Laban thinks - along with the rest of the sentient world - that they're inevitable no matter who gets in. Cast your minds back to the last Labour government to hit a really big, global crisis - the 1929-31 MacDonald administration. When the crisis hit then, the options, not mutually exclusive, were
a) come off gold standard. Today’s equivalent - letting the currency fall. This is happening now - but so much manufacturing has been destroyed - more than under Thatcher - that it’s having little effect on our balance of payments. So that weapon is blunted.
b) cut Govt spending. This broke Labour in half and led (via a run on the pound) to the National Government, which did make cuts. No party at the time considered printing money, which is how the current deficits are being funded. Whoever gets in will have to make cuts - the only question is whether we’ll need a sterling collapse/gilts strike to force them (Labour win or perhaps a hung Parliament) or whether they’ll be done straight off (Tory win).
c) introduce tariffs. Not many people know this, but the UK actually weathered the depression relatively well compared to the US. Tariffs plus ‘Imperial Preference’ did a pretty good job, considering. But it’s most unlikely we’ll do tariffs - we’re in the EU so we can’t, Labour are just as 'free' market as the Tories - and anyway, no Empire, and no ’sterling currency area’.
So we did all 3 in the 30s - and while it was bad, it could have been worse.
But now ? Cuts are the only option. We have no other choices bar the Weimar/Zimbabwe route.
Be great if it were otherwise and we could trade our way out of recession, selling our world-class machine tools to China and our hi-tech medical diagnostic equipment worldwide. (Joke).
But we don’t make things any more to trade with* !
* of course that's not strictly true. Exports are rising - it's just that imports are rising faster. But what manufacturing we do have is now mostly foreign-owned. See what happened to the steelworks at Teeside last week to realise what that means when times are tough. Indeed apart from Rolls Royce, the only hi-tech major industries that ain't been flogged yet are some of the defence industries - which are likely to be hit by government cuts. Personally I'd sack all the social workers and probation officers before cutting a single hi-tech job - they can retrain as prison officers for the massive expansion. I can dream...
15 comments:
But we are already trying the Zimbabwe tactics.
Google "Helicopter Ben", "helicopter printing press." to learn about the massive inflation they are creating.
Yes he's American be we are using the exact same 'logic'.
We just don't see the inflation yet because of the collapse of easy 'credit', but soon it will work its way into the system.
Only 1 comment and Anon already beat me too it.
If Labour win they'll undercook the cuts and overcook the borrowing and money printing.
Remember the conventional wisdom of economists, even those in the UK, is that it is dangerous to cut government spending "at the early stages of the recovery" and economists don't accept that you can have a high rate of inflation in a week economy.
"But we don’t make things any more to trade with"
This is at the core of the UK's financial problems. The govt lie away about how our fiscal crisis is no worse than Germany's or France's but they produce stuff with which to pay off any debts they may accumulate. For the UK the City is a busted flush and anyway the EU is going to emasculate it in the next decade if Darling's measures dont do the job first. And apart from the City we have nothing.
Its hard to imagine that only 60 years ago Britain was one of the world's leading technological and industrial powers and a gentle society to boot.
I would nt even describe Britain today as a third-world country. At least most such, whilst technologically adrift have a cohesive society based on family and folk and underpinned by custom. Britain has become something quite ghastly. No anchors, no standards, nothing to belong to or spiritually uplift (in a non-religious sense). Britain is putting up two fingers at Nature (not to mention economics) and will pay the heaviest for its foolishness.
Just how ghastly things get will be seen after the next election when the borrowing (or lending) is switched off and the government of the day inflates like crazy as the only way to manage its unpayable debts. I really think the supermarket shelves will empty when this happens. Farmers here and abroad will get a better return for their produce elsewhere.
And yet at this time when the Deluge is in plain sight and the corruption and incompetence of the political elite has been laid bare for all to vomit over the good folk of Nuneaton have just replaced a BNP councillor with a Labour scrote.
We really do deserve everything we are going to get.
"Personally I'd sack all the social workers and probation officers before cutting a single hi-tech job - they can retrain as prison officers for the massive expansion. I can dream..."
Were you really once a Guardian reading paid up leftie?
our hi-tech medical diagnostic equipment
I do believe the dear old Blighty is actually pretty damned world class on the medical devices front.
But there is only so much of a market for these things, they only employ a few highly skilled specialists and they only make so much money.
And, I gather that up until recently the UK manufactured, more cars than in the '70s. Although that might be because they were always on strike in the '70s, and of course we used to actually own the factories in the '70s.
But yeah, the globalists have well and truly screwed the country.
From my very limited research in this area, I understand the BNP want to up the barriers and go the Korea route, UKIP are free traders but have some great ideas (or at least Mark Wadsworth does) such as LVT and citizens dividend.
The LibLabCon are all globalists. Being globalists hasn't helped Portugal, Greece, Spain or Ireland and I'm not convinced its going to do us any good.
So, where do we go from here?
