Self employed earnings/Credit crunch slowdown ?

[Dazza1976]

Hi all,

How much can i expect to earn as a self employed spark, with regular work coming in ???
Do you guys make a comfortable living from the trade ?

Have any of you noticed things slowing down of late, with the credit crunch kicking in, and the housing market suffering ??

p.s im not a nosey ******* !!! just want to know i made the correct career choice.

 

[spark-doctor]

we are on 90% capacity already

We are on 100% capacity.

yesterday we imported

N.Ireland to Great Britain: -113MW
France to Great Britain : 1303MW
North-South: 1537MW
Scot - Eng: 923MW
30/08/2008 01:09:00 GMT

Our total demand was Demand: 25597MW

Which is 9% of our demand

 

[Carter]

Well I like your quips!
I think you take some of my points not serious.

Not at all chap, I don't see anything in your post to not take seriously. Which points? maybe my turn of phrase has confused something.

I do know for an absolute fact some people are making provisions for diesel storage,...
...You may think 'what a friggin nutter'...

I certainly don't think they are nutters, not in the slightest, taking steps to secure ones family and future gets nothing but marks for initiative. My only question is where will their fuel be coming from?

but this guy and many of the same ilk are not, they know whats comming. For city dwellers it may seem far fetched but some of these guys are well savvy, often they are the first affected.

Well a great many think that Coronation Street is 'real'' and 'Big Brother' far more worthy of an expensive phone vote than a parliamentary election. Most city dwellers have no relationship with the products that sustain their energy intensive 'lifestyle choices'. they are conditioned to it as they were weaned into a culture of 'provision by others' and they've come to expect it. They have little idea that it might possibly be any other way still less how to make the transition to another condition of things. That's their lookout.
Those in the rural communities have a more direct understanding of the requirements for sustainable survival and the difficult choices that accompany it ie. adaptability, capacity for physical work, the ingenuity to problem solve and improve, the underpinning technical and craft ability to fix anything they need themselves.
If that person has a large property and deep pockets then all things being equal they will have a better quality of a still difficult life.

Leccy companies legal obligations, well if you believe that no use debating. It is an an easy get out for them.

Sorry not with you?? we might be at crossed purposes here. Launching mass suits against energy providers on grounds of mere 'inconvenience to the consumer' following rolling cascade blackouts would I agree not get far without serious legal weight behind it. But what if people started dying? huge motorway shunts on the Aston Expressway when all is instantly turned pitch black one grim February rush hour, the fires resulting from improvised lighting/heating.

In high end country houses they will not bother (the authorities that is)

If the state or any other entity, legally constituted or not, wants something it will go get. Remoteness is no general immunity on a small island.

Yes I have been involved in hv distribution, the problems arrising are lack of investment, maintainence etc. Cables are crumbling around many sub-stations throughout the country. When one breaks (if a biggie) a knock on effect can cause major probs for huge areas, if two break big **** for whole counties,(which will happen because of extra draw on already dodgy cable) which then puts a strain on others if they go, then absolute chaos, it will happen. Then get part p guys to fault find the ring main-- If me, just walk away...cannot diagnose fault, did not install -

thanks for the inside report Wattsup, confirms everything I've heard on the state of the network.

 

[CUDABOY]

as i once said to prescott " your a big man but your out of shape....for me its a full time job" i do stairlifts but so few and far between,just done my part crap and 17th,way i see it everyone has electric,good % are going to want work doing,great post carter! i dont get into the bollotics as without being defeatist theres fark all we can do about it, just glad i have a trade,my hands and a will to work,the likes of us will always survive!

 

[Carter]

as i once said to prescott " your a big man but your out of shape....for me its a full time job now be'ave y'self"

Ha! love that film, no glitz, no bolx, just grim, nasty, evocative of its time. Was gonna have some fun with the avatar as well.

