advertisement


Winter election III

Status
Not open for further replies.
guest said:
According to the Guardian, of the 5 worst economic disasters of last 100 years, Labour inaugurated 3 out 5 of them.

https://www.theguardian.com/busines...onomic-disasters-20th-century-black-wednesday

Stagflation was first brought to UK under Labour stewardship.

Callaghan/ Healy partnership to conference:
"We used to think that you could spend your way out of a recession and increase employment by cutting taxes and boosting government spending. I tell you in all candour that that option no longer exists, and in so far as it ever did exist, it only worked on each occasion since the war by injecting a bigger dose of inflation into the economy, followed by a higher level of unemployment as the next step."

Hardly a blemish-free record by Labour Chancellors of the Exchequers.
Click to expand...

That appears rather selective. No mention of the 2008 crash, caused by the deregulation of banks?
 
guest said:
According to the Guardian, of the 5 worst economic disasters of last 100 years, Labour inaugurated 3 out 5 of them.
Click to expand...

The overwhelming majority of academic economists would disagree with him. Also most central bankers and treasury officials.

guest said:
"We used to think that you could spend your way out of a recession and increase employment by cutting taxes and boosting government spending. I tell you in all candour that that option no longer exists, and in so far as it ever did exist, it only worked on each occasion since the war by injecting a bigger dose of inflation into the economy, followed by a higher level of unemployment as the next step."
Click to expand...

Like most such quotes its compelling because it's half true rather than just nonsense, but the point is the early 70s were almost 50 years ago and the question is what has changed since then? And what have we learnt? Outside of Tory circles and Thatcher fetishist newspapers the answer is a lot.

Go back to Osborne's big mistake -- he took a voluntary policy decision that has resulted in our economy contracting and being significantly smaller now than it should be. He literally attempted to expand the economy by contracting it! He basically chose to do to ourselves what ET is so keen to remind us the EU did to the Greeks against their will.

And yet we look at Labour and they are the ones with a sophisticated monetary policy rule and a willingness to use fiscal policy. The Tories are still stuck in not understanding this stuff.

Or, to be more accurate, pretending not to understand this stuff because it's such an effective political weapon and they didn't really care about the economy.
 
Seanm said:

In a letter published in the Financial Times, the group said Labour’s plans to invest in homes, schools and infrastructure make “basic economic sense”, partly because borrowing costs are at a historic low.
​
Click to expand...

Something nobody ever seems to explain - if we do borrow heavily now, not just for investment in genuine infrastructure improvement projects that potentially bring back a return, but for other large ticket non-investment items such as WASPI women (~£58billion +) - when would we plan to pay back these loans to return the debt level even back to where it is now? Interest rates may be at a historical low now, but what happens in future years if rates return to previous levels?
 
guest said:
According to the Guardian, of the 5 worst economic disasters of last 100 years, Labour inaugurated 3 out 5 of them.

https://www.theguardian.com/busines...onomic-disasters-20th-century-black-wednesday

Stagflation was first brought to UK under Labour stewardship.

Callaghan/ Healy partnership to conference:
"We used to think that you could spend your way out of a recession and increase employment by cutting taxes and boosting government spending. I tell you in all candour that that option no longer exists, and in so far as it ever did exist, it only worked on each occasion since the war by injecting a bigger dose of inflation into the economy, followed by a higher level of unemployment as the next step."

Hardly a blemish-free record by Labour Chancellors of the Exchequers.
Click to expand...

There was a shortage of “stuff” at that time, now with the developing world turning out more “stuff” than we can use, inflation is not really a problem. Of course if you no longer have a well paying job and cannot afford to buy “stuff” then inflation looks huge.
 
notaclue said:
Do we have a pre-election kerfuffle?

Laura K could be looking at prison sentence for this https://twitter.com/asankade/status/1204777087485255685

Confirmed by this https://twitter.com/ElectoralCommUK/status/1204790546675437573
Click to expand...
The grim reality is that these distortions of the norms no longer count. The select committee report into U.K. election interference, suppressed by a PM going into a GE. Threats made to the judiciary, broadcasters, illegally suspending parliament. These things are no longer shocking. People can see the nature of Johnson, they’re going to vote for him in full knowledge of that.
Read this again and shudder-

“We have a really good man who’s going to be the prime minister of the UK now. He’s tough and he’s smart. They’re saying, ‘Britain Trump’. They call him ‘Britain Trump’ and people are saying that’s a good thing”.
“They like me over there. That’s what they wanted. That’s what they need. He’ll get it done. Boris is good. He’s gonna do a good job”.
 
I reckon the only possible* silver lining for Corbynistas this election will be Kuenssberg's resignation (aka sacking).

* I say 'possible' as she'll probably still be around long after Corbyn is gone. Reporting fondly on Prime Minister Boris' triumphant trip to America in 2022 to promote British marmalade after exports plummet and the economy collapses.

Update: Nope, not even going to get that https://www.theguardian.com/media/2...itical-editors-postal-vote-comments-broke-law
 
Peter Oborne doesn't seem to like Boris much:

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...stroy-britain-conservative-revolutionary-sect

Last paragraph:

"We have a strong Conservative candidate here in Brentford and Isleworth, a local woman named Seena Shah. I’ve seen her in action and in normal times I’d vote for her. Shah represents hope for the future. But she is much too good for Boris Johnson and the wrecking crew that surrounds him. I believe they want to destroy the Britain I’ve lived in and loved all my life."
 
Status
Not open for further replies.


advertisement


Back
Top