On Mon, 14 Sep 2015 14:33:17 +0200, Robin9
wrote:

British Leyland died under Thatcher, not before Thatcher.

WELL YEAH! The cheap money dried up and the cancer died. doh!

In the 1970s
the
Government had taken a stake in BL which Thatcher sold off to her
beloved
British Aerospace. I don't recall the financial details but, knowing
Thatcher, I
imagine she sold it for less than its real value, thus cheating the
British people
and rewarding her friends.

The taxpayer was fortunate HMG did not have to pay BAe to take the
crock of its hands.

The fact that the innumerable strikes and stoppages in the 1970s did not
kill
off British industrial companies proves that the underlying strength of
those
companies must have been considerable. It was only after 1979 that these

companies, many of which exported on a large scale, went to the wall.

Trades Unions exist to protect their member's interests, not organize
political strikes and destroy shareholder value.

The
inescapable truth is that British industry could contend with strikes,
three day
weeks and stop/go economic strategies but could not survive the credit
squeeze, high interest rates and high value of the pound that Thatcher
and her dim-witted, uncomprehending Chancellor, Geoffrey Howe brought
in.
It should always be remembered that most of the companies that went
under
during the Thatcher/Howe period were making a theoretical profit.

Theoretical, sure. Stop subsidizing stupidity with cheap money and
the party was over.

They
were
not trading at a loss but they ran out of money. Michael Edwardes, the
boss
of British Leyland, commenting on how high interest rates were killing
British
manufacturing, said it would be better for the U. K. if North Sea oil
was left
under ground!

Thatcher of course ignored him.

The successful can afford to ignore failures like Edwardes.

She needed North Sea oil revenues to
finance
her tax cuts for the rich and unemployment benefits for the growing
number
of people out of work because the now much reduced U. K. economy was not

generating the same tax returns it had in the 1970s. So while Norway
used its
North Sea oil revenues both to finance a huge investment in
infrastructure
and to set aside a future investment fund, our North Sea oil revenues
were
frittered away and at the end of the 1970s one of Thatcher's legacies
was a
country with a crumbling infrastructure.

Norway was fortunate not to have several decades of left wing
infiltration to reverse.

Your comment about subsidising rents is comically relevant to today's
Thatcher created situation where rents are astronomical and have to be
subsidised by the tax payer: about £23 billion this year, I believe.

I note your confession that you did not feel up to buying your property
in the
open market as the rest of us did.

No, inflation always kept a home out of our reach. We knew we could
afford the one we were in if we could but persuade our borough council
to sell it to us.

Instead you waited until Thatcher
flogged
it to you at an enormous discount,

A man does his best for his family. When an opportunity presents
itself only a fool ignores it.

then sold it at a vast profit and
cleared off
to America. An authentic Thatcher idolator!

Ad hominem invective noted. Sad really, because you are more than
capable of marshalling facts and making your case. So, conversation
over.