Which union would that be? The CBI?

Let's be honest, what's happening in Redcar is symptomatic of the general failure of free market capitalism and of the Conservative's commitment to anywhere outside of their constituencies. Frankly, they're not interested. With the current electoral system they don't have to bother with anywhere like that. They can keep pumping money into where their MPs are. The corporate financiers that fund the Tories get their billions of profit from all over the world. They won't lose sleep overnight about the plight of thousands in the north of England. The only thing that stops the whole thing collapsing is your average small and mid sized business entrepreneurs who continue to seek opportunity in the UK. They're the people that put money into local economies and bring it in from overseas. Your average multinational, as we know, minimises its tax liability (to the point of avoidance) and sucks money from local economies into various financial institutions, which do the same.

Only the other week I was reading about Comet and how the venture capitalists that bought it paid £2. When it was liquidated, the workers had to get taxpayers money to pay them redundancy (statutory I believe not enhanced company terms) whilst the venture capitalists got £114m from it.

The workers got some back of the monies they and the previous company had put in i.e. employees/employers NI one of the reasons NI is set at such a high level!! is your £114m (50m given by Kesa to cover insurance claims + 64m recovered from the admin) net of the £74m HAL wrote off?

Hmm' they should just tug their forelocks whilst others made a killing for doing nothing.

If what Redcar produces cannot be sold, is it being argued that "the taxpayer" should pay for the pointless production? For how long? How do we know their will ever be a profitable market for the production? Wouldn't it be better to put resources into something more economically viable that could enhance people's living standards? We've lost millions of jobs in primary and secondary industries over the last 60+ years but have more people employed than ever. A lot may not be in highly paid jobs, but they never were - most jobs though being less dirty and dangerous than those they replaced.

We don't have a free market. We have a system of crony capitalism, that's geared towards big government, and big business.

Maybe the workers at Redcar could have accepted a wage reduction, short weeks etc. They have simply priced the business out of production via wage and other demands, surely?

yeh right, which directors/owners/shareholders were prepared to take a cut?.

Why is it the right wing say improve your lot in life and income, but when others do they whinge and whine?

Why are bad business decisions and management the fault of the "workers"?

Whatever happens someone will make a killing from this closure, but I'll bet it wont be any of the "workers" who actually created the wealth of the business.

utter rhubarb, the workers were given an opportunity to earn via someone else taking a risk. it's about time "the workers" remembered what they are there to do, WORK.

This is not a failure of free market capitalism. It is the knock on effect of the slow down world trade led by China that has caused a collapse in global steel prices which are kept down by state intervention mainly in Communist China. Furthermore what has been the final straw is the higher costs of electricity incurred by UK companies because of the nonsense green policies of successive governments which has seen a much higher cost of UK electricity due to climate change policies.

So it is not a level playing field.

You should be happy, Greed is still winning!

why don't you invest your considerable personal wealth and give all these poor mites jobs making something for above the cost that people are willing to buy it for...

Why are you so bitter about some being wealthy?? Its always going to be that way. I couldn't careless if the manager is earning millions if he provides thousands of others with jobs. Thats the way of the world. Become the manager

That's pretty lame even for you



The fact UK workers are losing jobs because of actions of another regime - the policies of which you aspire to is pretty ironic really

In your green world you equate greed with capitalism because for you it is a lazy way to try and justify your leftie views. You make an unproven statement and then keep referring to it as if it is true and then use it as a base for your other odd comments. You are unable to form an argument and keep posting one line negatives with graphics instead of words.

It you were not so one eyed you would see clearly that greed is a human failing which affects all of humanity to some degree. Greed of course can be found in people from all political persuasions left and right and in both business and state run public institutions. Of course greed will be found in Capitalism but it was/is never more rampant than the corrupt and bankrupt communist block of old or the socialist run disasters like Venezuela.

don't be silly (and wire-quin, I think your quote mixed me up with Leaguefan, which is a situation I'd never find comfort in)

Some people create opportunity for the less fortunate, and I will go as far to say, intelligent, to exploit.

Does Leagugefan have a problem with Honda, Audi, BMW, Tetleys, no, Leaguefan is a symptom of the demise of UK endeavour "I want to work, but I want big money and for someone else to pay me for it, whilst I actually sit on my backside and do nothing"

If you don't like it, DO SOMETHING TO CHANGE IT.

I do, but then there are people who post on forums who are struggling with thinking. It's a slow process but even then worth it.

Too many posters are comfortable with their " lot", fine, but cannot grasp that perhaps they are not as open minded as they portray themselves.

There is a reason for that as well, but I will let those who can work it out for themselves, if they can be bothered.

Like work together with others to try and improve their working lives?

Or take the bull by the horns and rely on themselves to make a difference for themselves and possibly some others?

not my responsibility, I am firmly a greedy capitalist, if others cannot be bothered to get off their backsides and achieve then that is up to them.

Do you also find self loathing therapeutic as well as despising individuals less fortunate than yourself?

You mean running their own business?

You said people should get off their backsides and do something to change their situation.
Does that include working together with others to improve many peoples working lives?

Where is the like button?

The thing is, if all these people "got off their backsides, and achieved" then the world would essentially grind to a halt. Who would stack the shelves in the supermarket? Who would load the luggage on to the planes at the airport? Who would process the invoices for all the "achievers"?
What would happen if developing commodity exporting countries, and the workers within those countries working for peanuts because they don't feel they have another choice suddenly realised that they're being bent over, and actually started charging a more appropriate price for their labour, commodities?

The fact is, big business needs a significant amount of unskilled labour to pick from to exploit. It needs a high level of poverty, and corruption in developing countries to keep their import costs down.
Governments need people on welfare to buy votes. Big business needs government, to be able the pass legislation that favours their interests.
There're are definitely people in society who are parasites, and exploit the system, but many of those people are the ones who designed the system in the first place.