Britain may be in 1960s nose dive

[Pat494]

https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/6338725/marks-and-spencer-store-closures-announced-week/

Britain's economic future looks dire to me.
Just about all the once dominant great names like Cadburies, Boots, Jaguar etc. are now foreign owned having been flogged off by the vultures in The City of London. Not a murmur from those unpatriotic idiots in Parliament.

With Brexit coming up. the UK is in deep cr*p imho.
The politicians are flooding the country with immigrants to boost the building industry to make things look better etc. But that won't bring in the bread money for most of us.

 

[FXX]

Flogged off because our politicians can't be bothered to protect our businesses. Once we leave I assume that will change and we will become more protective of our IP

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[kalott]

you should have kept the colonies :smart:

"At its height this was the first genuinely global empire. At various points the British Empire controlled Canada and her dominions in the north, huge swathes of Africa in the south, Australia and New Zealand to the east and the American colonies to the west."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zcnmtfr

 

[Pat494]

you should have kept the colonies :smart:

"At its height this was the first genuinely global empire. At various points the British Empire controlled Canada and her dominions in the north, huge swathes of Africa in the south, Australia and New Zealand to the east and the American colonies to the west."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zcnmtfr

I guess you are having me on a bit ?
Unfortunately the local politicians driven by greed and power broke away.Oh well it was a well meant try to improve other people's situation a bit.
Now we have a Commonwealth which seems to be mainly the British taxpayers forking out to ex colonies for their health, education etc.

 

[tomorton]

What is the overwhelming economic case that foreign ownership of companies is a negative for the UK economy?

 

[FXX]

What is the overwhelming economic case that foreign ownership of companies is a negative for the UK economy?

IP

So here is one example. China have recently mounted magnetic railguns on their ships. America was ahead in this and China didn't have the semiconductor IP to achieve it. They bought out a UK semiconductor company and are now using their tech in the railguns.

So if we kept the company out of China hands we could have generated more cash inflows by selling the semiconductors to them instead.

Just one of many examples



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[Pat494]

What is the overwhelming economic case that foreign ownership of companies is a negative for the UK economy?

I think you will find that the new owners, for instance of Cadburies, are just init for the money. They broke their promises of keeping local factories open within weeks of taking over. Most of the top jobs are taken by foreigners.
A world leading edge company like Arm Holdings has been moved overseas. British youngsters will find it difficult to join them.

No doubt the financial vultures are eyeing up the next best British companies to make their millions out of.


One can't keep flogging off one's best talent and hope to remain competitive.

 

[FXX]

I think you will find that the new owners, for instance of Cadburies, are just init for the money. They broke their promises of keeping local factories open within weeks of taking over. Most of the top jobs are taken by foreigners.
A world leading edge company like Arm Holdings has been moved overseas. British youngsters will find it difficult to join them.

No doubt the financial vultures are eyeing up the next best British companies to make their millions out of.


One can't keep flogging off one's best talent and hope to remain competitive.

This is why Trump is being so hard on China because they have been doing the same thing to the disadvantage of the USA.

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[malaguti]

I think you will find that the new owners, for instance of Cadburies, are just init for the money. They broke their promises of keeping local factories open within weeks of taking over. Most of the top jobs are taken by foreigners.
A world leading edge company like Arm Holdings has been moved overseas. British youngsters will find it difficult to join them.

No doubt the financial vultures are eyeing up the next best British companies to make their millions out of.


One can't keep flogging off one's best talent and hope to remain competitive.

no way, the owners of a company are in it for the money, jeez that's disgraceful
what the f*** is this world coming to

 

[Pat494]

That is why business is so criticised for their selfish greed and uncaring of social justice unless forced by law.
It is hard for the poor to stomach the excesses of the rich. The French and Russian revolutions are the end result of such gross inequity.

The British elite were always careful not to push the poor into open revolt. The crumbs trickling down were always just enough to keep most of the poor harmless.

Not many here were alive in the 1960s but the economic situation was bad then with so many strikes etc. The UK was made to realize they were no longer a super power. The US is going through much the same situation these days. Trump is trying to stem the collapse with tariffs. The US can't or won't compete with Asia and is throwing in the towel.

 

[tomorton]

IP

So here is one example. China have recently mounted magnetic railguns on their ships. America was ahead in this and China didn't have the semiconductor IP to achieve it. They bought out a UK semiconductor company and are now using their tech in the railguns.

So if we kept the company out of China hands we could have generated more cash inflows by selling the semiconductors to them instead.

Just one of many examples



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But the company had the option to do that themselves and clearly decided the Chinese offer was best. And UK investors and companies in the same sector could have bought them out, but clearly, they didn't think it was worth the money or they couldn't raise the money.

Anyway, the UK owners of former company now have a mountain of cash to invest, and hopefully this will be in the UK, as they had already previously decided this was the best place for their base of said company.

What you say could be right but what I say could be right. Either way, there is no overwhelming economic reason here to oppose foreign take-over.

