Howard, Grumpy Pa and Alistair,
We cannot complain about foreign ownership of UK assets when UK companies have massive overseas earnings from their overseas investments, earnings which are taxed in the UK. I believe about 40% of the UK Corporation Tax paid is on foreign earnings.
What we need to ensure is that foreign ownership of UK assets does not lead to the export of the business and with it the taxes and jobs.
Another issue is transfer pricing and licencing arrangements which allow conglomerates to move profits earned in one jurisdiction to be taxed in another low tax regime. Ireland is an example of that in allowing the importing of effectively profits earned elsewhere to be transferred into Ireland and taxed at very low rates, depriving the country in which the economic actively was actually generated to appropriately tax that economic activity. Whilst they are trying to achieve a global universal minimum corporation tax rate, whilst tax havens continue to avoid, we will never raise the appropriate taxes in the area which generates the economic activity to help fund public expenditure and hence growing reliance on borrowing.
Plus get those of a working age and capable of working off their ar*es and doing something, anything to improve our productivity.
The US election is maybe symptomatic of society becoming increasingly detached and more isolated from itself, turning inwards towards same interest groups to the exclusion of the wider population and reducing interaction with more broader and wider ranging outlooks and views. Hence we are seeing more extreme views at all ends of the spectrum gaining momentum and entering into the wider audience of society with greater weight and strength of argument due to the ease of access to social media etc with little or no restriction or control or validation.
It is easier to promulgate more extreme views today than in the past and hence the rise of populist Trump who just tells people what they want to hear and tries to silence the dissenting voice. Trump is just the beginning, it wont stop with him, he has just set the current high tide mark , others will build on that as they undermine the very fabric of democracy.
