To think there is no more money?

[Rainbowsponge]

And Labour have admitted this.

So many threads saying X or Y needs to be ‘properly funded’ (even though most of the time our spending is actually in line with comparable countries), but no acknowledgment of the fact there’s no money to spend.

And when you bring it up, posters completely ignore you or accuse you of being Jacob Rees Mogg

Wouldn’t the quality of debate be improved if we stopped burying our heads in the sand?

Why am I not surprised that (a) my comment went over your head and (b) you have resorted to lazy stereotypes.

Why for example do you say my friends? I have no affiliation to any particlar party. Indeed I voted for Bliar in '97 and am therefore in part responsible for the damage caused!! I also voted remain, but understand that that's not what the country, and in particular those in the middle and at the bottom of society wanted. That, in part that was because politicians - of all colours - had ignored them for too long. Which is why Borris was sucessful - he connected with people who felt disenfranchised. But, that's not because he was any good, or had any sensible policies, it was because the alternatives were worse. And that's why Labour won a landslide this time round. They were the least worst option for many.

My view is that those that blindly follow and support a party, rather than those whose polices that they think best for the country at any point in time, are either lazy, stupid or disinterested in politics.

The greater question is: why the hell do people expect a new government to have a budget and funding all worked out a few weeks after taking over from another government? Think it through people…

Nobody does. You’re commenting on the wrong thread.

No. I’m not. Think it through….

Q: is there no money?
A: why does anyone expect an answer after a few weeks of governing?

Simple.

It's Richard Murphy. I can't find his thread where he explains this but here's one of his recent comments

That’s not ‘thinking through’. It’s making up a subject that isn’t what’s being asked on this thread.

Jeez, being a left-wing academic doesn’t make him right, or even plausible.

What if businesses were satisfied with a smaller profit?

There’s plenty of money - we are just sending it all overseas and using it for the wrong stuff!

Tesco don't make excessive profits......is that you, Liz?

The Labour knew exactly what money was available due to the Office of Budgeting Responsibility as would whoever took over. Back tracking already so they can put up taxes which they stated they wouldn't.

Do look at who owns most of the British press.

Why? The press sells fewer and fewer hard copies every month and doesn’t make up for it with online publication.

‘News’ and ‘current affairs’ (scare quotes intended) is now increasingly the province of X and YouTube. Which are dominated - at least X still is - by left-wing propagandists.

My fear is that editorially controlled, proper news sources will be surpassed by fools on X, The Canary and Byline News.

Incorrect. When Labour introduced tax credits the minimum hours anyone with children needed to work was 16 hours (2 days) per week for 16 years until the youngest left school. Any amount of children could be claimed for, plus housing benefit on top. If you worked more hours, that was deducted from your tax credits. There’s no way that was introduced to encourage anyone into work as it had the opposite effect with many households reducing working hours in order to work less and claim more benefits.

Universal credit was introduced to replace tax credits as you keep more of your wages if you increase your working hours.

Elon Musk is a left wing propagandist........?

He’s not the only poster on X.

Quite a recent one though.

And you did ask when this had last happened, not how often it happened.

Really...there's others?
He owns it.

Yes, I was aware that he owns X. He also posts on it.

Is there no money? Well yes, there clearly is. Plenty of it circulates outside of the tax system (thanks 'carried interest' - the biggest glaring anomaly the Blair/Brown administration never dealt with and knew full well they should have!)

See also wealth tax/property tax/IHT/CGT.

But jump too fast and those with means will shift out of the UK entirely & if property prices fall 40% on the back of a deflating luxury/London housing market, those assets aren't worth anything - either to Joe Average or to the British taxpayer.

And yes, higher rate taxpayers probably should have been paying 2-3p on the pound more over the last 14 years to help fund infrastructure & education improvements which should have been made but weren't & now we're paying a generation of catch up.

While the NHS clearly needs funding & staffing addressed, one further wildly unpopular opinion which will need to be aired eventually is that as a nation, we are on average too fat, too sedentary & killing ourselves slowly with avoidable, reversible lifestyle diseases (which are very expensive to treat medically for 2-3 decades.

But again, 'BIG' food & pharma (and even media companies) have a financial interest in keeping us on the sofa & hoovering up processed snacks & the 'medicine' to undo the ill they cause. And they've funded Tory policies to ignore all the obvious solutions for decades too.

It's a LOT for any government to unravel! I can only wish Keir Starmer, his teams & MPs good luck & the hide of a rhino to even make a start...

Surely - they will just up taxes and get the trillions and jillions from taxing the private schools?! Surely - SURELY they would have thought about this beforehand right?

This - they’ll just print more

Plus the amount they fund to foreign wars

Money doesn’t exist. They can produce it from thin air

https://www.ft.com/content/84c596d0-c192-4903-a228-abec6e938095

Public sector pensions…that’s where most of our money goes. It’s a huge issue and needs addressing. But obviously Labour won’t consider touching them.