To think the last 10 years of austerity is being thrown away?

[Snowy111]

I know some of you will say it was a waste of time anyway, and we should spend and raise taxes to get out of national debt, but...

Osborne followed by Hammond were following the traditional Tory policy to reduce spending to get out of debt. People and services have suffered very badly over the last 10 years because of this. If the tories carried on with their policy for a few more years it would turn the trend of debt going up and the debt would start to reduce. It’s around £2 trillion, that around £60k owed for every person in the country on top of any personal debt people owe.

And BJ/Cummings are throwing it all away with their election bribes. The NI threshold rise, the spending promises. Plus the BJ brexit deal is worse for the economy than where we are now, so there’ll be less money coming in.

But people completely fall for the election bribes and don’t think that the tories will eventually revert to type. Austerity will come back again and it will be harder and longer because of the throwaways being given now.

But of course it’s always labour that are the irresponsible ones with the finances

I'm surprised no one has mentioned modern monetary theory yet

I hadn’t heard of it until now, will go and have a read around.

The Tories haven't reduced the debt at all.

No one is saying they have. They HAVE, however, massively reduced the enormous deficit they inherited, so the debt isn't growing anywhere near as fast as it was, even in Gordon Brown's boom years where he ran a bigger deficit and the debt was rising faster than it is today.

It's disgusting that people have died due to Austerity when it's all a bunch of naughts.
It means absolutely nothing and you are all taken in like mugs.
Ooh, let's tell them we need to save money, let's take it from the poor.

even in Gordon Brown's boom years where he ran a bigger deficit

What was the deficit back then?

What was the deficit back then?

Still political tub thumping with no real knowledge I see.

What is your opinion of Brown promising austerity to the tune of 73 Billion in the run up to the 2010 election.

Austerity is a ridiculous policy: it's utterly counterproductive. I don't know a single economics expert who thinks it is a good idea.

You highlighting your lack of economic theory does not point to it being a ridiculous policy.

It is widely accepted, hence why Keynesian economics is a theory

What is your opinion of Brown promising austerity to the tune of 73 Billion in the run up to the 2010 election

He didn’t promise austerity 🤷🏻‍♀️ It was a mix of tax rises and reductions.

It is widely accepted, hence why Keynesian economics is a theory

Incorrect.

People are stupid so Bad Tories save money by austerity - Good Labour have a magic money tree and give lots of money in benefit payments and pour into NHS.

Anyone who thinks the Tories manage economy better is, quite frankly, deluded.

I personally don’t think there’s a real difference.

That’s why I challenge the view every time I see it.

The Tories are quite nasty in their approach. That’s what puts me off.

Whatever the theories, it is obvious that austerity has gone catastrophically wrong and that the only way to fix the mess we are in is to give money to the poor. Because the current situation is not sustainable.

Whatever the theories, it is obvious that austerity has gone catastrophically wrong and that the only way to fix the mess we are in is to give money to the poor

Agree.

Austerity under the Tories = take money from those who need it most and who already pay proportionally more (taking all taxes, not just income) and claim everyone is suffering.

People have died. Starved to death.

Disgusting.

Where are labour going to get all this money - oh yes, increasing taxes on the rich. Depends if you think teachers, nurses and police are rich otherwise there aren't enough of them to make a difference.

The bottom line is there isn't enough money going round to cover all these needs. Especially when Amazon is pocketing so much.

But lets not worry about Amazon, or stop buying there, when we can blame the rich few

So it’s ok for the Tories to chuck about increased spending plans which will rely on borrowing, but not labour?

It’s ok for the Tories to cut benefits to those who are starving so that they die, while at the same time cutting taxes for the very rich?

Why is that ok? Why can we find money for tax cuts but not for those without food?

As for increasing taxes - wealth in the form of capital needs higher taxes. Not income.

And sooner or later taxing wealth is what we're going to have to do. The working population can't continue to shoulder so much of the burden indefinitely.

I had friends come over to the UK having not been here for years. They said it looked much more run down now since their last visit.
Very true. I come over once a year and the difference is shocking.

The bottom line is there isn't enough money going round to cover all these needs.
Let's not forget that a lot of the needs could have been paid for by the millions and millions that Tories have wasted on Brexit "preparation" and propaganda, garden bridge project etc. The Tories know austerity doesn't work and they know they have wasted millions. They just don't care because they don't suffer the consequences. I think there is a special place in hell for people who vote Tory "because they are good at managing the economy". They absolutely are not but sadly they have managed to convince enough people that the poor deserve to be poor.

As for increasing taxes - wealth in the form of capital needs higher taxes. Not income.

Except that capital is usually money that has already been taxed, whether that’s via income tax or corporation tax or capital gains tax. Labour’s obsession with wealth taxes is driven purely by a socialist belief that people don’t deserve to enjoy the fruits of what they earned, and that the state should control it instead. Thanks but no thanks!

Except that capital is usually money that has already been taxed, whether that’s via income tax or corporation tax or capital gains tax. Labour’s obsession with wealth taxes is driven purely by a socialist belief that people don’t deserve to enjoy the fruits of what they earned, and that the state should control it instead. Thanks but no thanks!

I'd say that Labour's obsession with wealth taxes is more about people not deserving to enjoy the fruits of what they haven't earned.

We need progressive taxation- which, yes, means taxing capital much harder than income.

What's been spent on Brexit and the garden bridge is tiddly compared to the cost of running the nhs which is predicted to be 128 billion pa by 20/21here
Remember all those Baby boomers on their generous pensions are all paying tax on their income, it's not just working people. I spose you could start to go after their homes but what happens if they can't pay? And you'd have to go after wealthy people with valuable homes or savings whoever and wherever they are. Or will you just limit to people with wealth of over say 5 million. That's not enough people. Less than a million and you are taxing a large proportion of london property owners/dwellers.

I'd say that Labour's obsession with wealth taxes is more about people not deserving to enjoy the fruits of what they haven't earned.

So the taxes I've already mentioned (plus a dozen others!) don't exist? I wish they didn't, but they most certainly do!

What's been spent on Brexit and the garden bridge is tiddly compared to the cost of running the nhs which is predicted to be 128 billion pa by 20/21here
But it's not tiddly compared to the cost of running your local schools, or making up the shortfall in local authority's care budgets or any of a dozen issues that actually matter to people. We are constantly told there is no money to pay nurses a bit more or to keep schools open 5 days a week - but somehow there is for other things. It ALL matters. And of course, it is this government which has been pursuing Brexit - the single most damaging policy this century - and one which will have a negative effect on the economy for the next few DECADES.

Warnings now of the downgrading of our credit rating. This is serious and a downward spiral. Moodys have no confidence in either of the main parties “over-spending” pledges...

uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-ratings-moody-s/moodys-warns-uk-of-further-debt-downgrade-on-brexit-paralysis-idUKKBN1XI2KK?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

Warnings now of the downgrading of our credit rating. This is serious and a downward spiral. Moodys have no confidence in either of the main parties “over-spending” pledges..

This was a reason to implement austerity, so you will have to do mental loops to justify why it was bad for the past decade that apparently led to brexit, to now listen to the warnings.