I was horrified by the stats stated earlier in this thread relating to average household incomes. Lets take the example of a family with two earners at the top end of the bottom 84% earning £50k. Including employers NI they cost their employer £55k. Their income tax is £6800 and ee NI is £5400 (rough figures only!) They may then have to pay council tax - say £1800 p.a. and fuel tax on average fuel bill is £1960. The upshot is that after meeting their basic food, housing and living costs this family may with luck have £10k to spend on clothes and other essential items - largely subject to VAT at 20%. That is £8k which might be available to support 'growth' in the economy.

The total taxation that the employer is having to subsidise could be a staggering 43% of the total cost of employment of £55000 and this on a reasonable living wage - which is still subject to benefits under the working tax credits system. And this applies to 84% of households?

This obviously gives little room for growth nor for investment by the private sector.

Spending on earnings above this level are largely discretionary and many are using tax avoidance techniques (bad people) to avoid paying VAT and not spending their money!

So what hope for growth given that the government takes such a massive slice of the cake? Personally I am looking forward to the day that a chancellor stands up and says that he is planning for stability rather than growth.

Manufacturing production is relatively stable. Most of the job losses are due to automation. Only around one in five lost jobs go overseas, the rest go onto the dole queue.

Trading myths: Addressing misconceptions about trade, jobs, and competitivenessTrading myths: Addressing misconceptions about trade, jobs, and competitiveness

So, we were all wondering where growth was coming from.
The answer is growth bonds, stupid.
So, who's piling into growth bonds then?
Could they give industry/manufacturing the stability we need?
Can they?
Seems to me that if growth bonds reach the parts of savings that the other investment vehicles cannot reach we could be onto a winner. Alternatively they could just be a redirection of investment adding nothing.
The question is will they be also applied in a manner to give growth, i.e directed to small business, manufacturing/industry for example.
There are many who believe the Government is incapable of making good decisions.
Comments please.

Worthy though it is, Funding Circle is not big enough to make much difference.

The big banks are slowly selling of their bad property loans at huge losses.

For example:

Lloyds offloads Australian loans at 52 per cent discount and Project Harrogate. Lloyds is merely the most egregious UK example of an international phenomenon.

Until all these problem loans are repaid or written off the banks will be unable to make much new lending. Add to that the higher reserve requirements now in place and it will be decades, if ever, before normal service is resumed.

Companies are sitting on huge piles of cash because either they cannot see a market to invest in or they are waiting for things to get even worse and pick up assets on the cheap. Eventually they will either invest or return the cash to shareholders. The shareholders will either invest it, spend it, or stick it into a bank account. All will have some effect in getting the economy moving again.

Alternatively we wait for 2014 and hope the electorate have recovered from the sado-masochistic impulse that caused them to vote for Cameron and his gang.

Prof Eman should know you cant destroy the Trade Unions, they are governed by their Genes. They amorphise into another part of the Economy when exstinction threatens. Haven't you noticed over the years how they have taken over the bloated unproductive sector of The Public Sector? They will eventually move into the realms of the unemployedand those who do not ever want to go to work again.