re: British pound hits record low against the dollar

#188

Post by nairboon »

djbusby wrote: post #44
cavisne wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the perception/meme that krugman is always wrong as exactly the wrong time (a similar meme exists for Cramer).

It's Jim Cramer from CNBC (USA media) for those out of the loop.

Yes, sell whatever Cramer tells you to buy, to make bank.

Re: British pound hits record low against the dollar

#189

Post by notacoward »

currenciessfe wrote: post #94
spaceman_2020 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Paul Krugman is probably the most consistently wrong popular economist I can think of.

They are all wrong. You just never heard of them. Taleb loves making fun of economists. One of his jokes: Trader comes to manager and told him he lost 10 mil because he bought treasuries since the bank economist said they would go up. Manager fires him. Trader asks why, is he required to always win? Manager says no, I didn't fire you because you lost money, I fired you because you listened to the bank economist.

Taleb is in a poor position to be making fun of others' predictions.

Re: British pound hits record low against the dollar

#190

Post by mcv »

foldr wrote: post #151
echelon wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to chime in with an ask, but does someone have a good read on healthcare in developed nations and mind commenting? I always hear and read complaints that the US doesn't have a single player public option for health insurance, and that it makes our country one of the worst. Other nations with "good health care" seem to pay their workers less, have higher taxes, have long wait times at the ER, weak militaries, e…

>have higher taxes It bears repeating for the zillionth time that the US spends more public money on healthcare as a proportion of GDP than the UK.

They even spend about as much specifically on socialised medicine as the UK. They just don't receive the benefits of it.
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