The Budget

[threegee]

Some sleight of hand worthy of Gordo here.  Once again he's wildly missed his debt targets. So, to make the books balance, he's moved £8BN of cuts forward into the next parliament. You only get to know this if you read the small print - no mention in the speech.

This is rather like saying my company is insolvent, but it's OK because the next management will be making a huge profit to cover all my astonishing book losses - honest gov!

[mercuryg]

It's great isn't it, this repeated juggling of the country's finances!

[Malcolm Robinson]

and the debt keeps rolling up......................

 

http://www.nationaldebtclock.co.uk

[threegee]

The thing is due to leaks everyone now knows that he was about to make a massive attack on pensions.  He was persuaded that this would not be a good idea before the referendum, so we know this isn't really a full budget.  Once again politics is being put before the national interest, and the public are being treated as fools.

Supposing you were shareholders in a company and two posh boys from Eaton turned up and said we apply for the jobs of MD & Finance Director.  You ask them what business experience they have had, and they say oh, that's all old thinking, we've never had one of those business job things, but we've both done this great uni course on politics and economics, and so we know it all. Besides, we know loads of people on the same course, and there's our other posh school friends too, who we'll place in all the key company positions. It will all work out fine, and we'll all have a absolutely ripping time - you can take our word for that.

Then, for lack of real and experienced applicants, the other shareholders appoint them to run the company. The only sane thing to do would be to ring a broker and tell him to sell all your shares as fast as possible and for anything he can get!  Is it any wonder that Donald Trump is now getting huge support, and US voters are rejecting candidates approved of by the Republican Party?  If a party here were to select any business leader with a decent track record they'd get elected by a landslide. They wouldn't of course, because he'd ignore all their pet theories, would refuse to appoint any of their chummies, and all that party's political hacks and hangers-on would get the sack.

[Maggie/915]

Now what about 'Bread and Circus'

At least the shows are in town.

Also important football matches this weekend. 'Come on Morpeth'

[threegee]

1 hour ago, Maggie/915 said:

Now what about 'Bread and Circus'

At least the shows are in town.

Also important football matches this weekend. 'Come on Morpeth'

The tickets for the Circus and that bread is on a credit card that we'll never be able to repay.  What's more (and unlike an actual credit card) the final bill with accumulated interest and other charges will be presented to our grandchildren and their children to pay. Visit Malcolm's link, if you dare, to see the size of the demand today!

Enjoy your circus, but appreciate that when someone reads your posts a generation or two hence (and advanced search technology will ensure that they are easily found) they aren't going to go down too well.

Blaming other people (the Labour way) will not contribute a penny to the bill, and this Tory government is actually no better because it is playing Tony Blair / Gordon Brown's game from only a slightly different angle.  Tiny Norway has shown us the way to put our affairs in order and neuter our politicos.  We need to take a few lessons from those very wise people and - for a very good start - tell the EU apparatchiks to get out of our hair (and our fishing grounds).  That's not "isolationism", it's squarely facing up to world markets, and not trying to hide under the skirts of a doomed cartel.

Come on UK, and wake up England!

[threegee]

Here's some more political sleight of hand:   You know that much vaunted Budget Responsibility and National Audit Act 2011  and how we were going to be totally financially responsible from now on?  Well, goodness, no one ever told us that the Chancellor is allowed to abandon it because of "lower than expected growth", did they?  And... at its first real test, guess what?!

This is the Tory analogue of Gordon Brown's entirely unforeseen "global problem".  But, at least Gordon didn't waste acres of bureaucrat, lawyer, and parliamentary time setting up his pretence.  No, Gordon was simply an economics lecturer from a second-rate polytechnic practising self-delusion; this lot are posh boys playing games with the future of our Country.

[Maggie/915]

Now now threegee in years to come people may have a sense of humour.

I do not think any time in history has been without its element of drama.

i also hate the 'live now pay later' mentality. The whole Private Finance Initiative never made sense to me.

Making light of a serious situation has always been a Geordie / Northumbrian  characteristic. Maybe you have lived abroad too long.

The important match on Saturday is on the Morpeth Common. still time to make it. Not too sure about Sunday's match but it could define the season '

[Malcolm Robinson]

 

One economics budget commentator was discussing this revised down 2% growth figure but we really need to look at that anyway. 

The assertion is that the influx of so many migrants has quite naturally put 1% on the current growth figure; more people more economic activity even at a base level, so let’s look at the other 1%.

That can easily be described as our increasing debt as we once again rack up huge levels of personal debt and the Gov find sneaky ways to seemingly reflate the economy.

 

So my claim that we are still basically in recession and have never come out since the heady days of the late 00’s I think certainly holds water!