The land under a wind farm doesn't have to be concreted over.  Each turbine needs a concrete pad.  The rest can be grassed over and used to graze sheep or grow crops.

yes, but the bit of immigration Trump is wittering on about, is a very small part of the total, and the total  immigration a very small part of the total problem of supporting a nation with a large fraction of non workers, compared to longevity at one end and unemployed youth at the other.

We are not immune from such distractions, we have Mr Farage over here who is equally fast and loose with  basic arithmetic, especially when it suits his agenda of blaming anyone except folk like himself and deliberately creating a "them" and "us" culture. Sadly a lot of the problems come from the folk in the "us" group.

Mike

Hello Mike:

I guess you were talking about the aging population problem - US families not having children and the updated mortality tables (used to calculate the required minimum pre-tax retirement with drawls) which indicate the longer projected lifetimes for seniors. By the way these tables also show a reduction in expected life times for younger people probably due to excessive deaths from drug use.

The main reason for US families not having children is related to the cost of having kids. At the present time personal debt is a major problem (credit cards etc), even with both parents working full time.

"Wall street" is projecting a bumper years for 2025 but I see major storm clouds ahead due to this personal debt problem.

Peter Brooks

Palm Bay Florida USA

The clouds have arrived Peter.

In the uk male suicide is a major issue.

Housing is unaffordable, wages haven't grown since the 2007/8 bank crisis, debt per capita runs at over 100K.

On top of that we have a near bankrupt country run by idiots who think we can afford net zero and all it's deluded schemes.

I've advised my kids not to reproduce as they'll be the poorest generation since the early 20th century. You may survive this current situation with kids but don't expect anything other than hard graft for the state.

Lovely isn't it.

The problem isn't a few windmills.  If we all went back to driving steam powerd cars burning genuine British coal that wouldn't really solve anything.

Most of the country is owned by a handful of very rich people.  Most of what's left is owned by Baby Boomers, who bought all the housing while it was still cheap*.  And if those same Baby Boomers were lucky enough to get a university education, it was paid for by the state**.  So people are now leaving university with tens of thousands of pounds in debt, and are forced to rent over-priced housing as they can never afford to buy.  Of course, all the council housing has been sold off.

Then many of our businesses are falling into the hands of "venture capitalists", i.e. asset strippers.  A few years ago, if you bought a company, it was because you wanted it to grow into the biggest and best company in its industry.  Now the venture capitalists will buy a company with borrowed money.  Then sack thousands of workers, sell off the assets, and declare a huge dividend.  Then every year, they keep paying more dividends, while the company has to borrow money to keep going.  They may end up selling off what's left of the company, or else it goes bust.  Either way, the venture capitalists don't care because they took out more money from the company than they ever spent buying it.

So our industry is being destroyed by people who only care about what dividends they get this quarter.  Meanwhile, the Chinese are taking over whole industry sectors from under our noses. And that includes batteries, solar power and electric cars.  All the new things replacing old industries.

* I was born right at the end of the baby boom, so of course I have my own house, and the mortgage is paid off.

** When I was at university, the local education authority paid all my tuition fees, and I even got a small grant towards living expenses.

Thanks for that summary from your view.

Chilling as it is.

One does wonder where this all leads?

Hello Jon:

It seems that everyone in the UK  seems to believe that the root cause of the current social/financial problems started in the 2007/8 bank crisis, however I think it goes back to about 1987.

If you are into pop music I draw you attention to The Pet Shop Boys "Actually' Album and the song "SHOPPING" which deals with changing the laws by allowing the  sale of Public Assets - "the big bang in the city"

Peter Brooks

Palm Bay Florida  

Hello Simon:

A major difference between the UK and the US seems to be a lack of interest in the UK for purchasing stock and bonds. Stock and bonds provide  (over time) personal wealth- for ones retirement.

In the UK personal wealth seems to be mainly created by the increase in ones home prices.

Peter Brooks

Palm Bay Florida

A major difference between the UK and the US seems to be a lack of interest in the UK for purchasing stock and bonds. Stock and bonds provide  (over time) personal wealth- for ones retirement.

There's an awful lot of investment in shocks/shares/bonds by UK workers - a few might directly own them directly (especially after the 1980s/90s sell offs), but the most usual route is via a pension schemes (whose operators are hopefully able to keep a closer eye on the investments than most of us could afford the time to do).

   - Andy.

Individuals in the UK tend only to dabble in the stock market, if at all.  Our pension funds are huge, though.  But most invest in a diversified portfolio, much of which isn't in UK shares.  Because UK companies tend to under-perform compared with the global market.

Hello Andy:

Here in the US there is basically a two step process for creating retirement funds.

"Some" companies have pension plans that for every $ dollar one contributes the company adds (say) 10 US cents, up to a maximum per year with full vesting over (say) 5 years. They are placed in mutual funds "not individual stocks or bonds". There are now two two options -- pre tax or post tax.

When one leaves that company it is recommended that this pension fund be converted to an individual retirement fund.

Reason for this is your old company may be sold or go bust - which happened to me twice. 

Then the US has specific tax rules concerning when funds can or must be taken out of these retirement funds.

Mutual funds are hedges against owning poor performing stocks or bonds.

Peter Brooks

Palm Bay FL 

Hello Andy:

Here in the US there is basically a two step process for creating retirement funds.

"Some" companies have pension plans that for every $ dollar one contributes the company adds (say) 10 US cents, up to a maximum per year with full vesting over (say) 5 years. They are placed in mutual funds "not individual stocks or bonds". There are now two two options -- pre tax or post tax.

When one leaves that company it is recommended that this pension fund be converted to an individual retirement fund.

Reason for this is your old company may be sold or go bust - which happened to me twice. 

Then the US has specific tax rules concerning when funds can or must be taken out of these retirement funds.

Mutual funds are hedges against owning poor performing stocks or bonds.

Peter Brooks

Palm Bay FL