There are more and more job losses being flagged up, more and more people worrying about paying their bills, sme's worrying about cash flow, overdrafts and the like.
Most European and wider macro economies are on the slide,USA is moving to protectionism. And don't think for one minute that what happens globally isn't going eventually to have an effect on us. There are few jobs being notified and more people chasing them- shall I go on.
The One Wales Government are making lots of good noises, but we have seen little happen yet. There are great things happening to create jobs and help people back into jobs. Take a look at some innovative and vibrant social enterprises out there, the CSP Pilots in Blaenau Gwent and Rhyl are doing great work, a lot of sme's I know would love to take on staff, but cannot afford to in this climate. So instead of paying people to be out of work ,could we not look at putting that money to help people work - give it to the sme's toward the cost of their wages.Invest money in those social enterprises that are truly enterprising and sustainable.Get the business support contracts sorted so, those who want to create their own jobs can get on with it (still waiting since April on that one )
May be by looking at very local investment, as well as the major employers, you can actually strengthen the foundations and those are the measure that last. They may not grab headlines but they do make a real difference for not huge sums of investment.
Whats the old adage a strong house needs to built on rock, our economies are on shifting sand.
The other thing that's been on my mind over the past week is - where are the Tories on this. It is strangely silent from them .Don't they see it as important to come out either to back up the government in what they are doing, or to come up with some views policies etc . They are traditionally the party of the private sector, why arr they so shy on solutions or initiatives to help.
May be the internal problems we hear they have, are preoccupying them, or are they so wrapped up in this policy forum they are travelling around on?
May I say to Nick Bourne and David Melding - priorities guys. I guess the AM we would expect to be up on his toes over this ,Alun Cairns, is probably still feeling his way carefully.
Dave on poverty, back to the poor house
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So the Tory leader would have us believe his big idea, the 'big society', is the answer to helping people through the recession. As the Chancellor pointed ou...
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Hi again mam.
It's difficult to know what real help the WAG can do - you do point out that we're living through a global financial meltdown of sorts.
I think a journalist wrote in one of the Welsh papers last week how a "summit" of Welsh polticians and business leaders can never hope to achieve much, especially when it lasts a couple of hours (including time for a buffet). In truth they have very little power to help, anyway.
Maybe all the WAG can do it sit tight til the worst is over, liaise with the treasury to get a good deal for Welsh firms, and offer any additional help that they can.
On the matter of US protectionism … I argued on BBC's Question Time Washington Special that Europeans (and by default the UK/Wales) should wise up to what's coming down the Congressional pipe if the Democrats got control of both the Executive (White House/Presidency) in combination with strong control of both houses of Congress (Senate and House of Representatives) ... that Europeans should be wary of Obama/Pelosi/Reid promises to rewrite the US Federal Tax code to favour US companies who bring back outsourced jobs to the USA, and remove tax breaks from US companies that export jobs out of the USA. I said it twice, that jobs are the top priority. (I'm paraphrasing as I didn't watch the show - BBC America didn't show it).
Now the dust is settling, people back home in Wales are suddenly realizing that jobs are the top priority. There are few things worse for Welsh families than stress brought on by sudden unemployment.
The election is over - it is the habit of Americans to fall behind their new President whatever side of the political spectrum they are on. I'm no different - I fully support my new President.
But at the same time, I don't want to hear it now from those who supported my new President and his party that it is wrong if the USA blocks the multibillion contract for mid-air refueling tankers going to Airbus - people, there is now no way that Airbus (and in particular the Welsh factory that builds Airbus wings) is going to get this work - for starters, it conflicts with the Democratic promise to return US jobs back to the USA, how can the Democrats go against what they have promised to US blue-collar workers? Why change the US Federal tax code to favour importation of jobs and then export jobs to Airbus factory in North Wales? It's NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. This will cost the Welsh economy billions in lost orders.
I flagged this issue several times (“be careful what you wish for”) on several blogs - but no one wanted to hear it. Now it is going to happen people are running around like frightened rabbits scared like they didn't know that the new US government is into job protection when they flagged it over and over again prior to November 4.
