News & Views from our London Hostel
Monday, 21st November 2011
MARIJUANA COULD BE AN ECONOMIC HIGH
With the economy in a desperate state it is easy to see that legalizing and taxing marijuana could put billions of pounds into the economy. There is no question that tax revenue from marijuana could raise a lot of money for the UK. Is legalizing and taxing marijuana the next step that government should take towards solving the economic crisis?
Legalizing and Taxing Marijuana Could Raise £7 billion per year
With extremely low growth and the continued threat of a second recession or depression we need more creative ways to raise revenue in the UK.
It could be argued that marijuana's legalization cannot be considered because legalization would just result in a substantial increase in its use. Many say that it would produce unacceptable increases in the social and economic costs of drug abuse.
The state of California has already decriminalised marijuana for medicinal use and from what we have seen so far there have been only positive outcomes.
At the moment we don't know exactly how many people are using 'light' drugs in the UK, so numbers could be more than we imagine. Marijuana isn't practically more harmful than alcohol or cigarettes and limiting the use limits people's personal rights and freedom.
Legalizing marijuana will not only help the economy by taxing the users, but will also prevent some related crimes from occurring - such as theft. That means that crime rate and street justice related to drug disputes would be reduced.
Police and courts are dealing with many cases of possession and use of marijuana, when they could be focusing on the more serious crimes. By legalizing the use, many of the big drug dealers, will be out of work, which means more controlled use and less crimes committed by importing and exporting drugs. Consequently the quality and safety will also be controlled.
An enormous amount of money is raised by tax from alcohol and cigarettes. Adding to that amount tax rose from legalizing marijuana (estimated at more than £7 billion per year) we will have a substantial amount of money to help our economy.
While many countries are already discussing new laws for legalizing and taxing marijuana, the UK is still not participating in this new movement.
We should consider this is the next step towards improving our economy.
Lord David West
Dave West is a British entrepreneur. He started off his working life as a market trader barrow boy in the East End of London. West built a family tobacco business in Belgium with his wife and children. In the 1980s Dave founded a wholesale business on a double decker bus in Calais selling cheap alcohol and cigarettes. His business moved to permanent premises and was named EastEnders, which became part of the largest British owned cash and carry group in Europe.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/davidjohn.west1
Twitter: http://twitter.com/daveheyjoclub
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_West_(entrepreneur)
More about the meeting in Cannes:
Tuesday, 15th November 2011
EUROPEAN LEADERS SPENDING £1 BILLION FOR A MEETING, HAVING
A JOLLY UP,
BUT STILL NO SOLUTION TO THE EU ECONOMIC CRISIS
Two weeks ago our esteemed EU leaders had yet another meeting aimed at resolving the EU economic crisis, this time in the millionaires’ playground of Cannes. Frequent similar meetings have taken place during the last two years yet no decisive progress has been made and the threat of another recession still looms over us all.
£1million
0.1% of the money spent by G20 leaders in Cannes two weeks ago
The question that we should be asking ourselves is, why are taxpayers in the European Union expected to pay for the £32,000 a night hotel room of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy?
In comparison to the money that other EU leaders have spent on hotels and dinners, PM David Cameron stayed in a comparatively modest £1,680 per night suite, making him the most frugal World leader at the meeting but it is clearly still too much when nurses, teachers and police face losing their jobs.
It is undeniable that EU leaders and politicians are enjoying themselves in the most luxurious hotels in the French Riviera, while most people – some of whom might even have ideas how to solve the EU economic problems - are struggling to pay their rent.
Clever and ambitious people, who have played no part in this crisis, are told they must accept reductions in their salary. People who might ordinarily be staying in three star hotels are forced to stay in cheaper accommodation because of the problems with the economy, yet EU leaders are not interested in cutting down the expenses their trips generate.
Nowadays many people are choosing to stay in hostels, like Four Star Hostel
at Piccadilly Guest House (www.picadillyguesthouse.com) in London, which provide
cheap accommodation for people who want to stay in a central location with
comfortable accommodation at an affordable price. It is extremely unlikely
that European leaders would ever dream of showing such consideration with the
money, our money, which they are spending on their trips.
People wonder what the solution to the public sector debt crisis is. Cutting
down the entertaining budget of our leaders and saving the money that is
being spent on oysters, expensive wines and holidays would be a good start;
especially as the meetings can be made via video conference calls for a fraction
of the cost.
European citizens are concerned with the direction Europe is heading in and with a total of £1 billion of expenses to be claimed from the Cannes meeting it is no surprise. Another similar meeting took place in Brussels last week making it clear the problem of our politicians pleasuring themselves on the tax payers’ pocket is only growing despite demands for reform following the public outrage created during the MPs expenses row.
Meetings like the one that took place in Cannes, are being held too often, and at the most expensive resorts in the World. European citizens should demand to know why these meetings should be held in over priced locations and not in cheaper cities that need regeneration.
The money wasted on these jolly ups could be better spent helping the economy.
Lord David West
Dave West is a British entrepreneur. He started off his working life as a market trader barrow boy in the East End of London. West built a family tobacco business in Belgium with his wife and children. In the 1980s Dave founded a wholesale business on a double decker bus in Calais selling cheap alcohol and cigarettes. His business moved to permanent premises and was named EastEnders, which became part of the largest British owned cash and carry group in Europe.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/davidjohn.west1
Twitter: http://twitter.com/daveheyjoclub
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_West_(entrepreneur)
More about the meeting in Cannes:
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