to be disappointed in the apathy of the county

[southeastastralbeing]

and the quickness at which the people seem to roll over and accept all these horribe cuts and looming redundancies - it's so accepting and lambs to the slaughtery (yes i know that's not a word)

i find it very depressing and wish i lived in france, where at least they're prepared to get on their arses and be heard

:(

There is support for the cuts because most people acknowledge that the country has been living beyond its mean and its now time to pay our debts.

Loads of protests being organised;

details of London protest

here

but why, where are the figures? where have we overspent?

people keep on with the same spiel

how come we can put all this money in to the olympics and free schools then. why is the money there for that? it doesn't make any sense

not to mention afghanistan

Was it 15k then? I seem to remember it going up while I was paying it at the lower level, and I've only had full time job 2004-2005

It's a very hard book to read, which is why it's on the ongoing pile, but basically the economic policies that have been controlling investment etc. for the last 50ish years are based on complete deregulation, privatisation and an end to any sort of state controlled welfare. It generally relies on a big shock to be accepted by the people.

I was optimistic (wishful thinking?) that Cameron and Osbourne would be old school tories, conservative with a small c, rather than Thatcherites, but have been seeing more of what I read in Kleins book since the election.

I wish I'd understood what economics was when I was younger.

We have overspent everywhere, otherwise why would there be a huge debt when there was no debt when Labour came to power?

Wasting - I will look that book out. I agree that there is an awful lot going on behind the scenes that we don't know about - I really wish that economics was taught in schools rather than all that dreadful PSE stuff!

I don't remember what we did in PSE, I remember us all handing contraceptive sponges round and making anti-smoking posters, but it can't have been that for four years?!

I still barely understand the way the world is run, and I'm quite clever (if my University Challenge scores are to be believed).

good to see some people doing something daftpunk - gives a little hope

the more i read of the shock doctrine the more depressed i get

\link{http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/04/time-to-organise-resistance-now\see this article makes sense} whereas all the tory shite does not.

southeastastrabeing we have a budget deficit of £160 billion which is around 12% of GDP.

YANBU - people have been sleepwalking into these cuts. Once they start to kick in I think people will be galvanised to protest more in all kinds of ways.

wastingaway - yes, read it summer 2008. Sombre reading.

Still p*ssing me off that there doesn't appear to be any legislation to control the banks yet - and we are managing to find however many billion to replace trident.

Sorry, why do we need really big bombs exactly? I don't get it.

"where are the figures?"

Ask and ye shall receive. Try this page of the Office for National Statistics.... Government Debt and Deficit Net borrowing (the amount we're overspending) is currently £158.9bn. It's higher than in previous years and significantly higher than what would be expected from natural ebbs and flows in income/expenditure caused by normal economic cycles.

Beyond those bald facts there are various schools of thought on whether to do anything now/later. Where to spend and where to save is a combination of necessity and political philosophy.

DO NOTHING sounds like an attractive option. However, if we maintain the status quo then the national debt goes up by £159bn/year. National Debt is currently at £1000bn or £1 trillion. The interest on that sum alone would finance the NHS, for example.

"see this article makes sense"

Tony Benn still believes in nationalised industries as seen in his demand to 'place the banks under democratic control'. Nationalised industries hoovered up this country's cash like a sponge in the seventies and not once in 13 years of Labour did anyone seriously suggest a programme of re-nationalisation. Most of us wouldn't trust any government to run a whelk stall, never mind a bank.

Chil1234 That's odd chill, cos I seem to remember that actually some banks have recently been 'nationalised' because they were so dangerously badly run they were not only a disaster to themselves, but destabilising everything else as well.

Thta's HBOS and RBS Chil, in case you have had your eyes and ears shut for the last couple of years

I said we wouldn't trust a government to run a whelk stall, never mind a bank. But of course HBOS and RBS are running beautifully smoothly now that they are under government control. Share price strengthening etc. Let's roll it out to all the banks as Tony Benn suggests.

interesting

The banks weren't nationalised to keep the reds happy and because they'd been bad boys. The banks were "nationalised" because they made very real threats to close the cash points and not process wages.

That might've brought the people to the streets... :(

In response to the OP-John O'Farrell said that he reckoned a British government could abolish anything possibly even including democracy itself, and the average Joe Public, as long as the times for Eastenders didn't change, would say, "oh, OK then".

I think it's because Brits are generally so terribly law abiding and don't want to make a fuss, even when their very means of existence are being torn away.

" even when their very means of existence are being torn away. "

But that's the point, isn't it? Has anyone actually had their 'means of existence torn away' yet? Or see it being 'torn away' soon? When people are made redundant (the biggest likely change) there is still financial support available. CB won't be cut until 2013 and the people affected may struggle to adapt but they won't cease to exist. The HB/benefit cap hasn't taken effect yet and sounds like it won't apply to as many people as was feared. The reassessment of capability to work is stresful but many cases are being reviewed on appeal.

I can see if there are mass lay-offs in a particular sector that that might galvanise people into action. But, at the moment, (and I stand to be corrected) it appears that the changes announced for the majority are irritating rather than earth-shattering.

Nice to see 2shoes only gives a shit if it affects her family.

This is the beginning, noone yet feels the squeeze, there's no visible signs of cuts....yet. Dss classroom assistant has gone, but the caretaker has a new leafblower[confuse].

I think the attitude expressed by 2shoes is one felt by many if it hasn't reached them yet they don't care.

Some people have all their time taken up with caring for their family. And tbh, if you have SN dc, that's probably where the cuts are going to be felt longest and hardest, by the section of the community that is least able to find the time to 'kick up a fuss' about it, because getting their dc through each day is a big enough hurdle.

The changes in DLA have already personally affected me. It used to be that if you had (on average) one seizure a week, that you would autmatically qualify for DLA. That's around about 52 seizures a year. WHen I went for my renewal in July this year, the parameters for qualification have changed, and now, to automatically qualify, you need to have (on average)2 seizures a week. In other words, you need to be having around 104 seizures a year to automatically qualify for DLA. Yet if you are 'only' having 52-ish a year, is anyone going to employ you, knowing full well that you may have to take at least 50-odd days off in a year? (some seizure related injuries may take longer than just one day to heal).

It's crap, I appealed, but they're not changing this new rule, so I just don't qualify any more. But do I have time to go out and protest? NO. I have 3 dc and a DP in FT work, and don't have the time or childcare to travel and do something about it!

If you, any of you, voted these bastards in I hope your feet fall off.