´óÏó´«Ã½

Paul:

Yes, I think they will do the proposed cuts in the Swedish-style....As being talked about!

N.B.: I am not a political operative in the United Kingdom...This is my own opinion!

-Dennis Junior-

please don't let them get in.....!

swedish police do have guns and back in 1980 on the train stations i remember seeing police with machine guns walking about. On friday nights the swedish youth used to go on the rampage.

tories have 'small govt' as a tenant of their belief and so will use the bankers debt as a trojan horse to indulge their fetish.

Ystad? Isn't that in Wales? Near Neath?

By public spending cuts do they mean firing people or continuing to employ people but not giving them anything to do... nor pencils, pens, sharpeners and rubbers? Or is there going to be a massive sell-off of office furniture and millions of public sector employees will be forced to stand or sit on the floor?

In truth, the much-bloated public sector needs massive job cuts.

In Wales something like 6 in 8 workers work in the public sector and there are similar figures for Scotland and the North of England. If there are big cuts in public sector jobs then what will that do for the holy grail of British house prices - unemployed people cannot pay liar loans or any loans for that matter?

The US, Spain, Eire and elsewhere that saw a massive property bubble have all seen price drops of 50 percent or more. The UK, with one of the biggest housing bubbles, stands alone in little or no price falls. Will 2010, the coming of a Tory Government and their proposed public sector spending cuts bring about the great UK housing crash - and, ironically, will such a housing crash actually, in the long-term, be perhaps one of the best economic things to happen to the UK in a long time?

Does Osbourne and Cameron have the required 'bits' to take on the British mortgage-payer? I doubt it so, back to their proposed public spending cuts, I doubt that we will ever see them!

This was by far one of the best political interviews I have ever seen on the ´óÏó´«Ã½, WELL DONE!

Osbourne's promises will be good news to Labour as it appears he is trying to corner the market in swingeing cuts. Of course with so much public sector in the hands of multi nationals under legally enforcible contracts any short term cuts will require massive sackings of public sector workers many of whom will be entitled substantial pay off's and to state support for rents and council tax not to mention ceasing to pay tax to HMG. In the present climate this would be economic self - harming. I say the Tories will at best get a hung parliament by alienating those who need public services and those who deliver them.

Paul,

You are doing Ed Balls job for him when you imply that reductions in government spending will mean that public services will be cut. This is a fallacy.

The evidence suggests that when government is given money to spend on public services it promptly grows a centralised bureaucracy to ensure that the money in the public services is effectively employed. The most obvious recent example is the NHS where expenditure has been doubled but public satisfaction has increased just by 4%. Public services need a system of management that is productive rather than bureaucratic supervision. This is why I believe that public services need to be local in every sense.

Government in this country has had plenty of money to run efficient public services for decades. The reason why the public services are inadequate at times is because government cannot keep continuously demanding more money from the taxpaying public without having the excuse of improving poor public services to justify their ever increasing budgets. The prevailing road gritting fiasco is a classic case in point. We hear the authorities wailing they haven't got enouigh resources when the real issue is that they have neither the imagination or the interest to do anything other than very little.

One of the complaints I often hear is that this country is expensive to live in. I agree with this view. Whilst I accept that limitations on the land space are a marginal issue it is my contention that the real cause of all this expense is that government is overpaid for what it produces. It has degenerated into a system of outdoor relief for the middle classes.

The simple truth is that the country has run out of money to sustain the previous level of government expenditure. The government has the Bank of England printing money to sustain its debts using an imaginary deflation as a fig-leaf for this very timely convenience. This is unsustainable.

The government and its cheer-leaders in the taxpayer funded sections of the economy, and I include the City within that equation, are going to have to face the reality that most of what they do is irrelevant, unnnecessary and obstructive to the productive needs of our society. We should only have one focus now and that is how do we pay our way in the world: this means that our economy must refocus on value creation in real terms by making, buying and selling actual material things as the alternative is debt, devaluation and crushing poverty.

Anything else is just playing games we cannot afford.

I have yet to see a political party to come forward with this as a manifesto but I hope that time will tell. I am reminded of that line sung by The Who; `change it had to come'. I think this time though we just kick all the bosses out as we can manage perfectly well without them.

swedes raised taxes. which taxes will the tories put up? why are millionaires getting 4 billion a year merely for owning land. isn't time for a land tax to get that money back?

