Is The IMF taking Over perhaps just what the country needs

[WaitingInForMyFoodShopping]

Ok bear with me. This sounds like an idiotic thing to say because if the IMF are involved it means the country is officially in a mess and the IMF will slash spending and enforce their own budgets and rules. So anyone on benefits might lose them, NHS funding will likely go down, same for the police force etc

It just occurred to me today that the country is in a complete mess and there isn't really any end in sight.

Headlines today - I didn't read the detail but I am just getting more angry, helpless feeling and frustrated and want 'somebody' who has some balls to step in and say enough. Things change from today. Todays headlines are rising taxes, 1/10 high school kids on benefits, families of migrants can claim benefits from day 1 even if they don't speak english.

Now i will caveat this by saying the housing market does need sorted but lets be honest that's not what they are trying to do here - it's just about raising taxes. I also say there is another articles claiming ' a crackdown on bring families into Britain' - something that made me snort with derision giving the whole small boats/protests going on just now.

I mean lets just get to the point. Does ANYONE think RR/KS are able to fix this mess. I know they didn't cause it. I know they have been in office less than a year but if we give them another year are they able to fix it. I personally don't think so. It is going to need someone very tough to brave the mess and take it in hand (Maggie Thatcher where are you now).
So what are we left with - voting Reform - which I have joked about doing but i don't actually think that is the way to go. That's borne out of desperation. So who is going to fix it then.

AIBU to think a complete reset, painful as it will be by the IMF is just what the country needs?

House prices drop unexpectedly amid property tax fears - latest updates

The ‘ludicrous’ migrant family rule pushing councils to breaking point

One in 10 secondary schoolchildren on disability benefits

USA.

but I didn't see anyone else was exactly rushing to do the same.

@GasPanic what does this mean?

USA is why you’re attacking pp?

High debt is an issue.

First it was hostile and now it's attacking. Lame. Do better.

I was thinking that of all the lame / nonsense / rookie stuff. Angry but it doesn’t add much.

Why even do it? It’s just a discussion on debt.

How are we getting out of the black hole? Given the goverment can't or won't stop the above what is the best solution for the country.

All politicians use this black hole analogy but it's more of an overspent budget.

However we can't grow the economy without serious investment (after yrs of little investment) but we don't have any more. 🤷🏻‍♀️

It means no other comparable country decided it was a good idea to sell off half their gold at the same time.

Which maybe tells you something.

money not more!

The last socialist Labour Government had to get the IMF involved at it was a massive turning point leading to Thatcher and a booming economy so you may be onto something OP. How sad is this that we are actually hoping to need an IMF bailout to save us from our own Government!!

@GasPanic but other central banks did sell off gold & many thought at the time it was wrong to hold so much gold when you could diversify & invest in other things. Now he absolutely was wrong to be so public about the sale but as I said you can't time the markets. With hindsight it was the wrong decision but at the time it wasn't seen as wrong to sell because no one knew the prices would increase.

Surely we’ve had a Labour government since the. 70s, haven’t we? Obviously we haven’t really had a socialist one since Attlee.

The last socialist Labour Government had to get the IMF involved at it was a massive turning point leading to Thatcher and a booming economy so you may be onto something OP.

You could also argue that it would have been better if rather than cutting taxes because of the oil boom we should have copied Norway & used the windfall to create a sovereign wealth fund.
Also I would argue that some of the issues playing out now are a result of some Thatcher policies eg privatisation but again hindsight.

I suspect the motivation behind it was born from much of the same hubris that made him claim there would be "no more return to boom and bust".

He probably looked back over a 20 year period and thought this hasn't moved much and so it won't do much in the future.

Gold is a bit more enduring than politicians and fiat currencies, so not really surprising that that didn't end so well.

But it isn't and you understand that. Don't you?

He probably looked back over a 20 year period and thought this hasn't moved much and so it won't do much in the future.

Yes, gold had fallen in value over that period.

I mean with hindsight I should have left school at 16, not bothered with A-levels or a degree, worked full time in my Saturday retail job & bought a property in my part of London even with a 95% interest only mortgage. However no one would have advised me to do that at the time but I would be laughing today!

I suspect the motivation behind it was born from much of the same hubris that made him claim there would be "no more return to boom and bust".

Well we have only had bust since 08, still waiting for that boom nearly 20 years later. It's unbelievable really.

This. I'm looking on from afar from Mexico and the IMF only tripled Mexico's problems back in the 1980s. We are only just getting out of the mess the IMF put us in

This. I'm looking on from afar from Mexico and the IMF only tripled Mexico's problems back in the 1980s. We are only just getting out of the mess the IMF put us in

This. I'm looking on from afar from Mexico and the IMF only tripled Mexico's problems back in the 1980s. We are only just getting out of the mess the IMF put us in

A huge issue which makes people very uncomfortable is our ageing population, & we have too much money tied up in housing just sitting there.

Growth gets us out of the black hole. Which requires people, ie you, to work.

NB council tax covers less than a third of the spending of local authorities and NONE of the other public services you use and benefit from every day.

Healthy people in their fifties who wont work calling down economic disaster and wondering why govt tax receipts aren't high enough to cover public services. Have a look in the mirror.

I mean we (and many developed countries) do have a significant problem due some very bloody obvious demographic issues and very short term policies. The under investment over the last 10-20 years by both private and public money is really coming home to roost in a big way for the UK. We've been one end of the spectrum in how we've encouraged the worst type of extractive capitalism. Just look at our rules on incorporating a business Vs Germany's. We literally set this ourselves and yet corporations in the UK are disencentised to invest. Madness....Poor investment in skills and infrastructure does nothing for productivity. And our aging demographic means rising health and care costs. Choices are simple but the level of care, rise taxes or increase v the population (through immigration as growing a work force will take too long). I mean that's the basic economics. However the politics....well that's a different story. The public don't like any of those answers or at least you can't get consensus for any one of them. So you don't have a voters coalition. You can be Mr big balls all you like but a 5 year term wont get this sorted and if the public don't like the answers (and they don't appear to like any of them) then you'll get voted out.

Oh and really the IMF thing is telegraph trolling .... The guardian thinks so anyway 😂 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/aug/29/uk-crisis-denis-healey-comparison-rachel-reeves

Do you honestly believe that the IMF is what this country needs @WaitingInForMyFoodShopping

It's just a nonsense question. Has no agency.

@hettie nail on head