How the U.K. broke its own economy • Hacker News Board

Re: How the U.K. broke its own economy

#191

Post by giantg2 » Tue, Mar 04, 2025, 2:05 AM UTC

triceratops wrote: post #171

giantg2 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol, they used to mine coal under that very mountain (until it was outsourced). It's not like we have some insular life. The region is economically depressed. People would rather have jobs while destroying the environment than not have jobs while destroying the environment and recreational value simultaneously.

> People would rather have jobs Who do you think puts up windmills and solar panels?

In the case I personally know of, they brought in offshore workers. It also only generates reasonable numbers of jobs during initial construction.

Re: How the U.K. broke its own economy

#192

Post by lenkite » Tue, Mar 04, 2025, 2:06 AM UTC

triceratops wrote: post #168

lenkite wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't these also massive mass bird slayers ? The last I read, over half a million birds were killed (official under-estimate) by wind turbines in UK alone every year

And the Exxon Valdez and the Deepwater Horizon were good for birds? Bringing up bird welfare to oppose wind turbines is bullshit. If people cared about birds or wildlife we wouldn't be in this mess at all.

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Re: How the U.K. broke its own economy

#193

Post by throwaway2037 » Tue, Mar 04, 2025, 2:07 AM UTC

lawgimenez wrote: post #153

olddustytrail wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only idiots think immigration is uncontrolled. Practically all immigration is from government granted visas.

My cousin migrated to UK to work as a nurse because it turns out UK’s hospitals are fucked up. Or, lacking manpower.

Not to take the spotlight away from the UK, but I am pretty sure that all highly developed nations are struggling to find enough nurses amongst their citizens. Even Japan (gasp) has a special programme to help foreigners learn Japanese and immigrate as a skilled nurse.

Re: How the U.K. broke its own economy

#194

Post by lenkite » Tue, Mar 04, 2025, 2:09 AM UTC

cam_l wrote: post #177

lenkite wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't these also massive mass bird slayers ? The last I read, over half a million birds were killed (official under-estimate) by wind turbines in UK alone every year

You are going to freak out when you find out how many birds are killed by buildings generally. But you might want to sit down before i tell you how many are killed by cats.

That number is a heavy under-estimate and deliberately lowered for public consumption. But, you might want to sit down - The real slaughter is well in the millions annually.

Re: How the U.K. broke its own economy

#195

Post by ryan93 » Tue, Mar 04, 2025, 2:11 AM UTC

thrance wrote: post #106

60 years of tories and tory-lites slowly but surely cutting "waste", privatizing, deregulating, pushing for austerity... Let that be a lesson to the US, seeking government efficiency is a non-goal. Good, well-funded public services make productive citizens and a strong economy. Austerity leads to a dead country.

Like 44% of your economy is government spending. lol

Re: How the U.K. broke its own economy

#196

Post by lenkite » Tue, Mar 04, 2025, 2:12 AM UTC

IncreasePosts wrote: post #180

lenkite wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aren't these also massive mass bird slayers ? The last I read, over half a million birds were killed (official under-estimate) by wind turbines in UK alone every year

So, 500,000 birds out of 250,000,000? Aka 0.2% of birds. How many birds do coal power plants or other power sources kill?

Real number is well above that. Everyone involved in bird conservation agrees this number is a fraction only reported for public consumption - real number is well into the millions. You can ask organizations like ABC birds.

Re: How the U.K. broke its own economy

#197

Post by throwaway2037 » Tue, Mar 04, 2025, 2:13 AM UTC

rahimnathwani wrote: post #90

A new report, titled “Foundations,” captures the country’s economic malaise in detail. That 'new' report was discussed here 5 months ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41600388

Wow, this report is savage. Thank you to share. I was no aware of the original report.

Re: How the U.K. broke its own economy

#198

Post by ryan93 » Tue, Mar 04, 2025, 2:13 AM UTC

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #133

BurningFrog wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To some people, everything is still Thatcher's fault, 40 years later.

As one of those people ... it's not so much that everything is (still) Thatcher's fault. Had she not won in 1979, doubtless the UK would be facing a different mix of problems, some the same, some different. But Thatcher set the ball in motion on the tracks it has been on more or less since her first win, and it is those tracks that are the fundamental source of many of the problems in the UK (not all of them, but the…

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Re: How the U.K. broke its own economy

#199

Post by walthamstow » Tue, Mar 04, 2025, 2:15 AM UTC

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #189

ethbr1 wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony about being anti-immigration is that immigration fuels economic growth. - Most developed countries have below-replacement child rates from citizens - Without larger younger, working age generations, social safety nets and productivity investments are difficult to finance - Immigration is the only thing fueling that population growth The real argument should be about rates of cultural assimilation or accultu…

In capitalism, almost everything generates economic growth if you ignore the externalities.

The post you're replying to specifically says we should focus on the externalities of immigration, i.e. cultural assimilation.

Re: How the U.K. broke its own economy

#200

Post by ethbr1 » Tue, Mar 04, 2025, 2:15 AM UTC

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #189

ethbr1 wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony about being anti-immigration is that immigration fuels economic growth. - Most developed countries have below-replacement child rates from citizens - Without larger younger, working age generations, social safety nets and productivity investments are difficult to finance - Immigration is the only thing fueling that population growth The real argument should be about rates of cultural assimilation or accultu…

In capitalism, almost everything generates economic growth if you ignore the externalities.

Fundamentally, only three things generate growth.

   - More resources
   - More people
   - More productivity

Since productivity is generally capped at a given technology level, and resources are finite, it simplifies to people.