#7 stallinic

Nice to know I am not the only 'insane' person in the country who holds exactly those views you express so well in your post.

Of course we must be insane because almost noboddy else seems to hold those views as expressed through our political representatives via our unquestionable 'sacred cow' system of party political democracy.

I hope the Tories dont plan to sell the grit salt but keep the security guards on who look after it to compound labours error in their never ending search for the holy grail of 'popularity in key marginals'.

Well done Stallinic, I was not intending to post for some time as non of my contributions seem to make any difference and merely serve to make me feel my own insanity more keenly, which does not seem to make me happy.

To quote Paloma Faiths recent excellent single release

'' Do you want the truth or something beautiful? I am happy to decieve you...''

9 jericoa

In the middle of the Thatcher recession in 1981, not long after I quit the Liberal party, I had a sudden horrible vision that someday our political class would overdo it and break the economy through excessive government spending.

That concern merged into the background until 1997 when Mr. Brown broke the pension industry and removed the Bank of England from its primary role of managing the behaviour of the City. I then began to get more and more twitchy until under his remit that horrible vision became a reality.

I have never looked to the state as the solution: at best it can mitigate trouble. However, when it becomes the actual problem then we all have difficulty.

I have also observed that individuals who are perceived within our culture as ambitious and with drive seem to be more than disconnected from the daily realities. They seem to exist in a parallel universe and create barriers to prevent their universe colliding with that of the generality. Such people have, in my considered opinion, made themselves sufficiently abnormal to be dangerous to the rest of us. No matter who you are or what you do, you have to connect with everyday life so that you can begin to understand yourself, know what you are doing and be responsible. Without that you are fit only to inhabit the sort of institution, usually situated in a former country mansion, with plenty of people, some of whom are medically qualified, to look after you in a quiet atmosphere. Unfortunately, in our culture, such people are elevated to where they can make the big decisions.

Jericoa & Stanillic,

It would be a shame if you stopped contributing. You are among a bunch of folk who express what I am thinking. For the record, it seems to me obvious that (a) borrowing is only sustainable if it is invested in an income generating venture that provides a return in excess of the cost of the borrowing: and therefore b)borrowing to sustain consumption, thereby reducing future income, can only lead to reduced income in the future.

In the circumstacnes, the only way the UK's books will return to balance without a real crunch on people's standard of living is if we can grow our income to match our spending.

Sadly, none of the vast sum spent on bailing out the financial system appears to have been invested in innovation or growth. If anything, investment has dried up - and come the public spending cuts it will pretty well stop.

As for the Tory cuts - I noticed that Osbourne gave two illustrations (a) no more tax credits for people earning over £50,000; and (b) no more trusts (educational trusts?)for rich kids. Carefully chosen, I guess, to suggest that the cuts won't hurt normal folk - but a drop in the ocean if this is a serious attempt to follow the Swedish example.

If this is really the best they can come up with then its just window dressing.

Reduced Government Spending

Given the state of this governments economic viability , it is clear the causes of government borrowing should start being reduced now. The more it borrows from the money markets now, the more money will be needed to service this debt (interest payments) over the coming 15 years, which means less money for public services in the long run.

To put some context on this situation, last Tuesday Mr Fields MP made a spelling out the very short term dangers we are now facing.

I am still surprised that this Labour government hasn't faced a confidence motion in the HoC for it's handling of the economic situation, due in large part to their economic and regulatory incompetences, I believe.

11 tFoth

Thank you for the kind sentiment.

The trouble the political class has is that for most of the lives they have been able to bribe the electorate with their own money. Now they haven't got any money just debts and you can't bribe people with a debt.

Of course Osbourne is just window dressing but they are all stuck with nothing to say as there is quite simply nothing they can say. His family do some lovely wallpaper, though.

What is needed is for a political party to stand up, tell it how it is and propose a set of measures with which we can all go forward. It will happen and I reckon it won't be long coming. It doesn't really matter who it is so long as they wash and are kind to children and animals.

