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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be fed up with austerity and TM

81 replies

Theworldisfullofidiots · 23/03/2017 06:52

So TM said I'm going to make a country that works for everyone at the same time as shafting education and health.
This government seems hell bent on austerity (which btw has never worked). I'm truly fed up with thus government and TM in particular who seems to have an inability to listen (see grammar school consultation).
AIBU to be totally fed-up. For me the last straw is cuts affecting my children's education. (it feels like the late 80s and early 90s all over again without a credible opposition - I worked in the NHS then and I remember the sigh of relief when the Tories were outed.....)

OP posts:
Itisnoteasybeingdifferent · 23/03/2017 07:05

It is easy to have a fancy lifestyle with holidays, fast car, big house. Spend more than you earn... just run up a credit card bill
Whe you max out your card, consolidate it to a personal loan and keep spending.. You can do this a number of times. Each time increasing your debt. In s short while you will owe more than you can ever earn in your life.

Then one day you will find no one will lend you any money because you can never pay it back. That is when the fancy life style comes to a shuddering halt and you go from lavish living to near poverty.

That is what Gordon Brown did over his time as chancellor. He near bankruptd the country for a ten year bing on supporting people workers, fancy public buildings, hand outs etc. He mortgaged the NHS with his off balance sheet spending (PFI) and did the same to schools nd left the next generwtion to pay the bills.

Blame Gordon Brown, not TM. .... (ps, I am. no fan of TM, but she is not the one who caused this problem)

Capricorn76 · 23/03/2017 07:06

I totally agree. She puts her ideology before everything. She thinks her stubborness makes her appear like Thatcher but it's actually a big weakness and will eventually do the country great harm.

I remember the late 80s and very early 90s and yes they're back. Every week I see more homeless people when I walk out of the tube station. I see more mentally ill people too. Hospital queues going up, schools being run down.

Austerity doesn't work it's a trickle up ideology.

However, the biggest paper's champion her because she's helping to carry out their agenda which is to make us more like the US with no social care and as most people read those papers they believe she's doing a good job.

I'm not left wing, I'm probably what people would call a dead centre Blairite. We need a party to campaign for the centre ground.

PNGirl · 23/03/2017 07:07

YANBU but as you point out this isn't new. They look after their own. I recently read an article calculating an area of Liverpool's losses per household due to cuts vs one in Hampshire and it was £800 vs about £26.

We're getting exactly what people voted for unfortunately. TM will say anything to get get party in next time whether she believes in it or not.

PNGirl · 23/03/2017 07:08

Oh and I'm pretty centrist too!

Brokenbiscuit · 23/03/2017 07:12

It is easy to have a fancy lifestyle with holidays, fast car, big house. Spend more than you earn... just run up a credit card bill
Whe you max out your card, consolidate it to a personal loan and keep spending.. You can do this a number of times. Each time increasing your debt. In s short while you will owe more than you can ever earn in your life.

Then one day you will find no one will lend you any money because you can never pay it back. That is when the fancy life style comes to a shuddering halt and you go from lavish living to near poverty.

This is why we need more basic economics to be taught in schools. Running a country is not the same as running a household. I wish that this was better understood.

hefzi · 23/03/2017 07:14

We're not actually experiencing austerity in the UK - Greece, for example, is undergoing austerity measures. As itsnoteasy said, we are experiencing cuts as a result of out of control public spending and debt.

I'm also not a TM fan, but the price we're paying now is a hangover from Brown's policies as Chancellor. The Tories have actually increased public spending - and the associated debt - so it's not going to get better any time soon either.

Capricorn76 · 23/03/2017 07:14

The Tories have had nearly a decade to sort out any issues they inherited however, things have got worse. In fact they now don't even blame Gordon Brown (who wasn't responsible for the global banking crisis) for current issues because they know they've had long enough to make a difference but they've got worse.

The only competent person in her cabinet is Hammond who's trying to be realistic about the situation we're in but he'll soon be driven out by the rabid fantasists in the party. I mean how long can they hide that food price inflation is skyrocketing?

