As The Guardian has noted:
The International Monetary Fund has urged Rachel Reeves to consider ending the pensions triple lock and charging for NHS treatment as it said the UK government risks being knocked off course in meeting its targets to repair the public finances.
In a final version of an annual report on Britain'seconomy, the Washington-based organisation said the chancellor should also give herself more leeway in the next budget before adopting fresh tax or spending measures.
The neoliberal Washington Consensus that the IMF and World Bank did so much to promote around the world still has life in it, it would seem. The bastards are still trying to grind us down.
And there's still time to fight back. Illegitimi non carborundum* is the right response.
* Don't let the bastards grind you down
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IMF – EFF OFF
Illegitimate Mother F***ers (apologies but my immediate response is anger)
Headlines about the IMF are meant to remind us of the terrible danger of rising deficits, the peril of the government going bankrupt, and Callaghan “going cap-in-hand to the IMF”.
OH NO!
We must live within our means, bring back austerity, cut welfare, cut spending, give tax breaks to the finance sector!!!
Been there, done that, it’s rubbish, it doesn’t work, it ruined the country.
Where did the IMF come from? Are we in a financial zombie movie?
This may sound familiar. The IMF is not a force for good.
“As the 1970s progressed, neoliberal ideas and policies came increasingly to shape the agendas of international financial institutions, including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which imposed neoliberal economics on indebted nations in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. In return for debt relief or loans, “structural adjustment programs” were demanded, which included privatization, deregulation, trade liberalization, the abandonment of capital controls, and “fiscal austerity,” which meant slashing state spending on health, education, and other public services. These decisions were imposed without people being given the chance to vote on them: the poorer nations had no choice but to implement them, regardless of what their populations thought.”
— The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism (& How It Came to Control Your Life) (2024) by George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison. https://amzn.eu/d/1OCVM6C
Correct
I am not saying all the IMF has done is wrong, but a lot has been.
A good read on getting countries into indebtedness and then being forced to toe the line is:
“Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, 3rd Edition” by John Perkins
Pathetic.
It seems they are still wedded to the Old Mother Hubbard school of economics.
Peter D. Wallace
“Old Mother Hubbard school of economics”- love it!. I may purloin it
“Repair public finances” – more efficiently collect taxes? How about taxing the under taxed/the rich? If growth is the game then link taxes to real investment in real UK companies?
“give herself more leeway in the next budget” wtf does that mean?
I have heard more sense from a drunk @ Friday night chucking out time.
If this is the best that the IMF & the World Bank (nearly typed W instead of B – naughty me eh!) can do then they should give up now. I am confident that Reeves has been in contact with the comedy-duo in Washington – hence the report. Do they still print these things? I hope it is on soft and absorbent paper – thus making the report dual use.
Agreed
Just read an article on BBC news about shoplifting trippling over five years. Not once did the article address the true cause.
Poverty, in a word.
Whilst I find some comfort in talking about these things with friends who agree with me, I find it increasingly worrying when listening to conversations between those who are certain that, “there’s just no money”.
And as for why there’s no money, no housing, no jobs, no appointments at the doctors, no care for your mother and lots of pot-holes – immigrants.
The solution is obvious.
And there’s only one political Party that seems to have the answers…..if you’re not scared, you should be.
at the very minimum pensions must be linked to CPI. Pensioners have a different CPI. Heating. Thotherwise we are being robbed.
Pensions in UK illustrate almost everything that is bad about the wider UK political economy…
In no particular order: (mostly about state pensions)
Discriminatory against women in several ways historically.
Even worse for the young now than for the old. (Low contribution rate for private pension) less affordable given cost of living crisis
State pension almost the lowest in Europe and not enough to live on.
Wrong inflation measure.
Being gradually eroded by frozen income tax personal allowance (fiscal drag undermines triple lock)
Regressive rules re tax relief on contributions for very wealthy (private pensions)
Old pension (v low) and new pension (low) depending on when you retired, so age discriminatory too.
Rising pension age, bad news for unhealthy poor people doing hard physical jobs.
DWP make lots of mistakes denying people thousands (esp women).
Private pensions increasingly stockmarket based & therefore less secure.
High admin ripoff costs so financial advisers and fund managers (managing poor performance) making a mint.
Massive sink of dead money not working to make UK a better place.
Politically exploited by politicians to catch the more reliable pensioner vote, at expense of the young.
Disclosure – I’m on full new pension, spouse on almost full new pension, we both have small private pensions. We have monthly income greater than our monthly living costs.
But for an increasing number on below average incomes, retirement will equal poverty, insecurity, and ill health.
That’s BEFORE these crazy IMF proposals. Now I begin to understand the assisted dying legislation.
Much to agree with
I fear that she will listen to these siren calls.