The interesting comprable with Sweden is the public reconstruction of the banking sector in Sweden whilst Carl Bildt set about his budegt measures. There was a substantial currency devaluation which boosted exports into a relatively healthy global market which helped drive recovery. From what I can see I am not sure Swedish recovery was driven by government cuts. We have a synchronised global financial problem and real-economy recession. Banks here are global and will fine-tune their recovery strategy with our bail-out to wherever in the world they find confidence and growth. That might not be in the UK anytime soon. Globalisation means no loyalty to the home credit markets. Our global banks are'nt 'ours' - I would be interested to know whether UK-bank and FTSE 100 corporate profits feed the UK Treasury 100% or nourish foreign exchequers.

13 Stanilic

I wish I could share your optimism. As I see it, politics is about the acquisition and then the use of power and, after Douglas Adams, nobody who wants the job is fit to do it.

No political party is going to ride to the rescue because (a) most of the electorate would rather believe in a painless recovery, even if that is illusory, than face the truth: and (b) in our modern, individualist World, the politicans concerned are looking first to their careers rather than sacrificing themselves for the public good.

That's the real issue here. Time was, when it was possible to belive that politicians were trying to make things better: and we trusted them to do so. now?

We can't sit around waiting for the right people to come along. If there is a new movement out there then it is you!

TFOTH JERICOA STANILIC (NOT exclusive)

I take heart in reading your comments though no joy from them. I think the amount of positive philosophical thought is now below a critical mass, and the 'decline and fall' is underway. As you will know, I 'amuse' myself trying to find the Elixir of Reversal, but every time I look into my crucible, all I see is the Philosopher's Moan.

That I was alive in the time of Douglas Adams will have to do.

#12 Steve-London,

Frank was embarrassed later to find that he had in fact picked up George Osborns speech detailing the cuts he plans to make if the Tories win.
Franks friend assured him that had noticed as listens to Frank anyway, he is considered an oddball for telling the truth, and George was playing with his nintendo at the time.


Paul, I liked your last phrase,

'Oh and another detail. The government that launched the cuts budget was kicked out of office pretty sharpish.'

I think Gordon and chums are relying on this fact, hoping to step right back after the new incumbents suddenly become hugely unpopular for taking the only actions open to them.

"We keep hearing contributions in this place that sound as though we are now in charge of our affairs and our future, but we are mere pawns on the chessboard of the credit agencies and the bond market." (Frank Field, earlier this month). Plenty of contributors noticed this some time ago. No-one paid attention back then and so now has the answer.

they have every exscuse in the book the Tories for swingeing cuts, savage cuts, cuts to take your breath away and they have the perfect reason they will blame Mad Gordo for their relish in taking a wrecking ball to the economy, you can hear the mantra now......'When we opened the books we couldn't believe what we saw and because of this we will have to WHAM, BISH, BASH, BOSH.......what happened to the NHS? Answer.....well because the way the finances were grossly mismanaged we had to do......Education? .....another reason for the savage cuts is because of the total incompetance of the previous chancellor Alistair Dar.......and on and on and on.....Don't say you weren't warned.....

I am another who agrees with Jericoa, Stalinic et al and the majority of those contributing to this blog and those of Robert Peston and Stephanie Flanders. We are not the ones who are mad; the lunatics really are running the asylum (or not as the case may be). They may or may not believe that what they do has any effect (perhaps they know and don't care) but some of us realise that their "control" of the situation is actually an illusion.

The irony is that as the Labour party they want to help the less well off in the country and after 12 years of total failure they have made everyone potentially much worse off than they would have been.

Personally I don't think Frank Field should worry if whole departments of government have to close. Maybe we'd be better off without the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and others of a similar nature. Perhaps government would then concentrate on things they should be worrying about and leave the "frills" to the private sector instead of the constant meddling we have become accustomed to.

#6-watriler: "cuts will require massive sackings of public sector workers . . . . not to mention ceasing to pay tax to HMG". I've never been able to get my head round just how a public sector worker can ever be considered to pay tax to HMG. How can they - in all seriousness - consider themselves to be taxpayers?

THE LEADER OF THE FREE WORLD FEELS FREE TO BEHAVE IRRATIONALLY.

