The Sun reports:
DAVID Cameron last night promised to run Britain like Tesco if he wins the general election.
The Tory leader said he will slash public spending in the same manner that supermarkets cut prices.
And that would mean a better deal for hard-working families.
Mr Cameron said: "In the situation we will face if we win the election, a budget deficit of maybe 14 per cent, we must find ways to cut public spending in a way that can make our public services better and stronger.
"Sainsbury's and Tesco, don't think to themselves the reduction of costs, which they do on a permanent basis, is going to make their service worse.
"They say it's going to make their service to their customers better. We need that thinking."
This is complete nonsense.
I’ve dealt with the poverty of thinking inherent in this comment here. But Cameron clearly does not understand the difference between running an economy and running a country. Worse, he’s using Thatcher’s grocer metaphor. It’s very scary.
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Hmmmm I don’t think you are getting this – I am not sure if it is deliberate.
But what do you mean by “difference between running an economy and running a country”? A reasonable interpretation of his comments is that he is talking about how he will require the public sector to be run – a different thing completely. Perhaps you are being taken in by those naughty Sun headline writers.
British politicians don’t seem to understand much about anything. Glad I’m not there.
If Tesco stops stocking something, I can go to another supermarket in town.
But if public services are cut – police patrols, hospital wards, etc. – I’ve nowhere else to go.
Someone needs to give Dave Cameron a copy of Andrew Simms’ “Tescopoly” so that he can get some real understanding of the social malaise that is the Tesco corporate juggernaut.
Despite his pretensions towards “progressive conservatism”, whenever Dave opens his mouth for more than two sentences he proves beyond doubt that his programme for government is neo-Thatcherite. Sadly, it looks like enough people will be fooled by Dave – or put off by the prospect of another five years of Gordon – to vote the Tories in next year. I think Dave’s standing will deteriorate very rapidly once in office, though, as people realise what he’s really about.
Richard:
Well said—millions of people seem to believe that the same rules apply to the economy as apply to a corner shop; ie, ‘the books must balance’. Such is the legacy of Thatcher’s ‘handbag economics’. No, Cameron didn’t mean simply that the ‘public sector must be run more efficiently (as Alastair above seems to think); Cameron and Osborne really believe (as do most bankers) that ‘the books must balance’. Keynes’s ‘paradox of thrift’ is no longer taught in Economics 101.
How does Cameron hope to save money to help hard working families, cut Working Tax Credit, or maybe reduce NHS costs by forcing people to pay for private health insurance. Maybe he’ll cut benefits for those that become unemployed through no fault of their own. Maybe he could reduce the help available to those of us who become incapacitated, that would really help families. The only people who would benefit are the bankers, financiers etc who don’t rely on the state to help them financialy as they take what they like and pay themselves what they like irrespective of performance. When those at the top become ill or lose thier jobs they are guarenteed massive payouts irrespective of performance and don’t need help off the state so they would only be too happy to see services slashed. These people do not go on the dole or have to claim incapacity benefit like the rest of us. Tax cuts penalise the hard working family they don’t help. The only real way to cut taxes for most of us is to ensure those with the wealth are stopped from continually shirking there responsibilities to our society and are made to pay their propper share of taxes instead of dodging them all the time.
I tell you, if the public services were run like Tescos they’d be a helluva lot better. The best thing we could do is to get Tesco to run the public services. People will soon be complaining that there’s too many services and that they’re too cheap, I guarantee it…
@Peter
Tesco only provides the goods and services it does because they are profitable – and you can only get them if you have the money. How would Tesco profit out of running the police? Or fire service? Or the armed forces?