FindoGask · 23/03/2017 07:17

We need to pay more tax across the board. I am on a low income (16,000 per year gross) but even I could afford to pay £20-£30 a month in tax, and I would gladly do this if I knew it would directly go towards safeguarding public services.

FindoGask · 23/03/2017 07:17

£20-£20 a month more in tax, that should read - I do already pay tax...

NoLotteryWinYet · 23/03/2017 07:20

We need some stats - will try and find them - most of the spending brown did was a response to the banking crisis which a governing party of any stripe would have done to avoid worldwide depression and he was praised for his handling of the banking crisis. We seem to have forgotten that was on the cards in 2008.

NoLotteryWinYet · 23/03/2017 07:22

www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/uk_national_deficit_analysis

NoLotteryWinYet · 23/03/2017 07:23

You can see before 2008 and the banking crisis the deficit was no problem. Let's not reinvent the past, Gordon Brown saved our bacon by prompt spending to shore up our financial system.

Original poster
Theworldisfullofidiots · 23/03/2017 07:24

I know the issue was making banking debt public debt....too big to fail etc....(not Gordon Brown anymore) personally I do think we have austerity (still) which leads to stagnant economies.....

OP posts:
Original poster
Theworldisfullofidiots · 23/03/2017 07:25

I'm middle of the road too....

OP posts:
Capricorn76 · 23/03/2017 07:27

You cannot blame your predecessor for more than five years (it's been seven years). By then your policies and initiatives should be bedded in and making a difference. It's as ridiculous as the rabid left wingers who still blame Thatcher despite the woman leaving office nearly 20 years ago and being dead four years. Suppose GM will be blamed for the state of the economy long after he's dead and buried too.

Capricorn76 · 23/03/2017 07:40

... and as others have said although he wasn't a good PM, we should be thankful he understood economics. He actually saved our economy during the crisis. He also wanted more banking regulation but was held back. If the 'let's get rid of all red tape!' Tories were in power we'd not have fared any better.

The 2000 were a golden age for the NHS and schools.

Itisnoteasybeingdifferent · 23/03/2017 07:40

Capricorn,
You can run up a £30k debt in year...then spend thirty years paying it back. You could not claim...The debt is seven years old therefore is is cancelled.

witsender · 23/03/2017 07:42

itsnoteasy you cannot compare a household's finances to a nations. This is a lazy trick used by the govt to justify their choice to impose austerity, when the majority of economists agree it doesn't work.

Original poster
Theworldisfullofidiots · 23/03/2017 07:48

We need to stimulate the economy not suffocate it. Why was it OK to fund banks through their crisis but not fund public services through the crisis of the government's making? So some schools are talking about having a four day week....which will effect people working....which in turn will effect the economy..... I just don't get it. TM seems to just make it up as she goes along (I'm not a fan - can't you tell..)

OP posts:
cochineal7 · 23/03/2017 12:01

The worst thing they ever came up with is that a country 'needs to balance their books' just like you and I. Sounds so logical right? It sells austerity. However, the economy of a state does NOT work like that. Austerity is a political choice. One that kills public services, NHS and education. Clearly economic education was killed a while ago.

squoosh · 23/03/2017 12:06

With the advent of Brexit it's only going to get a lot worse.

squoosh · 23/03/2017 12:08

Blame Gordon Brown, not TM

Lazy thinking.

Did Brown cause the global banking crisis?

No.

stumblymonkeyremix · 23/03/2017 12:10

YANBU and this is one of the things that has got me to join the LibDems this month. 80,000 new members in the last year....we need a new credible opposition.

PageNowFoundFileUnderSpartacus · 23/03/2017 12:13

YANBU. Austerity is an ideological policy, not an economic one. The Tories' biggest success is having persuaded intelligent people to believe the country is virtually bankrupt and that these "savings" - which disproportionately affect the lower waged and benefit recipients - are necessary.