Off Topic The Politics Thread

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Listened on 5live. Sounded like a rerun of his election campaign. I've got no idea what he's actually going to do. Maybe Royston can fill in some of the detail?
 
So now we know. He's going to tear upthe Paris agreement and use huge amounts of fossil fuel to kick-start industry. All talk of climate change is barred in the White House. God help our grandchildren.
 
DonCorleone said:
The myth that the tories are always clearing up labours mess is easily debunked. Only two labour governments have left office with national debt higher than it was when they came into power. Every other labour government have lowered debt as a percentage of GDP. Those two governments coincided with the 1929 Wall Street crash and the global recession back in 08.

In osbournes first three years as exchequer, he added more to the national debt than the 'irresponsible' Labour Party did in the previous 13 years. In 4 years he added more debt in real terms than every labour chancellor combined. Does increasing national debt by 26% in 5 years (compared to labours 11% in 13 years, with a major recession to boot) count as clearing up labours mess?

He oversaw the UK being stripped of its AAA credit rating, along with the longest sustained decline in wages in economic history. Missed almost all economic targets.

As a result of osbournes austerity, there has been a massive rebalance of the economy. A huge increase in wealth for the 1% and a large reduction in the living standards of the majority. Mainly due to wage repression, cuts to in-work benefits, inflation in the costs of transport, fuel, housing and food. The increased vat rate doesn't help, either.

So, despite the Tory mantra of austerity, to justify their campaign of social security cuts, infrastructure neglect and hasty privatisations, the Tories haven't saved any money at all. In fact they've borrowed and borrowed and borrowed. Austerity is a scam designed to do nothing more than transfer wealth from the poor and ordinary to the super rich.

The Tory party have absolutely no interest in saving money. They are just doing precisely what they have always done - which is to serve the interests of the wealthy establishment minority at the expense of the rest of society. They have dressed up their same old Thatcherite policies (hasty privatisations, deregulated financial markets, defunding of government services, wage repression for the majority, tax cuts for corporations and the super rich) as the medicine to cure an economic crisis that was caused by these exact same policies.

1/10 for dear George.
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Don,
I am surprised at you mate..

Like you I am an Accountant and we both know how figures can easily be misrepresented to the financially untrained. The debt to GDP was increasing massively in the last few years of the last Labour Administration partly due to the 2008 crash and partly due to the Labour Government spending bribe to keep office in 2010
Government spending in 2009 was 49.6% of GDP which Osbourne had reduced to 43.2% in 2015 and falling and as we both know Debt to GDP increases because central government spends more money than it receives and the only way to reduce debt is to run a surplus which with the demands of NHS/Education/National Defence/Social Security is almost impossible. Don't get me wrong I did not like Cameron/Osbourne in the slightest but blaming him for losing the AAA rating is a bit strong <laugh> the UK lost its AAA rating because of Brexit which Osbourne campaigned strongly against.

As I said I am not a strong Tory voter, I hate the Lib Dems with a passion, I respected Harold Wilson, Michael Foot, John Smith and perhaps surprisingly Tony Benn I will only ever vote UKIP at European elections... I guess I am a slightly 'right of centre' swing voter.
 
DonCorleone said:
I'm not a labour fan, nor was I alive in 1979 so that's irrelevant to my post.

Unemployment is indeed low - recovery of the global economy is always going to lead to more jobs. Whilst low unemployment is always a good thing, how many are on zero hour minimum wage contracts?

As for inflation, again low and stable -Benefits and negatives to that.

My post was mainly regarding Osbourne, as he and Cameron continually spoke about the mess they inherited, But Osbournes austerity has lead to a huge increase in national debt and lower living standards for the average Brit. Those are two things that cannot be refuted.


Living standards have collapsed under the Tory government, though?

I agree Corbyn would be a disaster, but nuclear disarmament is his only sensible policy.
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Even bigger shocker, I had you nailed down for 50 - mid 50s!
 
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Nigel Leafblower said:
Unfortunately I am old enough to remember 1979, when during Jim Callaghan's Winter of Discontent the dead went unburied, rubbish piled up in the streets, and hospital operations were cancelled. We had spiralling unemployment at that time, and inflation rates in excess of 20%. Hence union wage demands for 20% plus increases. Crisis, what crisis ? It took a Conservative Government to come in and tame the trades unions, smashing Marxists like Scargill and the miners along the way, and begin through privatisation the reform of state monoliths like British Steel, British Coal and British Leyland. And British Gas and British Telecom. Under Labour the State decided when you could have a telephone installed, and how many spoilers your Austin Allegro would have. So forgive me Don for suggesting that the Conservatives cleared up a little bit of an economic crisis there.

Regarding Osborne and your 1/10 - PMSL <laugh>

Not the best, but by no means the worst either. Unemployment and inflation remained historically very low, and lots of good work was done on supply side measures like apprenticeships. Labour from 1997 until the banking crisis ran an historically high deficit because they were wedded to spending on pet projects. One example - Gordon Brown's barmy Working Tax Credits - basically a bribe to make working people vote Labour. This budget increased by more than tenfold. Why is the State paying a working man a top up ??.

As for private equity - PMSL again.

Remind me who introduced the truly disastrous PFI into the NHS. Remind me again who introduced University Tuition Fees, having promised in their manifesto not to do so.

Labour makes the mess, Conservatives clear it up :emoticon-0148-yes:
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PSML? I imagine you're wearing a baseball cap backwards like Hague. You'll be posting Pepe memes on here any day now
 
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Drumpf hasn't had a good start. Such a thin skinned man should not be in charge of the most powerful country on earth.
 
DonCorleone said:
Drumpf hasn't had a good start. Such a thin skinned man should not be in charge of the most powerful country on earth.
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Waging war on the free press doesn't seem a wise move, especially when they are only reporting the truth. Maybe, like Julius Caesar, he needs an aide to be constantly whispering in his ear "Remember you are mortal".
 
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Yesterday's demo's were quite heartening. Reminded you that not all Americans are morons, they are the country which gave us Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Paul Robeson, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Miles Davis, Andy Warhol, Steven Spielberg, Naom Chomski, Kurt Vonnigut, Ray Bradbury Elvis Presley, etc etc etc.
 
ForestHillBilly said:
Yesterday's demo's were quite heartening. Reminded you that not all Americans are morons, they are the country which gave us Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Paul Robeson, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Miles Davis, Andy Warhol, Steven Spielberg, Naom Chomski, Kurt Vonnigut, Ray Bradbury Elvis Presley, etc etc etc.
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Don't forget Corey Gibbs!
 
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