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Tory leadership failure Part V: Rishi ‘Infosys’ Sunak

Ponty said:
Ah sorry, I forgot the big get out of jail card.
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So far you’ve blamed all this on 1) Corbyn 2) covid and 3) poor people finding resilience too boring. Forgive me if I missed one or two. You guys have any number of get out of jail cards don’t you. I mean, literally in many cases.
 
Ponty said:
We’re not looking too bad at all on the world rankings. We could aspire to be Belarus I suppose. I wouldn’t want to live in any of the top or bottom 10 countries on those lists btw.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/gini-coefficient-by-country
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The bottom line is that a growing wealth gap does not make economic sense and is not moral. There is also the fact that the greater the wealth gap, the greater the propensity to authoritarianism.

The economic arguments for not closing the wealth gap rest on economic theories of such things as spending being inflationary which are built on false assumptions.

Closing the wealth gap makes sense economically, socially, morally and philosophically.
 
Ponty said:
We’re not looking too bad at all on the world rankings. We could aspire to be Belarus I suppose. I wouldn’t want to live in any of the top or bottom 10 countries on those lists btw.
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I have a feeling I’d really like living in Belgium (aside from it being a monarchy) or Iceland, especially the latter as it seems a very cool and interesting place with a good arts scene. The way Iceland handled the 2008 banking collapse was interesting and democratic.
 
ks.234 said:
The bottom line is that a growing wealth gap does not make economic sense and is not moral. There is also the fact that the greater the wealth gap, the greater the propensity to authoritarianism.

The economic arguments for not closing the wealth gap rest on economic theories of such things as spending being inflationary which are built on false assumptions.

Closing the wealth gap makes sense economically, socially, morally and philosophically.
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Belarus. That’s what we need to achieve! Could they be considered a benevolent dictatorship? Maybe that’s the answer!
 
Tony L said:
I have a feeling I’d really like living in Belgium or Iceland, especially the latter as it seems a very cool and interesting place with a good arts scene. The way Iceland handled the 2008 banking collapse was interesting and democratic.
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Belgium = dull
Iceland = too bloody cold!
 
Ponty said:
Belarus. That’s what we need to achieve! Could they be considered a benevolent dictatorship? Maybe that’s the answer!
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Why do you assume that a dictatorship is the logical conclusion of closing the wealth gap? That is a very off conclusion. It is entirely possible for us in the UK, to close the wealth gap and retain democracy. If you look at countless other examples, notably the rise of Nazism, dictatorship is far more commonly associated with increased poverty.

So as well as making sense economically, socially, morally and philosophically, closing the wealth gap also enhances democracy
 
ks.234 said:
Why do you assume that a dictatorship is the logical conclusion of closing the wealth gap? That is a very off conclusion. It is entirely possible for us in the UK, to close the wealth gap and retain democracy. If you look at countless other examples, notably the rise of Nazism, dictatorship is far more commonly associated with increased poverty.

So as well as making sense economically, socially, morally and philosophically, closing the wealth gap also enhances democracy
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I agree that closing the wealth gap is a good thing to do. Where we’d disagree is the way about doing so. Rather than stomp around like Robin Hood, I’d rather a teach a man to catch a fish approach.
 
Ponty said:
I agree that closing the wealth gap is a good thing to do. Where we’d disagree is the way about doing so. Rather than stomp around like Robin Hood, I’d rather a teach a man to catch a fish approach.
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But you have argued against closing the wealth gap all this time. You still seem to think the poor are poor because they’re not clever enough to catch a fish, which, yes, I disagree with

But even if we accept your premise, how do you teach anyone anything with an education system that has been decimated while the rich have got exponentially richer?
 
Ponty said:
IIRC competition laws would scupper cheap energy prices (OT but cheap energy has been subsidising our lifestyles for too long as well as screwing the planet but that’s another discussion). The global market price is the market price. If it’s higher than the govt sell it for, that’s a govt subsidy. Agree about resilience, although this should also be a personal responsibility. Too many are a pay cheque or 2 away from disaster, whilst new cars sit on the drive, holidays booked etc etc. Resilience is boring but never know when you’ll need it. You make your own choices.
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I bet they’ve got huge plasma TVs too.
 
rbrown said:
I bet they’ve got huge plasma TVs too.
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Who knows but irrelevant as they’re cheap as chips. Take your pick of perfectly good ones at my local tip. New cars at £30K+ but struggling to cover day to day bills are a different matter.
 
Yes I know - it’s just that reviving a generation old Daily Mail trope felt appropriate.
 
Martin Rowson on the Bank of England raising interest rates – cartoon

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Martin Rowson on the Bank of England raising interest rates – cartoon | Opinion | The Guardian

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Toffs and Toughs (1937)

Toffs and Toughs - Wikipedia
 
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