two-thirds of leading UK economists say coalition austerity has been bad for the economy

[blacksunday]

David Cameron has presided over an economy with the weakest productivity record of any government since the second world war, the Office for National Statistics said as it revealed output per worker fell again in the final three months of 2014.

The ONS said productivity decreased by 0.2% in the third quarter of the financial year, leaving output per hour worked little changed on the previous year and slightly lower than in 2007, before the UK’s longest and deepest modern recession.

“These estimates show that the absence of productivity growth in the seven years since 2007 is unprecedented in the postwar period,” the ONS said.

www.theguardian.com/business/2015/apr/01/uk-productivity-growth-is-weakest-since-wwii-says-ons?CMP=share_btn_fb

We aren't the most unequal country in the EU ec.europa.eu/employment_social/social_monitor/images/Ineq_1.png and difference between worst and highest is not very large.

Third most unequal out of 28?

That's really great.

There are a lot of different ways of measuring inequality. Try having a look here for a start www.equalitytrust.org.uk/about-inequality/scale-and-trends Your graph shows one. The Spirit Level book has more info.

'Not very large' - it's large enough. But many places are getting worse and many things could be improved. www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/dec/05/oecd-ineqaulity-report-uk-us

A good article from the guardian www.theguardian.com/business/economics-blog/2015/apr/19/tory-long-term-economic-plan-not-even-the-propaganda-is-working

GibberingFlapdoodle & Lardylassnomore .... Concentrating on the UK, where in May 2010 under Labour we had 5 million (1.7 mil families) needing social homes, the private sector jobs market was on its needs as Labour were still hiring government non front line workers to COMPENSATE, 16-24 year old unemployment up from 580,000 in 2004 to nearly 1 million, welfare like everything else unreformed for 13-years - and passing the Coalition a £153 billion government budget deficit/overspend to sort it.

What were you expecting over 5-years to sort out the incompetence over 13-years, miracles, when other European countries far better economically balanced and much, much smaller budget overspends are STILL struggling?

Do you think when a new government comes in there is a magic 'default button' to erase the previous 13-years, as I wish there was.

Tell me, what were the Labour plans to sort out there own mess, as if you can't find any, no matter HOW BAD you think things are now, just think of how much inequality and suicides there would have been WITHOUT a recovery and Labour by now had to call out the IMF to financially bail us out as in 1976 - as Miliband and Balls were still waiting for 'something to turn up'?

Oh dear. I think I've said this before. To me we have had pretty much the same mindset in power for 30 years +. Doesn't matter whether it was red or blue coloured, it was all neo-liberalist and favoured the rich over the poor. So do I expect things to have been sorted out over the last 5 years, no, becuase they're not really trying to sort it out. None of the people at the top have much interest i. the lives of ordinary people or interest in reducing inequality. They have interests in making ithings worse. That has long been the tories' aim - they believe in vast inequality and the trickle-down effect. I do not. Neither does much of the evidence we have available.

Oh dear. I think I've said this before. To me we have had pretty much the same mindset in power for 30 years +. Doesn't matter whether it was red or blue coloured, it was all neo-liberalist and favoured the rich over the poor. So do I expect things to have been sorted out over the last 5 years, no, becuase they're not really trying to sort it out. None of the people at the top have much interest i. the lives of ordinary people or interest in reducing inequality. They have interests in making ithings worse. That has long been the tories' aim - they believe in vast inequality and the trickle-down effect. I do not. Neither does much of the evidence we have available.

Exactly so!

Interesting and blinkered in stereo;

So over the past 5-years, by reforming education starting from 'the OECD global literacy and numeracy bottom of 24' to provide better skills for work, by trying to limit immigration, by rebalancing the economy away from tax funded government non jobs, by trying to produce a higher skilled economy from north to south, by finding employment for 2 million more workers, by taking 3 million workers out of tax altogether, by reforming state pensions to ensure inflation linked rises, by building more social/council homes than the previous 13-years etc etc etc.

How is that "worse" from 2010?

• Who did more to try and reduce inequality, the last 5-years of an inherited budget deficit, or 13-years of mainly £££ plenty?

• Who thinks big government and higher taxes 'cascading down' is the way to higher Productivity, the subject of this thread, or reduces inequality?*

Who can possibly think that the party with an unbroken 13-years in power, with a huge parliamentary majority to mould society/address 'inequality' and a few £hundred billion a year extra taxpayer receipts (from the financial bubble) to do it with - structurally left the UK in a better and equal place???

They. are. the. same. Imo.

A tough audience....from someone promoting the concept of 'fairness'. lol

Unless of course, more focused on 'the top'. Hmmm.