Minister of Treasury - Dr Spend - waffle, spin, deflect

[Derek Flint]

9 hours ago, Banker said:

Why did Birmingham have £1.5bn in investments before they went bust ? Absolute bollocks , obviously heard from another disgruntled ex cop!

Well, we will see. It certainly didn't come from an ex cop. I certainly hope that the predictions are incorrect.

And I promise, most of us are anything other than disgruntled. 

[asitis]

16 minutes ago, Derek Flint said:

Well, we will see. It certainly didn't come from an ex cop. I certainly hope that the predictions are incorrect.

And I promise, most of us are anything other than disgruntled. 

I don't know if what Derek says is correct or not. What I do know however is would anyone be surprised if it were ?

[Hmmmm]

1 hour ago, asitis said:

I don't know if what Derek says is correct or not. What I do know however is would anyone be surprised if it were ?

The general apathetic attitude of Allison et al is most annoying.  They really are not concerned and are content to use the reserves on an annual basis.  The sums haven't added up for many a year.

[Numbnuts]

47 minutes ago, Hmmmm said:

The general apathetic attitude of Allison et al is most annoying.  They really are not concerned and are content to use the reserves on an annual basis.  The sums haven't added up for many a year.

Your right and what’s worse in my view successive Governments have done nothing to address it. I think back in Bell’s day he made some noise about reducing head count but think it started rising alarmingly very soon after. Now I’m sure where not getting true figures as lots aren’t included in the head count. 

[Banker]

55 minutes ago, Hmmmm said:

The general apathetic attitude of Allison et al is most annoying.  They really are not concerned and are content to use the reserves on an annual basis.  The sums haven't added up for many a year.

Well the alternatives to keeping public services are cutting public services which guernsey are doing, increasing taxes or increasing borrowing to be paid by higher taxes. Which one would you prefer?

[WTF]

6 minutes ago, Banker said:

Well the alternatives to keeping public services are cutting public services which guernsey are doing, increasing taxes or increasing borrowing to be paid by higher taxes. Which one would you prefer?

you don't need to cut services to cut head count , often it improves services too.

[Banker]

Just now, WTF said:

you don't need to cut services to cut head count , often it improves services too.

So you say ? Perhaps you could produce a plan to cut staff to save £100m pa , maybe give the list of jobs , salaries saved and how services would not be impacted?

[code99]

2 hours ago, asitis said:

I don't know if what Derek says is correct or not. What I do know however is would anyone be surprised if it were ?

Maybe the ‘knowledgeable source’ is none other than a former Minister airing these sorts of ideas outside the proverbial political tent? For example, Chris Thomas was recently speaking on the Manx Radio about the “huge amount of public borrowing”. According to him the public sector has accumulated circa £1b in borrowings. I can see the similarity between this assertion and Brimingham City Council’s indebtedness. However, most of our ‘difficult financial situation’ is that the IOMG is spending £150m annually more than it earns and also that, excluding the NI Fund, the Government has about £600m left in the kitty which it can spend in future years, i.e., a much bigger and more urgent issue. That said, it is a pity that, if Mr Thomas has been thinking that growing indebtedness (and shrinking Reserves) were important issues, that he did not raise these concerns sooner.

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/mhk-seeks-greater-transparency-over-huge-amount-of-public-borrowing/

Edited November 27, 2023 by code99
typo

[Non-Believer]

Peter Karran voiced similar concerns only last week. If this many people in their positions are talking about it then it's likely that there is more than a little cause for concern. But our elected appear to have little influence or control in these matters.

[Derek Flint]

56 minutes ago, code99 said:

Maybe the ‘knowledgeable source’ is none other than a former Minister airing these sorts of ideas outside the proverbial political tent? For example, Chris Thomas was recently speaking on the Manx Radio about the “huge amount of public borrowing”. According to him the public sector has accumulated circa £1b in borrowings. I can see the similarity between this assertion and Brimingham City Council’s indebtedness. However, most of our ‘difficult financial situation’ is that the IOMG is spending £150m annually more than it earns and also that, excluding the NI Fund, the Government has about £600m left in the kitty which it can spend in future years, i.e., a much bigger and more urgent issue. That said, it is a pity that, if Mr Thomas has been thinking that growing indebtedness (and shrinking Reserves) were important issues, that he did not raise these concerns sooner.

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/mhk-seeks-greater-transparency-over-huge-amount-of-public-borrowing/

 

5 minutes ago, Non-Believer said:

Peter Karran voiced similar concerns only last week. If this many people in their positions are talking about it then it's likely that there is more than a little cause for concern. But our elected appear to have little influence or control in these matters.

It was neither of those two, but that sort of serves as corroboration. Its about time questions started to be asked, and the Chief Minister levelled with the GMP

[2112]

17 minutes ago, Derek Flint said:

 

It was neither of those two, but that sort of serves as corroboration. Its about time questions started to be asked, and the Chief Minister levelled with the GMP

Sadly it won’t happen. CM Cannan is more interested in other things, than sorting out the mess, of which he contributed to, as a previous CoMIN member in at least 3 administrations. 

[Moghrey Mie]

2 hours ago, Banker said:

So you say ? Perhaps you could produce a plan to cut staff to save £100m pa , maybe give the list of jobs , salaries saved and how services would not be impacted?

Try asking ChatGBT.

It will give you 12 ways to reduce waste in government.

Edited November 27, 2023 by Moghrey Mie

[Non-Believer]

1 hour ago, Derek Flint said:

 

It was neither of those two, but that sort of serves as corroboration. Its about time questions started to be asked, and the Chief Minister levelled with the GMP

MHKs have expressed concern about Govt headcount and costs, in Tynwald, for at least the last two years. Govt Depts have been provenly disregarding and circumventing headcount control mechanisms for at least 10 years.

Yet only a couple of months ago, the Chief Minister stated that there were no causes for concern in respect of headcount. The question is, who told him that?

[WTF]

14 minutes ago, Non-Believer said:

Yet only a couple of months ago, the Chief Minister stated that there were no causes for concern in respect of headcount. The question is, who told him that?

hairdressers ?

[asitis]

5 hours ago, Banker said:

So you say ? Perhaps you could produce a plan to cut staff to save £100m pa , maybe give the list of jobs , salaries saved and how services would not be impacted?

If we cut half the red tape we have become wedded to over the past few years, we could save staff costs administering the said red tape.

It is no surprise as bureaucrats have bred in numbers so has bureaucracy !