Shot at 2007-10-17

i dont get into the bollotics as without being defeatist theres fark all we can do about it,

If I had a quid for every time I hear that! I just look at my little lad and my missus expecting our second and think "NO! IT STOPS HERE! I can't duck out and bequeath a life of increasing state invasion and control to him. It would be the easy option but what kind of father would I be that expects the son to fight a battle (and it will be) that the father was too afraid/apathetic/idle/naive to take up? That's what got us to this condition as did the "White Heat" generation before us.
it's all about ime you see, time isn't on our side with this one it's a luxury we no longer have.

just glad i have a trade,my hands and a will to work,the likes of us will always survive!

Totally agree with you. Here's what did it for me.

After 5 yrs at, and good results from, a good grammar school I shocked my mother by declaring that I intended to go on site as an electrician. During that time I was exposed to the full range of career options any of which I could have pursued. But even at that young age I knew that something didn't add up. There was something incongruous with the life prescription I'd been given. I felt something looming that would render a lot of what was then thought of as an unchanging continuum of a job for life, family then a well earned retirement of ease, inapplicable.
It was something juvenile along the lines of capitalism containing the seeds of its own destruction. (NO I'm definitely no Marxist/Leninist ) I just felt that all these very intelligent people actually have no idea of HOW the world works. In matters practical they are clueless! They are destined for a working life of speciality in a single career and if it all came crashing down tomorrow they wouldn't have a f*cking clue. They'd be lost.
Now after 25+ yrs in the trade I would without hesitation reccomend it to my son. It teaches such a diverse range of skills from pneumatics, hydraulics, plant and machinery, control systems, distribution, how to argue with unco-operative hairy arsed pipe-fitters.

It comes down to who would you want in that figurative lifeboat? in a pinch who is likely to be of more use? a lawyer, a media consultant, a journalist, a politician, or a multi-skilled electrician. It's no contest is it.

 

[wattsup]

Nice post Carter, and I agree. Except no one wants to be a sparky, no one wants 'hands on' anymore, the few that do, no one will take them on. It's ok ignoring bollotics, but it's a very dangerous road. If the ruling classes continue to ignore, then we are in big **** eventually, no matter what the government says, everyone cannot go to uni and learn 'media studies'. It is the biggest con. It is proven with the 'skill shortage' look around, learn to be an electrician in 12-weeks or maybe a plumber, maybe a brickie. Loads of dodgy training outfits out to make a quick buck. Right now no respectable company will employ a 6 month wonder, but they will have to eventually, no choice. And whom can blame them, present legislation make it almost impossible to train a 'trademan' for a small business outfit.

 

[Carter]

Nice post Carter, and I agree. Except no one wants to be a sparky, no one wants 'hands on' anymore,

What can you do? f*uck 'em. They are soon to have their 'choices' dictated for thwm by circumstances.

no matter what the government says, everyone cannot go to uni and learn 'media studies'. It is the biggest con.

"con" being a contraction of the term "confidence trick" and you're dead right but in Zanu-Labour's juvenile grand plan all are destined for the high life.

It is proven with the 'skill shortage' look around, learn to be an electrician in 12-weeks or maybe a plumber, maybe a brickie. Loads of dodgy training outfits out to make a quick buck. Right now no respectable company will employ a 6 month wonder, but they will have to eventually, no choice. And whom can blame them, present legislation make it almost impossible to train a 'trademan' for a small business outfit.

Let's look at a few of those responsible for the mess and charged with its repair.
David Lammy: Our current Minister for Skills. Never had a job, his whole career has been focused on extracting overseas aid from the taxpayer. Operation Black Vote etc ad infinitum
Biography: David Lammy MP for Tottenham

Caroline Flint: former minister for Employment and Welfare Reform. Spectacularly useless. Never had a job that wasn't connected with Nu-Labour's warped cause or with her desire to gain a seat in Parliament.
Caroline Flint - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stephen Timms: the current incumbent who took over after Flint was pumped for letting the cat out of the bag about the migrant labour statistics. Had a job producing wonkish reports about the future. Didn't see this coming though did he. The gormless twot.
Stephen Timms - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Andy Burnham: Waffling gobsh!te and former buttmonkey to the odiuos Tessa Jowell, former Chief Sec to the Treasury currently at Kultcha, Meedja and Sport; never had a job that wasn't connected to the labour party, unions etc etc...
Andrew Burnham - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Really, I could go on and on picking these people's CVs to pieces but you get the idea. Check for y'self, go on knock yourselves out, have some fun! I challenge anyone to find a current or recent cabinet minister or department head who has EVER done a days actual productive work in their parasitic lives that wasn't funded directly or indirectly by your tax. Do you feel that you have got value for that money? These are a typical cross section of the shiftless swivel eyed dreamers charged with putting the country back in work. f*cking make me laugh. Well I would if the consequences weren't so immediately dire.

