Are Europeans 'pathetic European free loaders'?

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WhatsApp chat released today from the US calling Europeans 'pathetic European free-loaders'.

One of our closest allies! What about support from European countries after September 11th?

AIBU to expect more professional language?

Brexit is going great, just like there were no war plans discussed during Signalgate

Effectively, ‘European “ incudes the UK, as far as US is concerned.

@Clavinova "The economy was doing quite well when Labour took office"

Is 0.6% growth doing quite well?

You seem to be quite desperate to find and quote evidence that supports your position.

Hey shucks, you might be right about all of this, and I might be wrong. But I truly don't think so.

Peace.

Have You missed the news headlines that point out that our benefits bill will be unfundable in a few years if we continue as we are. That one in five of new cars is motability - we get no vat on mutability cars as it’s a sort of charity - this figure makes us the laughing stock of the world.

The hole was already firmly there and growing by the time Reeves got her position.

Now Labour need to stop being such cowards and take us back into the Single Market sharpish. Business is flatlining. Where is the money going to come from for extra defence expenditure? There is no other way. The alternative would be to become a US colony.

How ridiculous!!

We are not going back inti a failing, stagnant single market are we!

The lack of aspiration, ambition and outright backwards thinking is worrying on here. The emerging markets (India and Asia for example) is where the UK now needs to go. The US is a super power, and of course a deal with them will be far more valuable to the UK than the single bloody market!

Do you know anything at all another finance and economics?

The black hole became much bigger the second Reeves clobbered businesses with more costs! She is totally out of her depth, and I doubt Labour have anyone to replace her with from their woefully inadequate party.

We are in serious trouble.

I don’t know if she’s out of her depth - am sure she will have many advisers. The problem is the promise not to raise income taxes.
If she’d raised income tax a small amount for all there would be less pearl clutching about benefit cuts. If we all were contributing we’d be less generous to others. As is is just some are being hit. Unfortunately a lot of millionaires who are off to Dubai, USA.

My earlier point was simply stating a fact. She inherited a big hole. There are many things I would have done differently in the budget but that was not the point here, Jesus!

Re the 'stagnant single market': our international trade is not booming because we replaced seamless trading of goods and services with LOADS of costly red tape! Do YOU know anything about economics? Or are you one of those who thinks tariffs are good? Ms Thatcher would be turning in her grave. Also, trade is not booming - or really not enough - with those countries you mentioned. Brexit is OBVIOUSLY fucking not working!

Second, it's about culture and lifestyle. We are Europeans. We are more compatible with liberal democracies in Western Europe, Canada and ANZ (who are looking for closer ties with the EU). The rest of the West needs to band together. Heartbroken about the US turning its back on that at the moment.

You keep dreaming of your British Empire 2.0 and we'll get eaten alive.
Do you know anything about human rights, labour laws? How it's good to have a measure of fairness in society because otherwise all you get is downtrodden masses in poverty and an elite. We had a middle class, it's under threat. You'll miss it when it's gone.

As an aside, finance and economics may be linked but are in fact two different things. I've often met people who work in finance coming out with stupid arrogant statements and zero understanding of how economics work.

The US wanted the respect, the power and the influence and as a result had more control through $$.
Now they resent the $$ - fine, but give everyone a minute to adjust. I think we SHOULD be as separate as possible, and always have. so they can sod off but not sure they realise that influence and ‘respect’ leaves with the money.

You may not have noticed, but it is who turn up to vote that makes the impact - not those who can't be arsed. By your method neither Trump nor Harris won the election - over 90million US voters didn't vote, which is more than either polled. You cannot "call" a vote on the potential way in which people who didn't vote might have voted.

Not this nonsense again:

1. Who counts is who could be bothered to turn up to vote.

2. By this same logic the Remain voter was even less than 37%.

Lobby for a new referendum but stop whining that you could not get enough people to vote Remain. No matter how you cut it they were fewer in number than Leave voters.

Now you're learning.

The people who do not turn up to vote have to accept the decision of those that did.

Now we all know that for parliamentary elections (except Reform. But they are a lost cause to sanity). Hence the system creaks along.

However, use the same system for something as fucking stupid as "Yes/No" and then do not be surprised or upset when the people who didn't vote push back. Which is exactly what happened in the UK since 2016.

People who could not be arsed to vote but then throw a tantrum over the result should be mocked.

I’ve more sympathy for those who didn’t vote because they didn’t have a clue what the hell they were actually voting for though. Well, tbh a lot of people who did vote didn’t know what they were voting for either, unless it was for the status quo.

It was a shitshow, the scope was never clearly defined by the government because they didn’t expect the vote not to be remain. Arrogant stupidity. Such a big change - stripping me and my children of our European citizenship ffs, apart from the social and economic consequences - should have required active buyin. I think that’s one of the reasons why such major changes usually require two thirds majorities of the vote.

Dismanteling the EU is part of P2025

One could equally argue that anyone with such poor grasp of trade and economics as to vote for Brexit should be mocked - but given the Brexit vote was strongly associated with “the old, the poor and the uneducated” as one Brexit campaigner put it - but that wouldn’t be kind would it?

