This is in the Guardian this morning:
All fiscal rules are made up by Chancellors (or their equivalents) to suit their own purposes.
But here in the UK they don't, on average last the life of a parliament.
So, any chancellor might say, here is my fiscal rule, but I have others available if needed.
I believe this is economics from the school of Groucho Marx.
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Brilliant
And, in Jeremy Hunt, we appear to have the Chancellor with probably the least understanding of what any of these ‘rules’ mean. I suspect that his predecessors in general understood, even if they knew they were nonsense, but it doesn’t seem to me that Hunt has shown an indication that he has any idea at all what he is talking about – even less than his fellow Oxford PPE-ers!
Which is certainly saying something.
Perhaps I’m doing him a disservice and he’s merely as incompetent as his predecessors and not any worse.
He could be having the budget dictated by Sunak. I doubt it would a plan worked out by Jeremy Hunt
I saw today local authorities have to spend less on diversity training. The election could be fought on social issues as they don’t have much to brag about in the economic field. This is pandering to prejudice.
Hunt says the UK grew more than France and Germany from 2010. I can’t find figures to support that and I surmise we probably saw a deeper trough and the difference between the lowest and higher points was more but we ended up no better off than our neighbours.
I knew Marx would find his way into the debate on political economy…
Or, we might find him refusing to join any which would let him participate.
If the Chancellor wore a Groucho Marx style moustache (I’d accept either a real or fake moustache), I might actually watch the budget.
So it is true the Tories are the real Marxists.
It’s ok I will get my coat.
Dear Richard,
We shouldn’t in the slightest bit be surprised, given that Groucho Marx also said that:
“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.”
Sums up so much of what has happened since 2010 (not that I expect much to change if Labour wins the next general election.)
Best,
Lawrence
If found this quite good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLDWAEHwv7U
very much doom & gloom by an outfit called Economics Help UK. Missing from it was: what needs to be done/what can be done.
The last is what is always missed, except in my work
Not sure if either Marx was into ornithology, but this link, thanks to the Equality Trust, is for the birds. https://fairnessfoundation.com/spotters-guide
This is brilliant….good to share.