Oh and I forgot one more. As the manure hits the fan and the biggest recession in modern history looms where has our Chancellor been, niether hide nor hair of him has been seen until yesterday when he poked his head up like some "whack-a-mole" and told us "it was all going to be going down the crapper an he didn't know how deep the 'U' bend was, thanks for coming, keep paying the taxes though eh? see you at budget time." a big thumbs up to the camera and immediately got his ridiculous monochromatic head back under cover.
Alistair Darling - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What a statesman! truly we are blessed.

 

[Bane]

Yep, I agree

Seriously though, very, very interesting.

(That's all the 'intelligence' I can contribute)

Anyway, all this has been foreseen by Nostradamus many moons ago.

"The end of the world"

Not necessarily in the fire and brimstone hellfire sense that people usually conjure up in their minds.

More like an end to life as we know it, (oil dependency, which, as said, underpins almost all, if not all, aspects of everyday modern life) so we need to discover a suitable alternative for ourselves.

 

[wayne]

gerbil wheels attached to generators , that will solve the energy crisis at my house as for what im going to wipe my a**e on when the oil runs out ...

 

[Carter]

gerbil wheels attached to generators , that will solve the energy crisis at my house as for what im going to wipe my a**e on when the oil runs out ...

By George he's cracked it, mind you when street cleaning, sewerage maintenance and declining public health manifest themselves there'll be enough rats to power the whole shebang. For dinner, ratatouille. As for bogroll? well it's probably going to be the furry bit that didn't end up in the ratatouille.

 

[wayne]

you make many a fine point mr carter .let me apologise for myself ,while generating your own sounds great ,when the oil runs out where and how are the compenents for the genny going to be made and from what?

 

[Carter]

while generating your own sounds great ,when the oil runs out where and how are the compenents for the genny going to be made and from what?

Again, a very good question Wayne. So good in fact that I reckon you should put it in a formal letter and send it our 'man in the know' Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks who knows everything about it as he's never had a job in the energy, manufacturing, servicing or engineering maintenance industry. Just the man obviously.

He has however had a lot of experience extorting a living by being a professional policy forum wonk and 'Professional Social Administrator' whatever the hell that is. Here's another one who I'd gladly batter over the head with the oar if he wanted in to the lifeboat. Well no that's not strictly true, in fact I'd batter him unconcious in the water, drag him onboard and keep beating his worthless carcass until all that remained was a 6 inch stump of oar and all that remained of Mr. Wicks was a sun dried stain on the deck, whichever came first.
Malcolm Wicks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And Then the Government will Announce
All cable must do as we say or else they will not be allowed to operate...and on top of that all this dodgy cable was installed under the tory government..it is not our fault, in fact we are going to make sure it doesn't happen again, we are going to have a minister for cable ...----ers

On top, anyone seen looking at a cable (who has not paid the government looking fee of £2000) will be fined £55.00.
All electricians must be able to spell amp, otherwise a further 50 quid fine will be made. (however the spelling exam will be multiple choice, 40% success is acceptable)

