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These 185 comments are related to an article called:

Tories’ Top Ten Crimes Against Britain

Page 6 of 8

posted on 4/7/24

comment by Robbing Hoody - I want to play by my own rules and if I can’t I’ll sue you (U6374)
posted 8 minutes ago
comment by Darren The String Fletcher (U10026)
posted 2 minutes ago
I’m sure there was a Tory mp that came our recently and said they didn’t need enact the austerity policies that they did.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I can’t remember her name but she did a tour to highlight the absolute misery it caused.
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Like something from a horror movie. I don’t believe in spirits and possession, but it was like the spirit of someone with a conscience had possessed a Tory mp.

posted on 4/7/24

comment by Darren The String Fletcher (U10026)
posted 9 seconds ago
comment by Robbing Hoody - I want to play by my own rules and if I can’t I’ll sue you (U6374)
posted 8 minutes ago
comment by Darren The String Fletcher (U10026)
posted 2 minutes ago
I’m sure there was a Tory mp that came our recently and said they didn’t need enact the austerity policies that they did.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I can’t remember her name but she did a tour to highlight the absolute misery it caused.
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Like something from a horror movie. I don’t believe in spirits and possession, but it was like the spirit of someone with a conscience had possessed a Tory mp.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

She toured with a Labour MP

posted on 4/7/24

Ireland is the exception that proves the rule.

.............

Which voids any comment like "there is nothing in history to suggest it works", when there quite clearly is.

I think austerity may have worked for Spain as well.

posted on 4/7/24

VC

I’d recommend reading (firstly) Mark Blyth’s book Austerity, which scrutinises the history of austerity policies globally since the start of the 20th century, as well as discussing case study alternatives.

And Reinhardt and Rigoff’s Recovery from Financial Crises: Evidence from 100 Episodes.

There are numerous case studies across Europe since 2008. Portugal is one. Started disastrously in accepting IMF conditions, cut public sector pay and pensions, and the economy did nothing. Then in 2015, the socialist govt effectively said “fack this”, fully restored public sector pay, raised minimum wage and pension payouts (giving people more disposable income to pump back into the economy), started a huge infrastructure investment programme, and welcomed in external investment.

As a result, Portugal, one of the infamous PIIGS countries, saw its economy explode, paid off its IMF loan early, has seen, and is predicted to continue to see, considerably stronger growth than the UK, and now has a debt/GDP ratio *the same as the UK*.

How exactly has austerity helped the UK, when its debt is now in line that of PIIGS countries (whose debt was supposedly ready to bankrupt them), and its growth is still nowhere?

comment by Busby (U19985)

posted on 4/7/24

comment by Things Can Only Get Better (U11781)
posted 34 minutes ago
There are plenty of thing to bash Cameron with, I do not think austerity is one of them.


Why do you think public service is on its knees if austerity isn’t the reason then?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
What was the alternative? You can't spend money that isn't there.

I guess Labour will show us the alternative, and it'll be coming from our back pockets.

posted on 4/7/24

Even the facking IMF now agrees that austerity doesn’t work.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/27/austerity-policies-do-more-harm-than-good-imf-study-concludes

Its only defenders now really are the German ordoliberal ideologues, whose core economic theory hasn’t really evolved since the 1940s/50s.

It has been completely discredited as an economic model.

posted on 4/7/24

comment by Robbing Hoody - I want to play by my own rules and if I can’t I’ll sue you (U6374)
posted 12 minutes ago
comment by Darren The String Fletcher (U10026)
posted 9 seconds ago
comment by Robbing Hoody - I want to play by my own rules and if I can’t I’ll sue you (U6374)
posted 8 minutes ago
comment by Darren The String Fletcher (U10026)
posted 2 minutes ago
I’m sure there was a Tory mp that came our recently and said they didn’t need enact the austerity policies that they did.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I can’t remember her name but she did a tour to highlight the absolute misery it caused.
----------------------------------------------------------------------


Like something from a horror movie. I don’t believe in spirits and possession, but it was like the spirit of someone with a conscience had possessed a Tory mp.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

She toured with a Labour MP
----------------------------------------------------------------------

posted on 4/7/24

comment by Busby (U19985)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Things Can Only Get Better (U11781)
posted 34 minutes ago
There are plenty of thing to bash Cameron with, I do not think austerity is one of them.


