Categories: uncategorized
Date: 26 August 2008 20:11:14
What do you do when your government runs out of money? How do you help the economy out of a recession?
If you are the UK government then you have your MP's start pressing for a Windfall Tax on the over profitable energy companies. I mean with them raising prices by up to 29% and still making monster profits who's going to care? How about the taxpayers/customers who'll foot the bill?
The idea is that Robin Hood (the government) will rob the evil barons (energy companies) and give the money to the poor. Thus they will be seen to be heroes in the eyes of all.
They will take the excess profits and give them to those people in "fuel poverty". However no one seems to be able to provide any figures on how much will be taken, who will get it and how much the government will salt away.
What the government don't say is that much of our current household fuel increase is down to the energy companies not building sufficient storage facilities to store gas/oil in the summer, when prices are lower, but have to buy on the open market as prices increase.
We also need to remember that many of them hedge their supplies against future increases; this is part of the reason for the commodity markets. They make money by selling the energy they discover, they make money on the energy they sell and make money by trading on the futures market.
Maybe it doesn't help that much of our energy industry is owned by foregin energy companies. They appear to be able to build storage facilities at home and buy cheaper fuel there than here.
We need a regulator who will actually have the necessary teeth to control our energy suppliers and a government that is able to assemble a conhesive energy policy that sees a reduction in fossil fuel and investment in alternatives - that may even mean a greater investment in nuclear.
We have to be open enough to look at all the possible alternatives. New coal and gas power stations are not the answer.
History Today:
1346: Edward III, claimant to the French throne, crushes the army of Philip VI of France at Crechy. This is where the longbow is first used as an offense weapon. It also sees the start of the decline of mounted knights in European warefare and the rise of England as a world power.
1789: Those dasterdly French revolutionaries adopt the Declaration of the Rights of Man. Great ideals often forgotten or ignored.
1883: Sees the start of 2 days of continuous eruptions on the island of Krakatoa. Tidal waves kill an estimatted 35000 and leave most of the island inhabitable - not even a reality TV show remained.
1914: The Germans rout the advancing Russians at the Battle of Tannenburg. Russia never really recovers after this.
1920: The US Senate ratifies the 19th Amendment - giving women the vote. No wonder the world's in such a mess.
1936: The BBC transmits the first high-definition TV pictures. More than 7000 people queue at the Olympia Radio Show to see the pictures being beamed onto local TV sets from Alexandra Palace.
1959: Austin and Morris launch the Mini - British icon.
1978: Pope John Paul I is elected post. 33 days later he's dead - maybe it was Dan Brown and the Illuminati.