Good decisions and bad decisions
In life we all make some good decisions and some bad decisions. Decisions that are right are good; decisions that are wrong are bad. In business I make lots of bad decisions but I hope to make more good decisions than bad decisions.
In the strange world of government, we find that governments do not admit that they make bad decisions from time to time. If they were to admit making a bad decision I expect that they are frightened of being criticised, first for making a bad decision and then for reversing the bad decision because in our society reversing a decision is seen to be even worse than making a bad decision.
Right now the government has got itself into a big hole with its threatened abolition of the 10% tax band for the very low paid, who will now have to pay tax at 20% on all the earnings instead of paying 10% on the first £2,230 of taxable income. It must have sounded like a good idea at the time but in the harsh light of day to cost the lowest earners in the land around £35 a month seems such a ridiculously bad decision it is a wonder how anyone ever thought it a good idea.
The idea was spawned by Gordon Brown and Mr Darling has been given the task of bring it to fruition. Now it is such an obviously a bad idea that it is obvious that the decision should be reversed.
Instead of taking a deep breath, facing a few days criticism in the media and reversing the decision the government regard their own face saving exercise more important than the poor people who will have to pay another £1.20 day in tax. I suppose put like that it might not sound much, but the basic necessities of life, food, and energy are all rising in price and every pound counts.
Rather than admit they have made a bad decision the Government will try to confuse the decision itself as much as possible; they will point to the huge benefits that the low earners have already received under their administration, as though this was somehow a good reason to make the poor pay more tax; they will point to the help that they have given families, as though this requires the poor to finance this help.
So let me make this clear; I do not criticise anyone for making a bad decision – I make enough of them myself almost every day. Making bad decisions has to be forgivable because no one is perfect and to err is, of course, human. Persisting in a bad decision after it has become clear that it is a bad decision is unforgivable.
In business you are usually punished severely for this; in politics and government you only seem to be punished if you actually admit making a mistake, so the bad decisions that punish others unjustly stand for fear of the decision makers being punished for not being perfect decision makers, even though no is a perfect decision maker. Such is the strange world we live in..
Filed under: Alistair Darling, gordon brown, tax | Tagged: 10% tax band, decisions, reversing decisions
The BBC is reporting that the Government have today issued a statement saying that “… the 10p rate change cannot be rectified at this time and may be rectified in the Autumn…” we can quite easily predict what will happen next as a result of this folly which compounds other folly’s of the UK government and other governments around the world. The winter of discontent and the 1973 oil crisis comes to mind., this it seems is the straw that will break the camels back.Gordon Brown should have the helicopter warmed up for his escape to wherever he is planning to escape to, but I wouldn’t recommend Scotland because they don’t very much like him, maybe the Solent fortress or Sealand fortress might be a good place to put him…!
Take home pay lower
+
mortgage interest rate increases (banks refusing to pass on Bank of England Interest rate reduction) +
House prices falling
+
fuel prices increasing
+
food prices increasing
=
strikes
+
riots
+
Hyper inflation
Gordon Brown increased 38K tax limited to 40K, Remember! it is time to fill the hole, where? 10p tax. I will get my team to diggout the stastics to see if the 10p tax = 2k increase, soon.
Before Gordon Brown forced Blair out of door, i quite respected him, e.g. open labour market to foreigners to drive those lazy closed-door countryman to work harder and bring up the nation, made the UK economy go better than US.
However, we all know, u does NOT have loyalty to Blair who was still a leader. How could he be loyal to his country and people. How suppose his followers to be loyal to him. He is NOT a fighter but a real politian. Now, economy going to pear shape. No matter how clever you are, Gordon, you still a human. You need a loyal team with fighting spirit to fix wrong doing for the country and NOT on your own.
Look at the energy threat from Russia, Britain you are NOT in a position to bargain. We have to sort out our renewable energy issues in house and raise the stake and put ourselves in a position to fight. Otherwise, Britain u better shut up otherwise Russia is turning off the tap and give it all to China and India.
Robert, do you think you have done enough for Solar thermal industry and the poor people please, a field you been in for years and years?
do u think the business in renewable sector is the same as normal business which driven by profit?
I do feel you made some bad decision on Genersys product portfolio. Xerox used to make expensive great copier for corperates. After they went nearly bankcrupt, they started to make good low end products for poor people, now their share gone back up. Recently they trying to make color affordable copier for every housewhole. this is just a hint.
In China, the poorest farmer now having solar thermal while the rich having a jet. I met one of the biggest solar thermal manufacturer’s CEO, he promised himself when he was a kid to make all the people of his hometown poor farm village could afford a “luxury” hot shower in winter. He failed to do it by making boiler. but now he realised his dream by the sun. Of course, because of this he is now top 10 richest in China.
Good luck.
There is no point in making a renewable energy product if it is not of high quality and made to last. Too many Chinese evacuted tubes are of poor quality and fail. Replacement in Europe is expensive. Last year we had zero guarantee claims and have received none this year so fra, which is a testament to our qulaity and the quality of our installers.
Germany invented the evacutated tube and now only 8% of domestic installations use them and that figure is declining. there is a good reason for this, and it is not price - you get what you pay for.
We have excellent inexpensive thermosiphon products which caters for the less well off in developing nations.
An environmental approach requires durability, not frequent replacement and this is our philosphy,
If I have made a bad decision the market will tell me but I am very pleased with my decision so far.
Robert
Rob, no doubt, Genersys has good workmanship on its panel that is why it costs. can we do better in cost-effective ratio? any better methodology? Toyota’s just-in-time, and GE’s six sigma?
Because contributing to the environment and generating energy and helping the poor, there is no country boudary. Otherwise, it becomes politics. Also, we should NOT say all the Chinese evacuated tubes are bad. Of course, lots of bad Chinese bad eggs in tubes. We just need to find the good one. same to everywhere.
if people has knowledge about SPF and Solar Keymark tests, and people have visited those manufacturer’s factory and understand their processes in depth, evacuate tube is viable solution.
German Ritter’s tube all from China! Ritter is hitting aggressively in UK’s solar thermal market. That is why they could sell less than 400 pounds for 2 square meter in wholesale. Quality, I do NOT think Dr. Ritter would bet his name on the bad panels!
German Sunda’s tube from China too. Coincidently, we just visited one UK resident in Woking, he installed Sunda’s one 10 years ago, still working perfectly.
When you mentioned Germany, we know Solar thermal overall is declining from ESIF research.
Why NOT mention Spain, it seems evacuated tubes and thermosiphon dominate 80%.
Why NOT mention UK, are you seeing Tube’s growing market share?
We do NOT suggest we should move all the manufacturing to China or India or whatever the labour cost is cheap. but finding a balance remains as the main objective for those industry leaders and politician.