"Not many people know this, but the UK actually weathered the depression relatively well compared to the US. Tariffs plus ‘Imperial Preference’ did a pretty good job, considering."
Not many know it because the greedy globalists on the right and their mindless dupes on the left don't want them to know about it. Protecting our people and assets is a VERY BAD THING, the left will say it it is wicked because as we well know everything we built up came from slavery and exploitation, and no British person ever did an honest day's graft in their lives.
I fear our national story is done, the tale is ended.
I did read that Dave Cameron is descended from John Talbot, a mighty warrior of the 15th century who imopressed the French greatly. But this is a very small hook ro hang hope upon.
The Westminster farce of "representative" democracy is no good for us.
We need another Oliver
Cometh the hour, cometh the man, but there's nobody around.
The army is building bridges in Cumbria, Dannatt has something about him. I'd like to see a coup and a siege economy and condign punishment for traitors. Maybe there could be a Nominated Patliament; like Barebones
Blair would be a good start as regards traitors.
There's a long list to work through so the legal flummery would need cutting back
I'm not optimistic about the Tories gaining a outright majority. Labour has spent the last twelve years expanding the public sector by creating non-jobs, and marking the box for your Conservative candidate for this coterie is akin to geese voting for Christmas.
Then there are all the "new Britons" who are almost certainly going to offer their grateful thanks for gaining citizenship.
Also in my personal and professional life, I know people who are still going to vote Labour, and what's more they will not hear a single word said against them. Needless to say, that standard ad hominem "right-wing" is bandied about, when I mention the total mess this country is in. After that comes the patronising, "Oh but they did introduce the minimum wage," and worse, "They've done such a lot for black people." Gee thanks, that makes me feel so good.
Give me strength. I know, I know I should look for new friends...
"Labour’s recent bounce in the polls has meant that party chiefs are now preparing for an early March 25 poll.
Going to the polls then would mean Labour could avoid an awkward pre-election budget statement, when it might have been forced to reveal the true extent of the spending cuts required to close the £178 billion deficit."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6954609.ece
Typical
"Also in my personal and professional life, I know people who are still going to vote Labour, and what's more they will not hear a single word said against them. " foxy
Also typical - middle class liberal twattery. These people won't change until they are impacted personally just like the "WWC" have been. Min wage legislation isn't much good to you if you can't get a job because millions of immigrants have been let in, some of whom will certainly work off the books for less in any case. Same with housing, what a total disaster - though maybe the regime plan is that the chronic shortage will cause another house price bubble aka economic miracle.
If Labour are reelected then there will obviously an Irish style emergency budget afterwards, with deep cuts. The overwhelming sense of betrayal and realisation that the regime has no mandate, having got in by lies and trickery, will hasten extra-Parliamentary regime change hopefully when the full direness has emerged.
"They've done such a lot for black people."
I don’t know what Labour have done for Black people, apart from cast them as perpetual victims, which sounds a bit patronising to me and could hardly be confused with respect.
But what they have done, for which Black people (amongst others) might be wrongly blamed by some people, is foster an atmosphere of anti-racist McCarthyism - where a mere accusation is enough to condemn someone. There is no need for evidence when an accusation of racism is made. Someone just needs to point the finger and utter the magic word: “Racist!!!”. Word will spread, and a lynch mob will form to taunt the allegedly wrongthinking wrongdoing wrongdoer. Nobody in these mobs ever seem to ask “well, what is it he has actually done, or even said?”.
Of course this predates 1997, but it is very much a child of the Left. I have personal experience of this going back over 25 years. And I am thoroughly sick of it. So much so that 4 years ago I eventually snapped. I am not a hot head and rarely lose my temper but there is only so much of this anyone can take.
Why am I an ‘evil racist’? I have no idea, but it maybe because observations and comments I’ve made about things I’ve seen and experienced. It turns out that almost everything I’ve witnessed and commented on can be confirmed by official statistics. I don’t go around bringing these things into conversation, but if someone else mentions these things I might mention just what it is I’ve seen and experienced.
But I suspect it’s really more to do with me being me being a White working class male. The irony of accusing someone else of prejudice based on nothing else other than your own prejudice always seems to go over their heads. Actually I treat individuals as I find them – although nowadays lefties are an exception to this rule. But what would I know. I didn’t go to University when I was 18 and therefore I’m thick and must be a wife beating racist, after all everyone knows what those ghastly oiks are like.
But I’ll tell you how much of an evil racist I am, here is a handful of true anecdotes:
Up until the year 2000, for 9 years I lived next door to a little old Black lady from Barbados. These were terraced houses, and to a certain extent you live on top of eachother. I used to chat to her over the garden wall. We weren’t in each others pockets but I think we were good neighbours. We helped her a little bit when she was burgled. Her grandson used to play with my daughter in the street. One day he asked me to fix his bike. Stuff like that. When I told her we were moving out, she burst into tears and hugged me - in the middle of the street! She was a bit of a character, but I have no reason to believe she was mentally ill. I was quite touched by it.
