Economic mess daunting - Cameron

bluey890

Maggies government led to masses of unemployment, this was after fiddling the unemployment numbers, her government moved people to the more expensive incapacity benefit, and no government has since reversed it.

Plus the UK would have had fibre optic connected to our homes if it wasn't for thatcher.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2001/feb/26/internetnews.guardianleaders

Generali

bluey890 wrote: »

Maggies government led to masses of unemployment, this was after fiddling the unemployment numbers, her government moved people to the more expensive incapacity benefit, and no government has since reversed it.

Plus the UK would have had fibre optic connected to our homes if it wasn't for thatcher.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2001/feb/26/internetnews.guardianleaders

The people who lost their jobs were either working in nationalised industries that were bankrupting the country due to the huge subsidies that had to be paid to them or were supplying those firms or their workers. The only way mass unemployment could have been avoided was by continuing to spend as Labour had done. They'd already had to call in the IMF. How do you (or other Thatcher haters) propose the subsidies to nationalised industries could have been continued under those conditions?

It's true what you say about the dole figures. IIRC the measurement for unemployment was changed on average every 4 months under Thatcher. And people were pushed on to incapacity benefit too - I remember it well at the time.

If you want to see the impact of Thatcher's Governments on Britain, take a look at the National Debt as a proportion of GDP between 1979 and 1990.

Mr_Mumble

I'm beginning to fear that Cameron will be another Arnie. In 2003 the Terminator promised to fight for Californian taxpayers yet six years later he sided with the militant teaching unions in the state's referenda on tax increases. Cameron with his pronouncements on cuddly spending such as overseas aid and the NHS probably doesn't have the balls of Mrs T and will bankrupt us. We need a Hayekian in power not a second-rate Blair impersonator.

ad9898_3

Although I'm a fan of Thatcher's guts in dealing with the problem, she had an ace up her sleeve, it was called North Sea oil, this time there are no cards to play, it's going to get very painful for lots of people.

If we manage to raise GDP before the election it will be false dawn, a public sector recession is just around the corner, along with more pain for workers in the private sector as tax hikes come into force. Unemployment will smash through the 3 million barrier unless they fiddle the figures and don't forget cheap and easy energy has gone, so has soon as demand rises so will energy prices, stoking inflation and raising IR's.

These are just some of the reasons why the current bullishness in the housing market will be very short lived.

prowla

Cameron gets criticised for not saying what he'll do, and then when he does he gets criticised for that too.

Seems to me like there are people who just want to moan about the Tories (and Thatcher, who left government almost two generations ago), regardless of how utterly useless the incumbent government is.

kennyboy66_2

Generali wrote: »

The people who lost their jobs were either working in nationalised industries that were bankrupting the country due to the huge subsidies that had to be paid to them or were supplying those firms or their workers. The only way mass unemployment could have been avoided was by continuing to spend as Labour had done.

And the fact that Sterling was kept artfically high during 1980 and 1981 had nothing to do with it ?

Vast swathes of manufacturing was destroyed by the moronic policies during the first 3 years of Thatcherism. It was high interest rates and an impossible exchange rate that did for these jobs permanently (as well as bad unions & bad management).

Yet, still we had inflation of 10% ten years later.

Only nationalised industries ? What utter !!!!!. You should know better.

kennyboy66_2

Generali wrote: »

If you want to see the impact of Thatcher's Governments on Britain, take a look at the National Debt as a proportion of GDP between 1979 and 1990.

Didn't it go from 44.01% in 1979, to 43.76% in 1997 ?

A stunning achievement I would say.

1echidna

From ad9898s signature:

My father rode a camel,
I drive a Rolls Royce,
My son flies a jet aircraft,
His son will ride a camel.

Old arabic proverb, regarding the end of the oil age.

This of course ignores the advance of science. The future 'camel' may be a genetically modified super camel and he will have his nano technology super devices or at least his solar powered communication devices and computers.

I do agree though that oil and gas were of great importance to the UK economy in the eighties.

Old_Slaphead

bluey890 wrote: »

Plus the UK would have had fibre optic connected to our homes if it wasn't for thatcher.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2001/feb/26/internetnews.guardianleaders

!!!!!! that was 1986 !!!!

Labour have had 12 years to do something about it but clearly they've been too busy 'investing' in unusable helicopters, quangos, "business consultants", [STRIKE]propaganda[/STRIKE] err advertising etc etc rather than improving infrastructure (see also the state of our roads)

Graham_Devon

Old_Slaphead wrote: »

!!!!!! that was 1986 !!!!

Labour have had 12 years to do something about it but clearly they've been too busy 'investing' in unusable helicopters, quangos, "business consultants", [STRIKE]propaganda[/STRIKE] err advertising etc etc rather than improving infrastructure (see also the state of our roads)

Shhhhh, the 12 years don't count!