Why do you think public service is on its knees if austerity isn’t the reason then?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
What was the alternative? You can't spend money that isn't there.

I guess Labour will show us the alternative, and it'll be coming from our back pockets.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Have you ever read about Keynesian economics?

posted on 4/7/24

comment by rosso says the time has come to unlock the unlimited Pote-ntial of the Fernçalvenoo triumvirate (U17054)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Busby (U19985)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Things Can Only Get Better (U11781)
posted 34 minutes ago
There are plenty of thing to bash Cameron with, I do not think austerity is one of them.


Why do you think public service is on its knees if austerity isn’t the reason then?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
What was the alternative? You can't spend money that isn't there.

I guess Labour will show us the alternative, and it'll be coming from our back pockets.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Have you ever read a book?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ftfy.

comment by Busby (U19985)

posted on 4/7/24

comment by rosso says the time has come to unlock the unlimited Pote-ntial of the Fernçalvenoo triumvirate (U17054)
posted 5 seconds ago
Even the facking IMF now agrees that austerity doesn’t work.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/27/austerity-policies-do-more-harm-than-good-imf-study-concludes

Its only defenders now really are the German ordoliberal ideologues, whose core economic theory hasn’t really evolved since the 1940s/50s.

It has been completely discredited as an economic model.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The IMF have got plenty wrong, especially with predictions in the UK.

Saying that, there are numerous things which need improving; state of roads, railways, NHS (I think it's past being fixed now), lack of dentists, housing prices, water networks, polluted natural water, home heating systems.

Trouble is, most of the important stuff isn't even in Labours manifesto.

posted on 4/7/24

comment by rosso says the time has come to unlock the unlimited Pote-ntial of the Fernçalvenoo triumvirate (U17054)
posted 51 seconds ago
Even the facking IMF now agrees that austerity doesn’t work.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/27/austerity-policies-do-more-harm-than-good-imf-study-concludes

Its only defenders now really are the German ordoliberal ideologues, whose core economic theory hasn’t really evolved since the 1940s/50s.

It has been completely discredited as an economic model.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I enjoy this line Rosso

‘Today, the names Reinhart and Rogoff are renowned in much the same way as Fűkuyama and his ‘end of history’: false prophets whose academic work is most often a punchline.‘

posted on 4/7/24

I’d recommend reading (firstly) Mark Blyth’s book Austerity, which scrutinises the history of austerity policies globally since the start of the 20th century, as well as discussing case study alternatives.

...............

I don't need to mate, I am not for austerity myself in particular, and certainly not to the degree Osborne carried it out. The decline of Law and Order in the UK and the policies toward the NHS have proved that.

My point was to prove a particular comment wrong, which it was.

My interest now will be to see what Labour do, once they are given the keys to the cash register.

posted on 4/7/24

Well no, your initial point was that austerity was necessary, which in itself shows you’re completely clueless.

Now you’re dying on the hill of one example which would be moot had I added ‘at the time of implementation’.

posted on 4/7/24

comment by Busby (U19985)
posted 4 seconds ago
comment by rosso says the time has come to unlock the unlimited Pote-ntial of the Fernçalvenoo triumvirate (U17054)
posted 5 seconds ago
Even the facking IMF now agrees that austerity doesn’t work.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/27/austerity-policies-do-more-harm-than-good-imf-study-concludes

Its only defenders now really are the German ordoliberal ideologues, whose core economic theory hasn’t really evolved since the 1940s/50s.

It has been completely discredited as an economic model.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The IMF have got plenty wrong, especially with predictions in the UK.

Saying that, there are numerous things which need improving; state of roads, railways, NHS (I think it's past being fixed now), lack of dentists, housing prices, water networks, polluted natural water, home heating systems.

Trouble is, most of the important stuff isn't even in Labours manifesto.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think you’re missing the point a little.

The very architects of austerity in Europe post-2008, who were being told by economists everywhere that their plan was a very bad idea, now agree that the whole enterprise was a mistake. Their own data has told them that. There aren’t any holdouts now, other than possibly the ECB (the Germans, who have their fingers in their ears and eyes shut).

