Chris Giles is an economist working for the FT who famously got Piketty wrong. But he got his commentary on the main political parties of the UK right in the paper this morning when saying:
The deficit policies of both main parties blur into one. Forgetfulness or deceit, it does not matter. When the new government opens the books after the election and the truth comes out, voters will think their new rulers are a bunch of liars who were willing to say anything to get elected. They would be right.
Economic truth is not to be found by burying one's head in the sand, but that's what all politicians are doing.
The fact is that they can continue with austerity and keep trashing the UK. Or they can offer the sort of radical alternative I seek to outline here. But either way they should not lie. And right now Chris Giles is right in suggesting that is exactly what they're doing.
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I do so agree with the title of this piece Richard…
😉
Do we agree where the sand is?
Hope you’re well
Given my reaction when I look at the trajectory of the UK economy compared with others, and noting your analysis that the coalition has been “trashing the UK economy”, I suspect possibly not…
You think they’re good for it?
I always wonder how seemingly wise men can be so blind
It’s only your last para I disagree with. Quite why we are talking about up to £7bn of tax cuts with a £100bn deficit I have no idea. Particularly when it is focused on the personal allowance, which will already have doubled in the eight years from 2007/8 to 2015/16.
Mike
I agree that the PA increase makes almost no sense – especially when NI drags so far behind and is also tax
I do not think the deficit will ever be solved by cuts though – only getting people back to work will do that and only government spending can deliver on that issue
Richard
Very good article in Financial Times. Indeed, Europe is crying out for an alternative strategy. Let’s hope the debate isn’t left to politicians. Many stakeholders have been voicing radical alternatives. We need new Leaders to see new opportunities.
We need new politicians, politics irrespective, who are not corporate whores, to accept advice and act on it.
Given that the main aim of politics, now, seems to be ¨get rich, stay rich¨, I doubt salvation is near.
I think Chris makes the good point that both parties are offering completely unrealistic fiscal policies. But he also says that “Deficit reduction has been painful but went neither obviously too far nor too fast.” This is nonsense on two fronts: (a) the consolidation we’ve had so far led to three years of economic stagnation – it wasn’t until the ConDems decided to stop reducing the defecit in 2013/14 and 2014/15 that any sort of growth returned; (b) I’m sure the families who have had to suffer £30bn of reductions in social security benefits and tax credits, or the huge reductions in many other areas of public spending, would disagree that deficit reduction wasn’t “too far”.
Agreed
I picked my quote with care and hoped I had nuanced my concern about Chris Giles sufficiently at the start
Maybe not!
Re your article title….so how come when people disagree with you block them from commenting. Isn’t that burying your head, and those of your readers, in the sand?
Deletion is about editorial freedom
And my right to have a life free from dealing with those who wish to waste it with repetitive submission of failed mantras or crass misunderstandings
Osborneonomics and Ballsonomics will prove, alas, to be very little different from one another in practice (never mind the rhetoric), and the poor, the sick and the disabled will continue to suffer no matter which one of them is Chancellor of the Exchequer after Thursday, 7th May, 2015. If Labour win, I will be just over £11 a week better off, once the bedroom tax has been scrapped, but I will doubtless lose money in other ways.
Richard (B) -I’m also a bedroom Tax victim (my case allied with two others will come before the court of appeal next Wednesday). Like you I revile Labour’s cowardice and he only reason to welcome them in would be the abolition of this iniquitous policy. I will never forget how it took Labour months of shilly shallying before deciding they would oppose it!
Once again the fear of the perceived vox populi trumped social values.
Good luck with that
Thanks Richard – I’m not too hopeful but we will see!
Simon, you have put your finger on what is wrong with Labour. They do not lead: they are led. Since Blair, they first consult opinion polls and ‘focus groups’ on what is acceptable to public opinion, and only adopt those policies that find favour with it, and with the Editors of the national newspapers, who are perceived as having a crucial role in shaping public opinion. Furthermore, organisations like the CBI, whereas they may not have an absolute veto over Labour policy (I’m sure they would like one) are certainly given far more say than they ever were in the era of any Labour leader up to and including John Smith. Absolutely nothing is done that would upset Labour’s wealthy donors or the City of London, so there is a very strict limit on any possible moves to bring about greater income and wealth equality.
The result of all this is that we have a ‘Labour’ Party that dances to the Tories’ tune, and frequently wants to dress up in the Tories’ clothes, particularly when it comes to reducing the deficit, cutting public spending, imposing a ‘welfare cap’, and being ‘tough’ on benefit claimants. However, no matter how hard they try, they will never win the approval of Paul Dacre and the Daily Mail, and one wonders why they keep trying. There is something ineffably simple-minded about this entire Labour project to be a second, ‘cuddly’ sort of Tory Party. With UKIP around being an über-Tory Tory Party and the LibDems competing in the ‘cuddly Tory’ department, the electorate will be faced with a competition between no fewer than four Tory Parties at the next General Election, and may very well conclude that the wisest course is to stick with the genuine variety.
It is only the Green Party that is offering anything remotely different, and furthermore, if we (per impossibile) formed a Government on Friday 8th May, 2015, we would cancel the Trident upgrade, to which both Tories and Labour are committed, thus saving the country between £80-100 billion, 45 years’ worth of spending on NHS A & E Departments. That is some opportunity cost for our so-called ‘independent’ nuclear deterrent! (Particularly when the NHS is faced with a £30 billion spending black hole by 2020!)