Obama has (I can hardly believe this) chosen Dubya - LET 'EM DROWN - Bush as one of his 'Save Haiti' duo (the other being Bill - IF IT MOVES - Clinton). What do New Orleans and Haiti have in common? So Dubya wasn't chosen for compassion or expertise was he! Looks like a cynical ploy of internal politics to me. But would Magic Obama do that? Well - he's done about everything else.

Watching Dubya, 'visibly moved' by the 'scope of the destruction' (Shock and Awe perhaps?) he empathised, as a good Man of God, with, the children whose mothers lay under indiscriminate rubble. Well - there's a subject he REALLY DOES know a bit about. Bless.

CLOSE GUANTANAMO - OPEN PORT DE PAIX HAITI?

There is even 'Ile de Tortue' just off Paix - close enough!

FAIR - BIG HOUSE - CAR - HOLIDAY ABROAD - FAIR (the Brown Credo)

Proof - if proof were needed - that BROWN HAS NO IDEA OF WHAT AILS US.

He is a true product of the WESTMINSTER MALAISE. If we do not wake up to the whole rotten (I use the word rotten advisedly) core, we must pray for the Apocalypse, because, left to develop, where this trend will lead, IS WORSE.

#20

It is becoming unbearable to watch or comment on now, Alaister campbell at the enquiry, what an utter insult to all those who died his performance was...WMD....''beyond doubt'' was still a reasonable un-spun assessment of the evidence presented he declared....

Since the creation of the 'career politician' we are governed by a psychological class comprising of the intelligent, delusional needy, cacooned in the comforting bosom of their chosen political organisation and protected from appearing un-genuine by thier own delusion.

What is needed is a govenment comprised of those whom have developed an in-depth experience of life outside of politics, and whom at some point in their lives feel a calling to draw upon their experience to the benefit of the governance and continual re-invention of society.

The system no longer works.

The dis-connect between the 'intelligent delusional needy' and 'the people' is huge and growing.

It is no exageration to suggest the lunatics are running the asylum. I dread to think what a freudian psychological analysis would suggest of the likes of:

Campbell, Bush, Blair, Prescot, straw, Harmen, the millibands, the 'fred the shreds' and the and the like of any political colour.

You can not even be angry at them, it does no good, it is like being angry with a child you find lost in the street methodically trying to find his way home.

Thanks for the reasuring words from various above, it gets a bit much sometimes.

CAKE AND CIRCUSES - THE BROWN PROMISE. (#25)

Does anyone else get the feeling, Brown will make his budgerigar Chancellor any day now? I bet his vile speechwriters would fall over themselves to write the - justifying - announcement; like QCs jostle to defend (and set free) the Archers of the land.

It would be nice to think that nothing can go, seriously, wrong with the EU watching over us, but are they not more corrupt and venal, even, than we are? You used to have to read Alice or Gulliver to find such narrative. Have we slipped into a parallel dopeyverse?

The leader of the party that wins the next General Election should on Day One go to the IMF and take their instruction.

They could then blame all the subsequent cuts on the IMF and the current Labour government. The cuts would take about five years to implement and to begin to recuperate from. Then they could go to the country again on a reconstruction ticket.

Simples!

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Paul....save us!

#27

nah ..it will never be adopted...to elegant..too straight to the point and too useful.

First it would need to go to a couple of think tanks, then a version would go out to 1/2 dozen specially selected public focus groups facilitated by a professor of politics who would then write a paper on the pros and cons of the idea with associated graphs on voter popularity and parametric risk assessment.

Finally it would need a series of high level internal party meetings to decide whether to adopt it (if it even got that far) as policy, by which point the simple strategy would have become so complicated through the necessity to keep people busy that nobody would understand it anymore.

At no point would they seek the view of an economist on the idea.

Finally just before it is announced as policy it would leak and the daily mirror and ´óÏó´«Ã½ would run the headline. 'Conservatives run risk of run on the £ and need IMF help to run the economy''.

At which point a series of into tjhe night emergency meetings with conservative central office media consultants would be held and they would decide to deny all knowledge that this was going to be policy and sell it as a carefully worded 'something we looked at briefly due to the severity of the situation labour left us with but was discounted by a panel of experts'.

Am I right or am I right?

30

I am only a simple man so what do I know?

Maybe this is why I never had a career as I just did jobs.

Must be down to an as yet undetected shade of Aspergers.