Jackie Smith, the minister for bull **** will oversee all exams (even though she couldn't pass a bus stop) but she is extremely streetwise, only the other day she knew how to install a battery in an overloaded dildo... Hence she is the new minister of sparks

lol, love it, Jacui Smith? Let me count the ways I've imagined her screaming exit from this world. hmmm, this is the idiot who wants police to publish localised interactive 'crime maps' so that people know where to visit if they fancy being mugged, stabbed, raped or heavily f*kn patronized by the most clueless Home Secretary I can recall. Of course the crims will bookmark their local heavily policed hotspots and pitch up wherever the map tells them has the lowest police presence. Surely a work of genius, the stupid bitch. Not only stupid but positively totalitarian as she (along with that squirrel faced, lack-witted harridan Hazel Bleeuurrghs) is the one charged with rolling out the first installment of the N.I.R. (Nat Info Register) and creeping implementation of the unconstitutional (and therefore ILLEGAL) I.D. Card Scheme.
But there is a solution to the problem of Jokey Smith...
I was saving this beauty, the Hilti DX450 'Scrotbuster' for Tony (Miranda) Blair if I ever get the opportunity to be alone with him and a stout desk top....

this...

plus this...

Shot at 2007-11-28 (should have been shot at dawn!) the creative possibilities are endless.

...but since you mentioned that toxic old bag I think I'd rather like to christen it on her. Anybody know if they do a 'raggy old p*ssflap' nailing adaptor for them and what size cartridge should I use to get the loudest scream, and would welder's 'Mole' clamps be a help or hindrance? I do want to produce a professional finish after all.

UPDATE Tuesday 2nd Sept

OK so now they've decided that we are all to become mortgage lenders by offering to bail out those who've f*cked themselves with a huge unpayable mortgage (i.e. borrowed more than they could afford and now whining about it) to the tune of 30%. 'Scuse the f*ck out of me but I didn't want to be in the mortgage securities business, i'm an electrician, nobody asked me if I want to subsidise other people's greed, desperation and rank stoopidity. How dare they? This government basicaly delivered up the british public to the salivating banking professionals and it was always going to be a one-sided contest with the banks the eventual winners. They replaced morality and probity with ineffectual and toothless regulators sworn to protect the wee public investor lambs right up until the point of slaughter that is.
In illustration of this...
Do you remember an advert from 10yrs ago with that fat ---- Robbie Coltrane bouncing up and down on a bed with a laptop in his peejays declaring that

"..aye..wurrr all bank managers noo."

OK then Robbie are you going to organize the 4yr training courses and when do I collect my bank manager's salary and company Volvo?

And that all purpose 'Whack-a-mole' Alistair Darling has announced that he's shifting the Stamp Duty threshold upwards "to encourage the first time buyer". Sorry mate but that isn't the frigging problem and you know it. Listen Alistair, the only reason your in No11 is your abysmal and anonymous record at the Dept of Transport. You were appointed to take the crumbling transport infrastructure off the front page weren't you? Remember Hatfiled, Paddington, Steven Byers. you were the "safe pair of hands" entrusted to take the heat off by doing what you do best ie precisely f*ck all and hiding away from the press. What a complete tw*t. Gordon hoped you'd be able to do the same at the treasury but now you've had to come blinking into the light. Good now we can at least get a clear shot.

The whole stamp duty levy should be summarily scrapped period, it's just another way of dipping our pocket for NO RETURN. Thieving bast0rds. I hear they've recalled Caroline 'Aerobrain' Flint from holiday as the situation is that serious! Oh God now we're f*ucked.
Ok then, so if you've reduced your net tax take thn you are going to have to reduce some public services aren't you? otherwise you've effectively RAISED the tax burden on the rest of us, savvy? So then, which services are going to be cut???? Come on, which ones??? can we have a list? Oh I seeeee, you're going to allocate the costs to the 2015 public borrowing requirement. So you are borrowing off our kids in the assumption that they will be working and paying tax by then. Bit of a brave assumption dont you think Darling?

He's announced that "we've never been better placed to survive this, I'm optimistic as I have been throughout my chancellorship....but it was bound to slow down"
So why were you predicting growth up until a few months ago when you knew full well this was coming? Nice suntan by the way darling, been anywhere nice?


Is it any coincidence that News24 have just screened a report about people foraging hedgerows for food in Sheffield?????? Are they softening us up for the main event?

