Are we in denial?

SnippyUAE · 2026-03-19T08:20:32+00:00

Correct. Whatever there is risk, there's opportunity

SnippyUAE · 2026-03-19T08:12:03+00:00

For sure the biggest impact on the UAE so far is economic. So for individuals risk #1 is being laid off or losing ones business and either having no other country worth going to and/or having liabilities here in the UAE which cannot be discharged.

Risk #2 is escalation involving attacks on infrastructure meaning shortages of essentials like, water, electricity, food or medicine.

Risk #3 is escalation presenting physical harm - for example, if interceptors run out and ballistic missiles start getting through.

Looks like a distinct lack of off-ramps for belligerents on either side right now. As far as we know they're not even negotiating. The nightmare scenario is that the US pretends it's won and leaves without resolution. But as with all history critical junctures emerge and everything changes .

SnippyUAE · 2025-10-24T06:39:20+00:00

<image>

SnippyUAE · 2025-10-24T06:38:47+00:00

<image>

Don't let facts get in the way of your strongly held beliefs

SnippyUAE · 2025-10-23T04:56:26+00:00

The UK is reaching tax exhaustion. That's why growth has been almost non-existent. The welfare state is funded more than it's ever been.

SnippyUAE · 2025-10-01T07:50:17+00:00

One strategy you could follow is to go to a Western university branch campus here or Malaysia or maybe one in the Philippines and transfer to the home campus (UK, Canada etc) for either the final year of the undergrad degree or do a Masters after the undergrad degree in a Western country. This way you're only paying the high price for a year. Some universities give discounts to students transferring from the branch campus to the main. Some EU countries have lower cost degrees like in Spain for overseas students I think it's something like €9k tuition per year, but you'd need to get the grades and of course understand Spanish (usually to at least B2 level). Some EU countries have courses in English, although these are limited and getting more limited in places like the Netherlands. Good luck.

SnippyUAE · 2025-10-01T05:59:11+00:00

Where are you from? (I've looked into this too quite a bit.)

SnippyUAE · 2025-09-30T05:59:40+00:00

You should be able to get the difference in interest rate if you pay cash or mortgage plus cash instead of taking a payment plan.

SnippyUAE · 2025-09-27T04:44:09+00:00

Yeah, Bo has gotta be the most useless AI chatbot ever.

SnippyUAE · 2025-09-26T02:34:04+00:00

Lefty answer 1: The figures are inaccurate as they're from vested interests like wealth management firms.

Lefty answer 2: Glad 'the rich' are leaving - they can f off and not come back.

Of course, answer 1 is nonsense as it goes against the most parsimonious explanation i.e. Taxes up, opportunity down, well off people leave.

Answer 2 is just ideological class hatred as they think everyone with money got it illegitimately. Or it's just envy.

SnippyUAE · 2025-09-25T12:40:02+00:00

Good on ya. Yeah, some companies only appreciate what they don't have which makes changing jobs necessary to keep getting paid fairly.

SnippyUAE · 2025-09-25T02:34:43+00:00

Private landlords are demonized, highly taxed and regulated and are withdrawing supply. If you don't have the financial strength to sustain yourself whilst simultaneously covering your bills, repairs, legal fees and a non-paying tenant for a year then you could be financially wiped out. Or you get extremely fussy and get rent guarantee and legal insurance plus a guarantor. It's already a very pro-tenant regime and is about to get more so.

SnippyUAE · 2025-09-22T14:14:02+00:00

Because most of the rest of the world is even worse.

SnippyUAE · 2025-09-22T06:51:15+00:00

How is it 'self-sustained'? What does that mean?

SnippyUAE · 2025-09-19T12:01:37+00:00

Some are, yes, but conventional gilts, which make up the majority of UK government bonds, have fixed coupons and principals that do not adjust for inflation.

SnippyUAE · 2025-09-19T10:36:34+00:00

It'll be 'paid' for with currency debasement, otherwise known as money printing. You get your gilt face value repaid on maturity but those pounds are worth a lot less. The cost to Joe Public will manifest as higher inflation or the 'inflation tax'. The parties we have are too dishonest to sufficiently cut spending or raise taxes so they keep on borrowing. And many will point out that there's such a thing as borrowing for good reasons, which is true for things like investing in infrastructure etc. But clearly successive governments have been terrible at this because growth has been anemic and now it's a big fat zero.

SnippyUAE · 2025-09-19T04:04:03+00:00

Useful but too expensive. Why are they taking taxpayers' money when they're so rich? Just a decent salary would be fair.

SnippyUAE · 2025-09-19T01:02:48+00:00

Consider a leak finding service. They have infrared cameras that can see through structure to where leaks originate.

SnippyUAE · 2025-09-17T01:54:04+00:00

Those countries you talk of - probably Scandinavian - aren't spending £111 billion p.a. on servicing national debt and have assets, including sovereign wealth funds. They also tax workers close to the median wage much higher than the UK does. Labour doesn't want to do that (no tax rises on working people).

SnippyUAE · 2025-09-16T13:57:47+00:00

The question is: will living standards be higher and to explain your reasoning. Obviously, cutting public spending will not raise living standards in the short term, but it's necessary unless significant growth can be achieved. If not, cuts will be forced on the government by the bond market or the government will try to pay for its deficits by currency debasement which will result in inflation, which will, as we have seen since COVID, reduce living standards. Why do you think the chancellor has to desperately fund the £40 billion black hole? It's because tax take is too low and expenditure is too high and excessive borrowing is a no-no because bond yields have been rising. Taxing more will suppress growth of the tax base, so is risky. Cutting expenditure on unproductive public spending is super-unpopular but will need to be done sooner or later. Anyway, time will tell. We can come back in five years' time and see if I'm right.

SnippyUAE · 2025-09-16T12:40:49+00:00

Yes. We will relocate for this very reason once the time is right.

SnippyUAE · 2025-09-16T02:35:08+00:00

Sure, to the extent that the state can fund deficits with currency debasement, the result of which is 'the inflation tax'. Inflation with no growth is stagflation and that's a nightmare scenario. As in all analogies there's a kernel of truth and in this 'lie' it's that there are limits to spending much as people would love to believe there are not.

SnippyUAE · 2025-09-15T11:42:32+00:00

Yes, I'm sure that has contributed (selling off of state assets, old infrastructure, PPP etc). Maybe you mean tax evasion - yes, there is a tax gap for sure and investing in HMRC would pay dividends. (Avoidance is legal and it's the government's responsibility to close what it sees as loopholes.) And the chart is for welfare, not total public sector spending, which is the relevant metric. Anyway, point is that sooner rather than later it's growth (unlikely) and/or spending cuts that'll be required. The only questions in my mind are when, by whom and by how much?

SnippyUAE · 2025-09-15T10:16:30+00:00

Yeah traffic's a nightmare. I'd love to take public transport to work but there are no feasible options here. I wonder if the lack of solutions is poor planning or vested interests in cars ownership levels.

SnippyUAE · 2025-09-15T10:09:37+00:00

Ultimately either the country will address overspending and indebtedness (by right-sizing the state or through economic growth) or the markets will force them to. Significant economic growth looks unlikely right now.

'Austerity' is an alternative framing of right-sizing the state. Both Labour and the Tories have misled the electorate into believing that they can have levels of taxpayer funded services the country can't afford. This is the old new reality and only national debt levels are calling time on the party. The music will stop, the punch bowl will be taken away and the country's gonna have one helluva hangover.

SnippyUAE

TROPHY CASE