The budget: thumbs up or thumbs down?

[policywonk]

Interested in seeing what the MN consensus is (if we can reach such a thing)

For me: thumbs up, on balance, despite not enough Hot Low-Carbon Action

174 billion debt, that we (the taxpayers) have to pay for, Im ffing ecstatic

MNHQ - Could we please have a poll for a budget thumbs up or thumbs down? One vote per member? Please.

I've seen something on the Deloitte website that disabled kids might get something in their CTF's (if they ahev them, not sure about ds1 as over age at 9) but that page isn't typed up yet so dont know details: if so I ike the long term planning of it (given we cant oput anthing in the CTF ds3 has)

Peachy - £100 per year, £200 for those with 'severe' disabilities, apparently.

Well ds1 is classes as severe by DLA rules but too old I think; ds3 will get the £100 though which, you know, will be good. He'll need all the help he can get

Extending it to all disabled kids under 16 might help but I understand about the cost.

A better way would be additional student finance for parents of Sn kids so that they could earn and pay tax though. Recognise that its harder for them and reward that. Then parents can help finance kids as they get older.

Interesting blog post on the top rate issue.

I particularly like the point about what Cameron's going to do when he gets in. Will he have the ideological balls to scrap it or will he stick with it, knowing that it's popular?

policywonk - Stephanie Flaners quote in that blog post is excellent. She is really the best economics reporter on TV in my opinion. Never gets enough time to cover the points though on Newsnight.

"You can?t raise the kind of money this government needs to raise by soaking the rich. There aren?t enough of them, and those that do exist tend to be very good at keeping the government?s hands off their cash. Taxing the rich makes for good politics but less effective economics."

Beta - well, you might not be able to raise all of the money we need by soaking the rich, but that's no reason not to raise some of the money we need by soaking the rich. Or, as I prefer to put it, taxing the rich to achieve the redistribution of income.

Another good blog post here by Paul Mason - the IMF's 'reverse-ferret' on the UK's debt statistics.

(Sorry for excessive linkage.)

I can't say whether it is a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. New Labour, being the spin doctors that they are, always put a good gloss on the budget on the day. And the media doesn't help by blathering on about irrelevances like 1p on a pint of beer. It's only days afterwards that we realise their deviousness, hidden away in the small print that they hope no-one will read. Eg it took the the public years to realise the damage done to pensions by Gordy.

It feels like a thumbs-down. Are you left thinking, "hey Gordon and Alistair have convinced me that they really have got a handle on the economy and know exactly what to do to get us out of this mess." Or are you left feeling that they are fiddling while Rome burns?

Policywonk - I agree. Its just the way it is being presented as if it is the whole answer when it clearly not.

Didn't quite understand the Mason link - although I have been struggling to folow that story for the last 24 hours. I assume the bank bailout cost is still a very very big number though.

I think it was a load of bollocks.

Can I ask a stupid question? Do the rich have to pay 50% on all of their earnings above the 20% threshold or just on anything above 150K?

It is 50% above £150k.

Thumbs down. Ridiculous 50% tax has gone down like a lead balloon. But then I guess it's to be expected from labour scum govt. Glad it seems to make everyone else so happy .

Down, down, down. £14.5 billion on ID cards ffs. Who cares how much tax we will have to pay if we no longer have any privacy. This alone should stop anyone voting Labour.

It seems like a very socialist budget. Quite a turnaround given this government has been so middle of the road rather than left wing.

OK, the tally so far:

Oh Darling!: 5
Not Tonight, Darling: 15
Wha....? There Was A Budget?: 5

Well, you can't get something for nothing unless you are rich and can avoid to pay taxes.

Not only do we have to pay for the public services that the electorate always clamour for until they realise how much they have to fork out, we have to pay for the bankers incompetence as well as their undeserved salaries and bonuses even though most it will end up in tax havens.

Oh joy!

Love it PWonk - another 'move over darling' for another party...

They nicked the car scrappage idea from Germany, where the govt has been offering 2500 euros to trade in your old car for a new one from the factory since Jauary. Its very popular here.

I have done it. My old fiesta was worth around 500 euros, I have ordered a new touran & got 2500 euros for the old one. Now I just have to keep my job long enough to pay for it

Nigh, someone on the radio today was saying that the German scheme was different in an important respect... jiggered if I can remember what it was though...

Somebody also asked: would it be possible to go onto eBay, buy an ancient banger for £50 and take it along to the garage for a vast profit? (I guess not though, unless the civil servants involved in drafting the legislation are really stupid.)

easteregg - Move Over Darling! That's what I should have used. Darn.

Well, the important respect where the german scheme is different, is that in germany, people have jobs that pay a living wage, so they can afford to buy new cars.

If we were still in the UK, I wouldnt have a hope in hell of affording a touran, so the scheme wouldnt mean much to me.

It was something more technical than that but yours is a good point.