AIBU to want spending cuts rather than more tax rises?

Covid loan fraud cost taxpayers £10 billion. I’d like to see the cash in hand economy investigated personally. Some of us pay our taxes but plenty don’t. Same people round my way who didn’t want digital ID brought in…

We have had nearly 20 years of austerity, which was supposed to get the rich to invest and make us prosperous. The opposite has happened. A return to Keynesian economics - which worked - is much needed. More cuts to services which most of us rely on will hollow them out further - the rationale being that the state should not be funding e.g.health care, welfare etc. What would you like to cut? Maternity services? The police? Defence (the first duty of any government)? Payments to the sick and disabled - because really they are lazy (Reforms assumption)?
We need some growth and the only way to get it is to spend on the economy so that it provides what it should for the country (rather than just make a few people very, very rich).

Whilst 1 million to 1.25 million Europeans were captured and enslaved in Barbary slave trade, only a fairly small proportion of them were British. Plus the Arab states and Turkey don't really have much money to compensate us sufficiently.

I think compensation for the Norman conquest would be reasonable though. That caused apocalyptic losses in the UK - up to 50% of some regions being killed - and huge changes in power and land ownership too, which continue to the current day.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/869c791845927c87

France is almost as broke as the UK though, so I'm not sure we'll get much compensation from them. Although maybe if they got compensation for the Barbary slave trade too, they could pass some of that to us?

Buuutt.... The Norwegian Wealth fund is a good target! The Normans came to France from Norway, Sweden and Denmark just 200 years before 1066 - so even though they had intermarried with the French a bit in the meantime, perhaps we can make a claim on Norway for the Norman conquest?

Norwegian viking men also kidnapped large numbers of British woman to settle Iceland. Approximately 60% to 62% of Iceland's mitochondrial DNA (which traces matrilineal ancestry) originates from the British Isles, whereas 75% to 80% of the Icelandic Y chromosomes came from Scandinavia.

Iceland is pretty rich itself: perhaps we could get compensation from both Iceland and Norway?

That seems like a pretty good way to solve our economic problems...

Oh, and whilst they might have less loot available to hand over at present, there's certainly a moral case for compensation from the African and Carribean countries to the UK, for our pioneering role abolishing slavery - at huge cost to ourselves and loss of British lives. We can keep it on account... the way our economy is going,we're going to need it.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/3efe09f641830868

Please please just think about your comment again .

You are stating that there is no correlation between economic prosperity and benefits allocation. Without a prosperous economy where exactly do you think the money is going to come from for the benefits?

On your logic countries that are less prosperous than the UK such as Chad or Sudan should have the same or higher level of benefits as the UK.

Of course YABU, what public services do you think should have further resources stripped from?

When an economy fails - as ours is - everyone suffers. But those dependent on the state suffer most.

That assumes there is a direct correlation between economic prosperity and benefits allocation. History contradicts this.

Some tradespeople, I dare say. Pretty insulting to tar all tradespeople with the same brush though.

(Edited to add) And what makes you assume tradespeople would be on benefits? There's no logic to that.

Well Cornwall and Devon will
eagerly be waiting for compensation from Morocco and Algeria for the thousands of people abducted and taken to be sold as slaves in Africa.

However I don't give much hope for the Moroccan or Algerian Governments paying up.

They are one of the biggest sectors of the tax gap. Some of them are double dippers as well

Would you care to elaborate on that?

Nonetheless, someone who depends on state support should be even more focused on the economy working well - so that they can continue to get that support - than someone with more options.

Tradespeople

Of course benefit cheats and tax evaders are very often the same people.

'Wild guess'? You don't say... 🙄

No, I don’t read the Telegraph.

£10bn was the estimate of wasted contracts because of unsatisfactory equipment supplied. It has nothing to do with cronyism.

’Nasty’ is spreading falsehoods, not correcting them.

Do you think that maybe in a national emergency when PPE and stuff is being bought at a mass rush that maybe some things fall through the tracks

Really, can I draw your attention to the bullshit report in The Telegraph (you do read The Telegraph don't you?) about the Covid inquiry, which stated that £10 billion was wasted on useless protective clothing and equipment by the Tory government? But don't bother to reply. There's nothing like Sunday night Mumsnet for bringing the nasties out from under their stones.

No idea how to fix things but one thing I’ve noticed is everyone wants other people to give up more (higher taxes) or make do with less (cut benefits). The neo liberal hyper individualistic nature of society is so sad to see, it’s all ‘as long as I’m alright, sod everyone else’ and shortsighted. Cutting benefits aimed at children increases those in poverty and impacts on educational achievements and long term success. Cutting pensions creates tension as workers think what am I doing this for them? I agree there is a lot of mismanagement of money like PPE scandals during covid, not taxing huge companies enough. I do think that if it was easy to tax Amazon, Starbucks etc then we’d be doing it as it’s such as easy win for politicians. Everybody wants the nameless faceless corporations to pay more so if it could be done it would be done in my opinion.
I do see a lot of generational welfare claimants where entire families claim but rather than demonise it I think it’s important to consider why and how they became disillusioned and outside of conventional norms.
i personally think comparing scandi countries is pointless as they have a tiny population comparatively and very limited immigration so completely siffeeent set up. Biggest difference though is attitudes. Most people I meet here are miserable and selfish and it’s a race to the bottom rather than believing in a collective good and creating a community where everyone benefits in different ways

What about slavery reparations? That's coming next. What will we cut to make those?

@PinkFruitbat
"Ah yes, if you are successful it is because of ‘privilege’."

I didn't say it was only because of privilege but working hard knowing you have the backup safety net options that privilege facilitates is not the same as knowing if you cock up it's all over.

Look if people have made NI contributions they kinda do deserve something back in the end of it. They made some contributions in in the hopes they get state pension at the end of it. But we can't do this forever. Something has to give.