Many economists proposed alternatives to austerity, with the central common driver being the *fact* that you cannot cut your way out of an economic slump. We knew that, very unfortunately, by the end of the 1930s. You might be able to wrestle debt down (which, by the way, the UK has spectacularly failed to do), but you won’t reignite growth that way, and you’ll cause a an awful lot of people an awful lot of pain in doing so.

Alternative ideas include combinations of activist and interventionist industrial strategy, cutting middle-class benefits to fund infrastructure spending, national investment bank-driven stimulus, ‘Robin Hood’ taxes, and (longer term) leveraging government assets to invest in innovation, skills and enterprise.

posted on 4/7/24

comment by Robbing Hoody - I want to play by my own rules and if I can’t I’ll sue you (U6374)
posted 9 minutes ago
comment by rosso says the time has come to unlock the unlimited Pote-ntial of the Fernçalvenoo triumvirate (U17054)
posted 51 seconds ago
Even the facking IMF now agrees that austerity doesn’t work.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/27/austerity-policies-do-more-harm-than-good-imf-study-concludes

Its only defenders now really are the German ordoliberal ideologues, whose core economic theory hasn’t really evolved since the 1940s/50s.

It has been completely discredited as an economic model.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I enjoy this line Rosso

‘Today, the names Reinhart and Rogoff are renowned in much the same way as Fűkuyama and his ‘end of history’: false prophets whose academic work is most often a punchline.‘
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Lol, where is that from?

posted on 4/7/24

Rosso

https://tribunemag.co.uk/2023/04/how-austerity-ruined-britain#:~:text=Even%20on%20its%20own%20terms,found%20to%20contain%20critical%20errors.

Decent read imo

posted on 4/7/24

Well no, your initial point was that austerity was necessary, which in itself shows you’re completely clueless.

..................

Well it was, unless you think the UK should have carried on spending money it didn't have.

There was reason why the UK was not the only country to go into austerity after the economic crash, which happened under Labours watch, if you want to go there as well.

comment by Busby (U19985)

posted on 4/7/24

comment by rosso says the time has come to unlock the unlimited Pote-ntial of the Fernçalvenoo triumvirate (U17054)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by Busby (U19985)
posted 4 seconds ago
comment by rosso says the time has come to unlock the unlimited Pote-ntial of the Fernçalvenoo triumvirate (U17054)
posted 5 seconds ago
Even the facking IMF now agrees that austerity doesn’t work.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/27/austerity-policies-do-more-harm-than-good-imf-study-concludes

Its only defenders now really are the German ordoliberal ideologues, whose core economic theory hasn’t really evolved since the 1940s/50s.

It has been completely discredited as an economic model.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The IMF have got plenty wrong, especially with predictions in the UK.

Saying that, there are numerous things which need improving; state of roads, railways, NHS (I think it's past being fixed now), lack of dentists, housing prices, water networks, polluted natural water, home heating systems.

Trouble is, most of the important stuff isn't even in Labours manifesto.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think you’re missing the point a little.

The very architects of austerity in Europe post-2008, who were being told by economists everywhere that their plan was a very bad idea, now agree that the whole enterprise was a mistake. Their own data has told them that. There aren’t any holdouts now, other than possibly the ECB (the Germans, who have their fingers in their ears and eyes shut).

Many economists proposed alternatives to austerity, with the central common driver being the *fact* that you cannot cut your way out of an economic slump. We knew that, very unfortunately, by the end of the 1930s. You might be able to wrestle debt down (which, by the way, the UK has spectacularly failed to do), but you won’t reignite growth that way, and you’ll cause a an awful lot of people an awful lot of pain in doing so.

Alternative ideas include combinations of activist and interventionist industrial strategy, cutting middle-class benefits to fund infrastructure spending, national investment bank-driven stimulus, ‘Robin Hood’ taxes, and (longer term) leveraging government assets to invest in innovation, skills and enterprise.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
And there in lies the issue, Labour will not go with "Robin Hood" taxes, but take from the middle class instead, who have already been squeezed since 2021.

posted on 4/7/24

‘which happened under Labours watch’

Who had this pearler in the moron bingo?