 

[tomorton]

I think you will find that the new owners, for instance of Cadburies, are just init for the money. They broke their promises of keeping local factories open within weeks of taking over. Most of the top jobs are taken by foreigners.
A world leading edge company like Arm Holdings has been moved overseas. British youngsters will find it difficult to join them.

No doubt the financial vultures are eyeing up the next best British companies to make their millions out of.


One can't keep flogging off one's best talent and hope to remain competitive.

Obviously they want the money, that's business. And if a critical financial analysis proves that the firm has no profitable future in the UK, then the sooner it goes the better. So a company on a downward spiral goes, and the cash paid to its owner can be used to support or start up another UK company. The money just goes round and round.

When you say British youngsters will find it hard to get jobs with a top tech company by moving abroad, I also hear that that is precisely what talented UK youngsters are doing. You can't both be right.

 

[tomorton]

That is why business is so criticised for their selfish greed and uncaring of social justice unless forced by law.
It is hard for the poor to stomach the excesses of the rich. The French and Russian revolutions are the end result of such gross inequity.

The British elite were always careful not to push the poor into open revolt. The crumbs trickling down were always just enough to keep most of the poor harmless.

Not many here were alive in the 1960s but the economic situation was bad then with so many strikes etc. The UK was made to realize they were no longer a super power. The US is going through much the same situation these days. Trump is trying to stem the collapse with tariffs. The US can't or won't compete with Asia and is throwing in the towel.

You might keep on subject.

The appalling UK economic situation of the past was not as bad as it was because foreign companies could take over British ones. In fact, that was quite a rare occurrence in those days. So what is your point?

 

[FXX]

But the company had the option to do that themselves and clearly decided the Chinese offer was best. And UK investors and companies in the same sector could have bought them out, but clearly, they didn't think it was worth the money or they couldn't raise the money.

Anyway, the UK owners of former company now have a mountain of cash to invest, and hopefully this will be in the UK, as they had already previously decided this was the best place for their base of said company.

What you say could be right but what I say could be right. Either way, there is no overwhelming economic reason here to oppose foreign take-over.

The point is intellectual property created I the UK is being sold to other countries. I am all for a free market but when it comes to a competitive edge the government needs to introduce policy to protect that. Nothing stopping another UK company from buying them but unfortunately, these other countries dangle tantalising rewards for selling out.

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[Pat494]

Not a great fan of Trump but he is sensible to try and protect the country's intellectual property. The old Patent Office rules may well need updating too.

Our politicians hopefully will wake up.

The economic model needs updating too.

 

[tomorton]

The point is intellectual property created I the UK is being sold to other countries. I am all for a free market but when it comes to a competitive edge the government needs to introduce policy to protect that. Nothing stopping another UK company from buying them but unfortunately, these other countries dangle tantalising rewards for selling out.

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It's just another commodity. Where is the harm that this freedom to sell to a foreign buyer has led to?

I could just as easily propose that many UK companies founded on tech ideas would not have even been started up in the first place if there was no prospect of selling out later to the highest bidder - including foreign buyers.

So, where is the overwhelming economic evidence for controlling foreign acquisitions of UK companies?

 

[tomorton]

Not a great fan of Trump but he is sensible to try and protect the country's intellectual property. The old Patent Office rules may well need updating too.

Our politicians hopefully will wake up.

The economic model needs updating too.

Where is the economic evidence that Trump is listening to?

It seems equally credible that he is just another say-anything, promise-anything politician who would do absolutely anything conceivable to maintain power. As long as someone else faces the consequences.

 

[Signalcalc]

no way, the owners of a company are in it for the money, jeez that's disgraceful
what the f*** is this world coming to

Worse than that, Cadbury's new owners also broke their promise not to change the chocolate recipe, now we have a sickly sweet American tasting Cadbury rather than a sickly sweet British tasting Cadbury.

It was bad enough when they changed the name of a Marathon to Snickers or Opal Fruits to Starburst, there is no end to their Totalitarism.

 

[malaguti]

Worse than that, Cadbury's new owners also broke their promise not to change the chocolate recipe, now we have a sickly sweet American tasting Cadbury rather than a sickly sweet British tasting Cadbury.

It was bad enough when they changed the name of a Marathon to Snickers or Opal Fruits to Starburst, there is no end to their Totalitarism.

man, if i wasn't such a fat lard-ass from eating all their chocolate i'd go on strike, probably by sitting in my Jaguar outside the Solihull plant waving my snickers at the city (of birmingham) big wigs and all their venture capitalism

 

[tomorton]

The point is intellectual property created I the UK is being sold to other countries. I am all for a free market but when it comes to a competitive edge the government needs to introduce policy to protect that. Nothing stopping another UK company from buying them but unfortunately, these other countries dangle tantalising rewards for selling out.

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What is the economic evidence, where was the economic harm done to the UK? Maybe the foreign governments that subsidise their acquisitive multi-nationals are actually throwing money away for a political gain?