@Longsummerdays25 I won’t argue with what you will inevitably post in response but this is utter baloney- may be the case if you are in finance or similar- certain goods and services have particular markets due to cultural factors- the US overall is not a bigger market than the EU for most British companies- in ours its3% of business- EU is 35% . The fact is we could always trade with those other places anyway ‘if ‘ you had a market - you tend to use a distributor if it’s decent sized market. there seems to be some kind of thing floated around amongst Brexiters that we couldn’t trade elsewhere- and it was ‘either/or’ — this is complete poppycock- indeed for US we had an arrangement as part of EU that goods under certain values were exempt from charges - very useful for our mail order side.
im quite happy to take that ‘stagnant’ single market given that 20% of our sales are to Germany and France-

and you are making big presumptions that many had any idea trade wise of what they were voting for- im originally from a midlands mining town-here’s selection of nuggets that came up when I went back to see friends/family post referendum

1. I just wanted middle class people to struggle more as life’s a bit shit here ( sat in his fully paid off house at 41 )

2 didn’t like Cameron- just wanted to give him and the gvt a kicking- 3 too many ‘pakis’ (sic) we need to get rid of a few’ - quite ironic too in a town that has very few non white immigrants 4 we don’t need to get stuff from abroad- we can open places here and get stuff made here 5 - it’s not going to affect going on holiday and I don’t want my children going and working in Europe ever- I want them local

all I can say is it was bloody depressing- and understanding economics simply wasn’t in the equation- it’s not just these people either , twitter and facebook threads at the time had a lot of similar themes-

by the way I expect a similar vote if we voted on capital punishment or similar things.

I couldn’t get past your disgusting racist language, so I am out.

I do get that we need to reduce benefits. I agree with that.
Disability is a different matter, isn't it? We cannot reduce the number of people who are disable. Though there is a not small group who a temporarily out of full mobility due to long waiting lists for surgeries. That we can sort.
I am failing to see that 1 out of 5 cars are for a disable person with issues enough that they need adaptations. This is not talling with what I see around me.
I do want to get people into work. I think this is good for both the State and the person.
But if someone cannot walk, well they need some help to get around. If they cannot climb stairs, then they need help with a lift or changing homes. There is no way around that. Or are we going to turn our back on them? Like we have no any morals or principles.
Not even if they were in the army, police, firefighters or work for us for 45 years before they had an accident? Nothing?

I have absolutely not a clue what point you are attempting to make, but since you are rather patronising, I also can't be arsed to want to understand it.

If you can't be arsed to vote, in my opinion you have no right to "push back". Democracy may not be perfect, but the current alternatives are worse.

@ChessorBuckaroo Sorry to make you write all that out. I meant it as in the Oxford dictionary definition, as follows...

having a bearing or demeanour befitting a president; dignified and confident.
"America wants a president who looks presidential

No argument from me.

Currently (living in Birmingham, England) the local buzz is all about the bin strikes with people whinging about how dreadful it is and how they are disgusted with the council. But not so disgusted that the turnout last election was around 30%. Or to put it another way, 2 out of 3 people whining did fuck all about it last time.

Not aimed specifically at you but...

For the 5 millionth time on this site - PIP (which is what funds Motability) is not an out of work benefit, it is a disability related entitlement. You qualify for it if you meet a series of thresholds relating to the impact of your disability. Getting people into work has no bearing at all on their entitlement - they may be in work, they may not be.

@Slimbear ...one in five of new cars is motability - we get no vat on mutability cars as it’s a sort of charity - this figure makes us the laughing stock of the world.

I am not aware of the world laughing at this, but I think quite a few of us will be laughing at you. This statement is entirely and completely WRONG!
(a) there are limited VAT exemptions for charities. In relation to disability the only exemptions that they get are exactly the same ones that individuals get - zero rating on aids and suppiles for the disabled and exemption on SOME car purchases and adaptations. Charities are broadly not VAT exempt, although it's a really popular myth. https://www.gov.uk/vat-charities/what-qualifies-for-relief

(b) the HMRC rules on VAT exemption for cars for disabled people are ludicrous. You only get VAT exemptions if you are a wheelchair user. Literally. The actual tax rule operates like this:
Definition of ‘wheelchair’ and ‘wheelchair user’
In legal terms, a wheelchair is a chair on wheels for disabled people, which is either manually propelled or electrically powered. A mobility scooter is not a wheelchair for VAT purposes. A wheelchair user is any disabled person who normally uses a wheelchair in order to be mobile. A person who occasionally uses a wheelchair is not eligible.
I cannot walk more than a few metres, and then only with either two sticks or a rollator (a walking frame on wheels). I use a mobility scooter. I do not qualify for VAT exemption if I buy a car because I am "not disabled" by this defintion, and so Motability have to pay VAT on my car that I lease from them because I can barely walk.
https://www.disabledmotoring.org/motoring/purchasing-zero

I would, however, love a "mutability car" - can I have one that turns into a winged pegasus whenever I hit a traffic jam?

It’s a rather odd idea of democracy that a non-voter loses all their rights.

That poster was simply quoting the racist language of other people (Brexiters) wasn’t she?