You have yourself a nice day Vidic

posted on 4/7/24

comment by Robbing Hoody - I want to play by my own rules and if I can’t I’ll sue you (U6374)
posted 12 minutes ago
Rosso

https://tribunemag.co.uk/2023/04/how-austerity-ruined-britain#:~:text=Even%20on%20its%20own%20terms,found%20to%20contain%20critical%20errors.

Decent read imo
----------------------------------------------------------------------

posted on 4/7/24

Literally the only things Brown had to do with the 2008 collapse were failing to address the wholesale deregulation of the financial sector, which had been going on worldwide under right and left of centre governments for 30-odd years (and remains to this day), and the recapitalisation of the banks, which the vast majority of people thought, and think to this day, was a good idea.

posted on 4/7/24

comment by Busby (U19985)
posted 14 minutes ago
comment by rosso says the time has come to unlock the unlimited Pote-ntial of the Fernçalvenoo triumvirate (U17054)
posted 3 minutes ago
comment by Busby (U19985)
posted 4 seconds ago
comment by rosso says the time has come to unlock the unlimited Pote-ntial of the Fernçalvenoo triumvirate (U17054)
posted 5 seconds ago
Even the facking IMF now agrees that austerity doesn’t work.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/27/austerity-policies-do-more-harm-than-good-imf-study-concludes

Its only defenders now really are the German ordoliberal ideologues, whose core economic theory hasn’t really evolved since the 1940s/50s.

It has been completely discredited as an economic model.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The IMF have got plenty wrong, especially with predictions in the UK.

Saying that, there are numerous things which need improving; state of roads, railways, NHS (I think it's past being fixed now), lack of dentists, housing prices, water networks, polluted natural water, home heating systems.

Trouble is, most of the important stuff isn't even in Labours manifesto.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think you’re missing the point a little.

The very architects of austerity in Europe post-2008, who were being told by economists everywhere that their plan was a very bad idea, now agree that the whole enterprise was a mistake. Their own data has told them that. There aren’t any holdouts now, other than possibly the ECB (the Germans, who have their fingers in their ears and eyes shut).

Many economists proposed alternatives to austerity, with the central common driver being the *fact* that you cannot cut your way out of an economic slump. We knew that, very unfortunately, by the end of the 1930s. You might be able to wrestle debt down (which, by the way, the UK has spectacularly failed to do), but you won’t reignite growth that way, and you’ll cause a an awful lot of people an awful lot of pain in doing so.

Alternative ideas include combinations of activist and interventionist industrial strategy, cutting middle-class benefits to fund infrastructure spending, national investment bank-driven stimulus, ‘Robin Hood’ taxes, and (longer term) leveraging government assets to invest in innovation, skills and enterprise.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
And there in lies the issue, Labour will not go with "Robin Hood" taxes, but take from the middle class instead, who have already been squeezed since 2021.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

and it is the middle class who have the greatest spending power overall so to take more from them hurts the economy/growth more.

posted on 4/7/24

comment by Robbing Hoody - I want to play by my own rules and if I can’t I’ll sue you (U6374)
posted 23 minutes ago
‘which happened under Labours watch’

Who had this pearler in the moron bingo?

You have yourself a nice day Vidic
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The treasury note will be next.

posted on 4/7/24

comment by rosso says the time has come to unlock the unl... (U17054)
posted 1 minute ago
Literally the only things Brown had to do with the 2008 collapse were failing to address the wholesale deregulation of the financial sector, which had been going on worldwide under right and left of centre governments for 30-odd years (and remains to this day), and the recapitalisation of the banks, which the vast majority of people thought, and think to this day, was a good idea.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

He/Labour may not have materially contributed to the cause but he took us into that period having ignored calls to slow down spending and address the deficit (which would have been a massive political winner, as it would have taken such ammo away from the Tories).

Despite "good times" (largely off a growing global economy) , spending was going up, taxes were going up and the deficit was going up, then Boom!

Brown was to our economy what Risdale was to Leeds' finances !

posted on 4/7/24

comment by Robbing Hoody - I want to play by my own rules and if I can’t I’ll sue you (U6374)
posted 27 minutes ago

‘which happened under Labours watch’

Who had this pearler in the moron bingo?

You have yourself a nice day Vidic

....................

Badly worded by me. Britain's part in the global economic crisis happened under Labours watch.

Page 6 of 8

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