PDA

View Full Version : For Sale: The U.k.



uNz[i]
12-31-2003, 08:05 AM
Buy Britain for five trillion pounds
From correspondents in London
December 30, 2003

WANT to buy a largish island off France? Slightly used, with annex. Rains a bit. Trains often late. Nice gardens. Food dubious, but lots of places to drink.

Yours for under five trillion pounds. Or 7.1 trillion euros. Or 8.8 trillion dollars.

If the 58,789,194 occupants ever care to sell, that is.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) whipped up a price tag for the United Kingdom -- that's Britain, comprising England, Wales, Scotland, plus Northern Ireland -- in a year-end tally of the nation's capital assets.

The precise figure is 4.983 trillion pounds, or 84,760.47 pounds for every man, woman and child as of April 2001.

The value of buildings, vehicles, machinery, bridges, roads, shares and bank accounts are included in the total, which is based on 2002 data.

"We found that five trillion pounds was the current market value of the United Kingdom, including the value of the land," said ONS statistician Ian Hill.

"That's risen a lot over the last few years because property prices have shot up," with the value of people's homes doubling since 1994, he said.

The estimate is the first of its kind in terms of detail from the ONS, a British government agency, and is based on a "much more robust system" of analysing investment data, Hill said.

"Economists use this information to look at wealth, and is particularly interesting for looking at household wealth," he said. "It helps them make well-founded predictions of what is going to happen in the future."

For comparative purposes, 4.983 trillion pounds can also buy 2.516 trillion pints of "bitter" or dark ale at a typical English pub, or nearly 43 million pints of beer for everyone in the country.

It can also get you 14.655 trillion Kit Kat candy bars -- but not quite enough to match all of the annual gross domestic product of the United States, which in 2002 was 10.45 trillion dollars.

AAP


Source: News.com.au (http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,8283976%255E13762,00.html)

What do you say folks?
If we all chip in some cash, we can have our own country and make P2P LEGAL :clap: :clap: :clap:

Broken
12-31-2003, 08:11 AM
Only five trillion???
Let me count what I have in my wallet....

Infested Cats
12-31-2003, 08:16 AM
Who wants to become friends with Bill Gates?

Broken
12-31-2003, 08:19 AM
Bill Gates doesn't have that kind of cash...
But, I have no doubt he could get a loan.

What the hell would he want the whole of England for though??

3rd gen noob
12-31-2003, 08:22 AM
Originally posted by Broken@31 December 2003 - 07:19
Bill Gates doesn't have that kind of cash...
But, I have no doubt he could get a loan.

What the hell would he want the whole of England for though??
BRITAIN, not england :)

Broken
12-31-2003, 08:25 AM
Forgive me....
I'm a Yank. :ooops:

junkyardking
12-31-2003, 08:39 AM
Originally posted by 3rd gen noob+31 December 2003 - 08:22--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (3rd gen noob @ 31 December 2003 - 08:22)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Broken@31 December 2003 - 07:19
Bill Gates doesn&#39;t have that kind of cash...
But, I have no doubt he could get a loan.

What the hell would he want the whole of England for though??
BRITAIN, not england :) [/b][/quote]
:lol:

uNz[i]
12-31-2003, 08:47 AM
Originally posted by Infested Cats@31 December 2003 - 17:46
Who wants to become friends with Bill Gates?
Indeed.. who would want to be friends with that overachiever? <_<

However, I have a cunning plan:

We just knock on Billy Gate&#39;s door, thump him on the head and nick his wallet.

That should give us enough to buy Britain, and have enough change left over to buy a Carribean island for a summer retreat. :D

Edit: Typo

ilw
12-31-2003, 11:43 AM
Originally posted by 3rd gen noob+31 December 2003 - 07:22--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (3rd gen noob @ 31 December 2003 - 07:22)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Broken@31 December 2003 - 07:19
Bill Gates doesn&#39;t have that kind of cash...
But, I have no doubt he could get a loan.

What the hell would he want the whole of England for though??
BRITAIN, not england :) [/b][/quote]
same diff...




the rest can&#39;t be worth much anyway :-"

:lol: :P :lol:

PhloX
12-31-2003, 03:01 PM
Well I&#39;m willing to chip in a quid, yes, I know it&#39;s a rather large sum but I care alot. Er, you guys want to deal with the £4,999,999,999,999 left?

sArA
01-02-2004, 02:15 AM
Cheap at half the price that is&#33; :lol:

100%
01-02-2004, 12:04 PM
Lets chip in and buy USA instead
(the reparations will be a little bit expensive though)

james_bond_rulez
01-02-2004, 12:32 PM
i got nuff cash to crash y&#39;all dumbasses

1 cents anyone?

chinook_apache
01-02-2004, 01:10 PM
i dont think amyone in this world is a trillionaire.

you could get bill gates, some saudi princes, all the billionaires in the world, the millionaires and then attempt to apply for a loan.

100%
01-02-2004, 01:15 PM
i dont think amyone in this world is a trillionaire.


Ever heard of the World Bank?

chinook_apache
01-02-2004, 01:31 PM
Originally posted by Zedaxax@2 January 2004 - 13:15

i dont think amyone in this world is a trillionaire.


Ever heard of the World Bank?
yeah ihave.

i dont think they have ever loaned out a trillion pounds

Samurai
01-02-2004, 01:39 PM
Very interesting...

Anyone thought of buying something smaller, say an island in the South Pacific? That&#39;s got to be far cheaper than buying the UK. If everyone chipped in £10 (&#036;15) we could probably be able to own a decent size island. We could have our own community :D

Neo 721
01-03-2004, 12:15 AM
even if everyone on the forum chiped in £10 we still would be caught short................cocktails anyone?

Samurai
01-03-2004, 12:25 AM
Hmm well it was a rough guess :lol: If anyone is bored... and I know 90% of you guys are, could someone find out how much an island in the South Pacific is... then divide it by the total of active users on this forum.

A couple of points to note...

1. Island must not contain any creatures from the Jurrasic period. They&#39;re hard to kill with bamboo.

2. Island must be located in a region where hurricanes and typhoons are scarce. My brand new wooden hut wouldn&#39;t stand much with these winds a-blowing.

Sam :ph34r:

von_Cannon
01-03-2004, 12:55 AM
The idea of buying a little island from the pacific is pretty good&#33; then our community would make P2P legal there, then all hardcore P2P people would move to the littleisland. Also the 100mbit connections would become little cheaper there&#33; :lol: :lol: :lol:

Biggles
01-03-2004, 01:30 AM
Unz [i]

Wait for the tail end of the January sales - they are bound to knock a bit off the price.

vivitron 15
01-03-2004, 02:04 AM
ive got it all sorted....and arranged with the government of a small caribbean island that we&#39;re gonna buy it. We&#39;ll be allowed to run it, as long as they can share our connections. B) B)





Now, if you&#39;ll all paypal me your &#036;1 000 each, I&#39;ll set the ball rolling on monday

j2k4
01-03-2004, 06:43 AM
Originally posted by sara5564@1 January 2004 - 22:15
Cheap at half the price that is&#33; :lol:
(Happy New Year, Sara&#33;)



Just so-

I hear it comes with a couple of mods, too. :)

I&#39;m sure a well-leveraged effort would succeed-we must act before Rupert does&#33; :D