We moved to the West Indies. To the BVI. There was a cafe/bar I used to go to, which was in the main used by expats and tourists. I used to go there because it was the only bar on my favourite beach. There was a Rastafarian there who used to work there. He was about my age and I used to chat to him about nothing much, but whatever came into my head. One day he sat down next to me and taught me a funny handshake where you bang knuckles together and then shake eachothers wrists. I can’t remember exactly how it went. An expat couple who were my neighbours saw this. They were a very likeable couple, in their fifties, but to Guardianistas would probably think of them as typical Daily Mail types. The woman remarked “I saw that rasta do that funny handshake with you” eyeing me suspiciously is if I had just concluded a major drugs deal. I kept a poker face but in my head I was laughing out loud. Everytime I saw him after that, we’d do the funny handshake. I don’t know what it meant but it seemed to say “you’re allright mate”. I never saw him do with any other White person.
3 years ago, I found myself sitting next to an Arab. We were both waiting for something to happen. An announcement had been made and there was going to be a delay. We struck up a conversation. I’ve got quite a broad general knowledge and I can talk about a lot of things although maybe not in much depth. We had a wide ranging conversation, digressing all over the place, lasting over an hour but less than two. He was an accountant from Kuwait although I got the impression that wasn’t his home country. His English was excellent. An announcement came that what we were both waiting for was about to happen and we both stood up. He turned to me and said, “you have a good heart”. This was quite out of the blue and I was taken aback, not least because I could see from his facial expression and his body language that he really meant it. Again, I was quite touched.
That’s how much of an ‘evil racist’ I am.
I could tell more but that’ll do.
Now you could think these anecdotes are rather a long winded way of saying ‘I’m not a racist but...’. But when people like me are getting the accusation over and over again, that is not only intolerable, but the Left are creating their own enemies from ordinary people. Because, when I go into the polling booths I might just think, as I am an evil racist perhaps I should vote for the evil racist party, to poke those bastards who created this McCarthylike atmosphere in the eye.
Like you, I need to find new friends, and whoever they are, they certainly cannot be lefties. The left are beyond hope and reason.
Don’t take my little rant as in anyway meant as a dig at you Foxy. I don’t think it could be misinterpreted as such. I’ve seen you around and you seem like a nice person.
CaptainZlog,
The racists under the bed ideology predates 1997, but it was largely confined to inner-city London boroughs such as Hackney, Haringey and Lambeth. Outside this milieu the UK had become an incredibly cohesive nation. I even remember being judged according to the content of my character.
Does anyone remember that Tory election campaign poster from the mid-1970s (still to be found in sociology books of the period). It shows a suited and booted young black man, beneath which is the slogan:
Labour say he's black, we say he's British.
You're right to say that depicting black Caribbeans and Africans as victims is patronising and demeaning, I believe that Labour's anti-racism is inherently racist. In the world of the liberal left, all Sun/Daily Mail/Telegraph readers are nazis. But, paradoxically those digusted-from-Tunbridge Wells retired colonels and men with George Crosses on their delivery vans are, in actual fact, more tolerant. They want incomers to assimilate, and adopt the cultural norms of the nation.
They are the true progressives.
The trouble with cutting is that it will just increase the job queue.
The only way out I can see is large scale outsourcing, and massive grants for small business start ups and grants for green/ medical / genetic technologies.
Once you have outsourced large portions of the public sector stuff, you then jettison the unnecessary stuff (hitch hikers guide anyone).
You can keep people off the job queue with massive bureaucracies(i.e. now), or by funding high risk start ups - at least the latter may produce something useful in the end.
Al
"But, paradoxically those digusted-from-Tunbridge Wells retired colonels and men with George Crosses on their delivery vans are, in actual fact, more tolerant. They want incomers to assimilate, and adopt the cultural norms of the nation.
They are the true progressives."
Wouldn't have said that Stow on the Wold is "progressive" foxy judging by recent conversation with locals ib splendid pub, big map with a quarter of the world in red on the wall.
View was that there were simply too many foreigners allegedly "enriching" us.
The numbers game is everything. We are looking at something very nasty and dangerous, various diasporas foing their own thing with nothing to hold it together and grievances and entitlements rampant.
For many of our towns and cities this is simply a colonisation event.
The nation is being disintegrated, on the economic, social and ethnic level - there is less and less to integrate into
Sgt. Troy,
Isn't it funny that I'd much rather buy your drinking comrades at the Stow on the Wold a round of drinks than I would a group of north Londoners?
Out-sourcing will lead to corporate welfare scamming, which will then balloon.
Look at America, whose economy is being destroyed by Corporate Welfare scammers like Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Lockheed (failed aviation company subsidised by the taxpayer), Northrop Grumman (repeatedly bailed out), Halliburton (stealing from the US taxpayer thanks to Bush's "cost-plus").
"Grants" and "Taxbreaks" advocated by so-called conservatives will lead to a Corporate Welfare Economy.
As Conservatives, you people should be against grants being given out to anyone, as that's Welfare.
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