UK fiscal storms or sunbelt for over--50s

Still no good news for Brit over-50s and pensioners as the last lap of the General Election race gets underway…Not much on Europe either from McBroon or Lord Meddlesome, the former EU commissioner who made his millions there.

More of the silver-hair brigade will be deciding shortly on whether they head off to the sunbelt or weather out the fiscal storms to come in murky Britain, whichever party rules the roost. Pensions are expected to be static, cost of living expected to rise and general expectations have definitely been lowered by the election campaign so far.

While the UK politicos argue about who can make the most cuts while keeping frontline jobs and creating millions of new jobs with no cash in the piggy bank to invest, their Spanish equivalents are taking a more sensible tack to solve that country’s similar problems.

Spain has billions of Euros put away for such a rainy day, unlike McBroon who sold Britain’s gold at an 80% discount, spent faster than earnings for a decade and promised the end of “boom and bust” just months before UK PLC went bust and tumbled into the biggest Black Hole of Debt ever recorded.

While Britain has a few miles of high-speed train tracks from the Channel Tunnel and plans to get one to link London with Birmingham in 10 years or so, Spain is criss-crossed by high speed trains and has just announced a EUR 20 billion extension of the network. The work will get underway quickly as a major jobs generator and will boost business and tourism once completed.
If only the UK could make take such decisive action as quickly as Mañana Land!

Meanwhile, as the election rumbles on, over-50s see more reasons to retire to a sunbelt country like Spain: UK pension will go further; lower cost of living; better weather and life-style; strong British ex-pat communities etc…