Welsh manufacturing is going to be pulverized. Thousands of Welsh and British workers will lose their jobs as US manufacturing companies reduce their exposure to the upcoming changes to the US Federal Tax Code. This is also going to apply to foreign companies based in the USA that pay Federal taxes in the USA. They will be exposed to the new changes to the US Federal Tax Code - and their plants outside the USA will go on short time working, cut agency workers, lay off workers, shut down plants, etc. to reduce their tax exposure in the USA.
Now, it's a case of be wary of what you wishED for ... 'cause now you got what you wishED for. Does anyone realize that it was McCain who got the DOD to reopen the bidding for the mid-air refueler tankers? That's how Airbus won the contract off Boeing, but that's off the table now, Airbus have lost the contract and with it billions in orders - and WORSE, the upcoming replacement of the rest of the mid-air refueler fleet will go to Boeing - Airbus aren't going to stand a chance - can you imagine the American blue-collar workers unions reaction if the DOD give the orders to Airbus in Europe/Wales?
The Auto-workers unions are going to get what they wish for from January of 2009, there will likely be some strings imposed on the big three (Ford, GM and Chrysler), plant closures should be concentrated on plants located outside the USA. Keep in mind that the President-elect has signalled over and over again that he very much in favour of smaller engined cars/automobiles, and wants inefficient SUVs off the road - guess who produces small engined cars (relative to what Americans generally have) - well, Ford in Europe (UK/Wales) ... oh brother - this technology will be moved to the USA to manufacture the new small engine powered Ford 'compact cars' as they are called here.
"All quite logical my dear Watson ..." But for some strange reason very few people in Wales picked up on it. For some weird reason the importance of jobs was forgotten. America is moving away from free open trade - that's what most wished for. Whining about it now is ...
Here is a picture of job losses in Wales and on the island for the last couple of months. It’s interesting to see how many big companies and small businesses closing. If you know of any more job losses that have happened in Wales or the UK in the last couple of months, Please add to the list. As announcements of more job losses come the list will grow. Let’s see what sort of companies and sectors announce the most redundancies and we'll see how this recession is effecting Wales in every day life.
Rolls-Royce 140 defense and aerospace group UK
BAE Systems 200 UK
AstraZeneca 1,400 pharmaceutical company UK
Bosch 250 Miskin
Hoover 337 Merthyr
care home 90 Vale of Glamorgan
Drug factory 20 Ceredigion
Farm machinery 20 Denbigh and Llangefni
Firm
Car plants 50 Rhondda Cynon Taf
Plant
Jane Hodge
respite care to close
centre
Protherics factory 30 Ffostrasol
dumper production 90 Tredegar
Wolseley 2,000 UK
BT 6,000 jobs to go by next spring
Corus, 400 Wales
The Yellow Pages 1,200 UK
Taylor Wimpey 1,000 UK
Trinity Mirror 7 Wales
These are on partiparrypolitcs blog
hey Chanticleer so goo to see you
Chanticleer> actually the ‘solution’ to the Welsh economic problem has been staring the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) in the face for quite a while. Wales needs to be a smart country – even the First Minister Rhodri Morgan recognizes that Wales needs to develop a knowledge-based economy. Wales has a lot of smart people; sadly many of them are forced to leave Wales because of lack of quality jobs in the private sector in Wales.
Meanwhile, Wales is sitting on a goldmine – its universities, and in particular the research labs found in its universities. How much money is spent in Wales to convert Welsh university research into commercial products and services that can be sold the world over? Answer: not a lot. The sad thing is, Welsh universities do a lot of research but patent very little of it. Which might be OK if the Welsh economy as doing very well, but it isn’t. Simple Boolean analysis of Welsh university output in terms of patents verses similar institutions in the USA or in the Far East shows a huge gap.
The ‘business model’ that defines the Welsh economic problem needs fixing. Sadly, the WAG seems incapable of understanding the basic nature of the Welsh economic problem and hence anything WAG comes up with is unlikely to fix the Welsh economy.
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