 

[piggyitm]

I wasnt expecting such a morning read here Carter.Are you a sparky running for a seat at your local constitueny?I don't buy into the peak oil theory crap any more than i do carbon tax.The whole show is run by cartells driven by greed.Today oil hit a $107 low,slowly decreasing from Junes $145 high.How many decreases have we seen at the pumps?Were using less because of financial strain,yet they're keeping the prices high to make up for the lost revenue.Then OPEC start panicking wanting production cuts to stay above a $100 a barrel benchmark they've decided to set themselves.And on the green issue,how come our beloved chancellor who,in May-June,was begging for more oil output to ease the strain?While at the same time Taxing us so heavily for the evil of burning fossilfuels,through the new road tax emissions scheme!Anyway seen as though the whole planet is freezing to death "global cooling" is going to be the next Buzzword.

 

[Bane]

I think global warming is great. Catching some rays in February. Buggered us for this summer though didn't it? Think the hottest day we had was towards end July beginning Aug, I was driving down to Kent, making good time till I hit the M25 then I was, to put it politely, fuc*ed. Took me 8.5hrs to get there in the end with no AC, crawling traffic and silly bolloc*s in the car next to me playing Dizzee Rascal and bobbing his head up and down.

TW*T

Anyway, I'm off for some fish and chips for me lunch.

 

[piggyitm]

But its not friday!!! I'm waiting till tomorrow!

 

[Carter]

"global cooling" is going to be the next Buzzword.

You mean just like the climatological 'experts' did in the 70s? "New Ice Age" and all that old tosh.
Well it's happening again only this time in the opposite direction, they are trying to convince us that global warming is imminent and anthropogenic, ie derived from man's activities and particular the burning of fossil fuels. Over the past few months there has been a notable backing off in certain quarters from the position that it has already arrived because the rather inconvenient truth is that for the past ten years THERE HAS BEEN NO RISE IN GLOBAL TEMPERATURES. mr. Al Gore's pitifully disingeuous ****ty little film is loaded with 'cod' science, speculation, emotive bolx and ten acknowledged errors of fact but yet they are still distributing this fallacious sh!t to all our schools. (They have however been forced by a court ruling to distribute a 'commentary' with the film, sort of bull**** guidance notes for educators, which points out the errata.) Mr Gormless claims a scientific content of 50%!!!
Oh so that's alright then, so long as it's not 100% ****e they can peddle it to our kids, makes a lot of money for Al G as wel of course

The whole thing relies on the new climatological guru, Micheal Mann's infamous 'Hockey Stick' graph which purports to show conclusively the effects of the man's industrial activities on global temperatures and which the IPCC fell for hook line and sinker and formed the 'scientific' basis for its policy formation.

The trouble was that it was a load of crap, Mann's whole submission to the IPCC has been comprehensively fisked after the Canadian statistician Steve McKintyre was accidentaly emailed the algorithm coding used to extract the graphical date from the raw temp input data. McKintyre spotted that the coding deliberately searched for those results which fitted along that hockey stick curve and rejected those that tended to flatten it out. mann had spent years refusing to release his methodologies and program coding for peer review and Mckintyre found out why. Mann's coding could do nothing except produce that curve as that's how it was devised. He exposed Mann as a fraud who was selectively cherry picking data to advance his theory that was just not supported by data. And now governments around the world are being cajoled into signing up for this sh!ite.

19 computer models were recently given a side by side workout on an identical data set and ALL OF THEM produced entirely inconsistent and wildly variant output scenarios. So that f*cks that then doesn't it.

Data collection sites are another area of contention. There are several thousand of these stations (usually white painted louvred cabinets, you see them around ocassionaly) dotted about the world and the data they produce is used to assemble the average global temp records.
The trouble is that whilst many of them when installed were situated in rural and semi-rural areas with acres of clear ground around them, over the years urban encroachment has meant that these stations are now situated in asphalted car parks, industrial land, in the new suburbs adjacent to airport runways all of which have impressed themselves on the climate record as increased average temp when it just isn't, it's in fact the record of human development not increasing global temperatures.

Same controversy exists with interpolated dendochronology and bristle cone pines, honestly there's tons of this stuff out there but poeple are happy to take government's word as gospel. A very naive strategy given their track record.

I could go on but I won't.