The economy is stable, better than it has been for a decade when it was bad under Labour and interest rates were high and unemployment was high and migration levels were ridiculous when they opened the borders up for workers from Eastern Europe. Many have now made their money and gone back now. The tax credit debate is a hot one because although it is necessary the timing is bad. The problem is there are lots of people who abuse the system, so if people do work they get less. That is up to the employers and the jobs they do to pay them a fair wage too though. There are many people who live off benefits (both native and migrants) so it's their actions that affect those who work part-time, as they must implement a law for all. You only have to look at the reality documentaries where they show the people living off welfare and they admit they would rather do that and get more than going to work. That's all wrong, why should someone on benefits get more than a person that works?
I do agree with the benefits things. I mean there are many perfectly able people who abuse the system just because they can and are completely lazy, but it is a sad fact that many normal looking people on the outside but suffer many problems on the inside are lumped into this category to. I do also agree that the country's deficit needs to come down but I just think there are other ways to do it. I mean the government have hammered benefits and public services enough, there needs to be other ways of looking at it.
Economy in the U.K., well, it looks like the economy of a Western European country. Don't search too much. It is much like comparing the economy of New Jersey vs. Texas. Yes, it's different, but not that much. For example, if you look at the FTSE 100 vs. IBEX 35 last month, the charts are close. Not exactly the same, but really close. It means these both countries (Spain & UK) are affected the same way for markets regarding to global events. About local events, well, I would call the China deal with UK a bad news and a kind of alarm. US did the right choice to not count too much on Asia and that's why it is resilient to the China's slowdown, compared to other countries. Don't get me wrong, U.S. is affected by China's slowdown, but indirectly.
As the UK is not in the Euro it still gets affected by it, but not as badly. Because there is a strong anti-EU stance, the UK does fight more for economic control and freedom. The fact the UK contributes so much to the EU and gets little else back shows it is not a good investment, propping up the smaller new states and funding Germany and France's EU project. It could be better here, but the governments have had to deal with paying for migrants benefits, the cost of translators in public services and it has burdened the services such as schools and the NHS. If there had been stricter regulations (Blair's fault) then we would not be struggling as much and have to make cuts and regulations about healthcare. Basically people were coming over from Europe to use the NHS and then leaving without contributing a penny in taxes, so you can imagine the financial burden that has created. The same for benefits, people would come over and claim for children that weren't even in the country, take the money and go.
Why would the China and UK business deal be bad news and alarm? If anything I would have thought it would have been a little bit of a boost for both nations. Not much but at least a slight boost.
You mentioned the various TV shows that are around at the moment, and in my opinion they're certainly not helping the situation. For the TV companies, they're a cheap way to make a show, just sticking a camera man with a family for example and its done, no actors or real production involved. What it is doing though is dividing people across the country. I'm sure we are all aware of certain people where we live that take advantage of the system, and while we might not agree with it, what they do doesn't impact on our life. It's only when you actually watch shows like that though, that you start to get angry. Those shows though aren't a true reflection of the people that are on benefits, they're the worst case people, the ones that will cause debate and make people keep tuning in, and the ratings are all the TV channels care about.
These shows don't help, but these people do exist. Also I used to do a lot of on the street market research for councils ad hoc and I would discover some horrifying things. That people would advise on how to jump through the benefits loopholes, especially if they were migrants as there was no paperwork for them to refer to. I have also interviewed people who had no intention of getting off benefits and also had more children to get a bigger house. Th sad thing is it does impact other families, but more the single parent family, however the benefits system wasn't designed for this. More people are single parents out of choice, and I'm sorry but if you can't afford to have a child, then don't expect the government to pay. Sadly this is the attitude of many young (and not bright girls) who do get pregnant to get a home. I met one girl I worked with who never married but had three children with three different men. She told me all on her estate did this to get a flat and there is no sign of the fathers.
