How does UK make money?

banja · 27 Aug 2013 at 03:57

Does the UK go car washing on a Saturday? That's what we used to do.

dalin80 · 27 Aug 2013 at 05:52

PMKeates said:
Lol @ typical 'UK sucks', 'UK has no economy', 'UK debt is bazillions and we are heading for the dogs'.

You have to get used to biohazard, he is Scottish and therefore permanently miserable. 'Ey, you think those Ethiopians have it bad? Ye never been to Glasgow!'

Mr. Pickle · 27 Aug 2013 at 10:03

Monserrat said:
I know we invented the ARM processor back in the RISC OS days, but do we still make them? That would be a nice little earner, as that covers most phones and tablets nowadays.

Of course they don't

ARM manufacture everything in Asia and employ probably about 300 people in an office in Cambridge.

So like most companies these days we once again we have a British invention by a British company, making a British product with a British name, listed on the London stock exhange

The only thing that isn't British is the workforce. And the government supports this position and a large section of the public who follow politics, usually liberals, support this position too

Ryan-3 · 27 Aug 2013 at 10:05

JBod said:
Watch the most recent episode of Top Gear. It is exceptionally surprising what we still manufacturer here used all over the world. Technology and research as well as the financial services.

Tech invented and owned in this country appears I think in pretty much every single smart phone for example.

It comes to Banking, Engineering, Science & Technology.

And then we spend the money on international aid.

LateX'Dog · 27 Aug 2013 at 10:32

The UK makes money out of thin air and then fractionally trades it to you creating more debt and artificial value out of cotton.

So your money is worthless.

[TW]Fox · 27 Aug 2013 at 10:37

LateX'Dog said:
The UK makes money out of thin air and then fractionally trades it to you creating more debt and artificial value out of cotton.

So your money is worthless.

If it was worthless we wouldn't be able to exchange it for goods and services.

grumpysculler · 27 Aug 2013 at 11:34

Mr. Pickle said:
ARM manufacture everything in Asia and employ probably about 300 people in an office in Cambridge.

Yet more ill-informed nonsense about the great British hi-tech industry (no, really)

ARM don't manufacture anything. At all. They produce IP, software and deliver training.

Amp34 · 27 Aug 2013 at 12:20

Mr. Pickle said:
Of course they don't

ARM manufacture everything in Asia and employ probably about 300 people in an office in Cambridge.

So like most companies these days we once again we have a British invention by a British company, making a British product with a British name, listed on the London stock exhange

The only thing that isn't British is the workforce. And the government supports this position and a large section of the public who follow politics, usually liberals, support this position too

I was under the impression ARM didn't manufacture anything... They are a research and development company. They research and create chip architecture and then licence them to companies such as Qualcomm and nvidia who use the designs to build their own chips that are placed inside smartphones and tablets.

Matteysan · 27 Aug 2013 at 12:54

Amp34 said:
I was under the impression ARM didn't manufacture anything... They are a research and development company. They research and create chip architecture and then licence them to companies such as Qualcomm and nvidia who use the designs to build their own chips that are placed inside smartphones and tablets.

With that impression you are completely correct too.

Burnsy2023 · 27 Aug 2013 at 13:01

Indeed ARM is a purely IP based company.

Dj_Jestar · 27 Aug 2013 at 13:03

The UK are pretty big on the Space (rockets, satellites, probes, etc) scene. Just about every launch ever has had British involvement. Sure, we're not launching on our own but we're still big contributors.

Same for Aerospace too.

Firestar_3x · 27 Aug 2013 at 13:24

Some people won't be happy till most of our workforce is down the pit and in the cotton mills, after all huge sprawling complexes producing low value products is the way forward......

When in actual fact what the country has been doing for years, a leading player in high-tech industry’s, is actually the correct way forward, we can't compete with cheaper labour markets, so instead we do what they can't, high tech.

Mr. Pickle · 27 Aug 2013 at 13:24

Amp34 said:
I was under the impression ARM didn't manufacture anything... They are a research and development company. They research and create chip architecture and then licence them to companies such as Qualcomm and nvidia who use the designs to build their own chips that are placed inside smartphones and tablets.

It is irrelevant.

Whether they outsouce it themselves or their products get manufactured by another company the principle is still the same. We still have a British technology in a British product from a British company and an Asian workforce

Companies like ARM create almost no jobs and benefit Asia more than they do the UK - because that's where the hundreds of thousands of jobs end up. A few high skilled jobs dotted around the in fabless chip 'manufacturers' is nothing to shout home about

Firestar_3x · 27 Aug 2013 at 13:33

Mr. Pickle said:
Companies like ARM create almost no jobs and benefit Asia more than they do the UK - because that's where the hundreds of thousands of jobs end up. A few high skilled jobs dotted around the in fabless chip 'manufacturers' is nothing to shout home about

Ok then, good job that the trend seems to be shifting away from China to moving manufacturing of key items back to the UK and USA

IP theft which has been going on is going to hurt China in the long term.

Amp34 · 27 Aug 2013 at 13:41

Mr. Pickle said:
It is irrelevant.

Whether they outsouce it themselves or their products get manufactured by another company the principle is still the same. We still have a British technology in a British product from a British company and an Asian workforce

Companies like ARM create almost no jobs and benefit Asia more than they do the UK - because that's where the hundreds of thousands of jobs end up. A few high skilled jobs dotted around the in fabless chip 'manufacturers' is nothing to shout home about

So are you happy working for £2 an hours sticking chips into sockets to check they work, or would you prefer to make £20 an hour doing the skilled bits at the end (or designing the chip in the beginning)?

There could be something to be said about exploitation of the east by the west but do you really think the UK would be better with loads of low skilled, very low paid manufacturing jobs?

elmuzzy66. · 27 Aug 2013 at 13:45

The ending of this years top gear springs to mind.

Redgie · 27 Aug 2013 at 14:56

The level of UK bashing in this thread is very frustrating to read. Thank god for the season finale of Top Gear reaffirming by Brit-Faith ^^.

Dj_Jestar · 27 Aug 2013 at 16:14

Meh. This forum is full of young adults coming of an age where you realise the world you live in isn't peachy, but not yet left the "I must rebel to affirm myself" angsty years so they continue to do that most effective of thing: moan on the internet. Soon everyone doing so now will be at an age where they realise it's not just the country they live in, it's the whole world. It's the human race. Then comes the age of dealing with it and just looking after your own, and rolling your eyes at the next generation doing what you did before, only slightly differently.

Where's my pipe and slippers?