Are the Lib Dems' policies really credible?

shaven-monkey

lynzpower wrote: »

Must be because this site attracts some of the tightest people in the UK

How very dare you!
In the world, please.

Foreign aid is also used to create jobs for british people as a proportion of it is either conditional upon purchasing british weapon systems or hiring british engineering contractors.

Looking at the lib dem and conservative manifestos (couldn't find the labour one although i didn't look very hard) the consevatives talk about reducing waste and putting private sector executives into positions in the public sector. They have a fair number of pretty balloon type graphics. Seems they'd very much like you to believe they have a plan but they're not prepared to tell anyone because we shouldn't trouble our pretty little heads about the details.
The lib dems accounted figures don't appear to explain how the deficit will be cut significantly but they have some figures which is nice. Makes you think that they believe a voter can read and understand numbers.

Far as I could tell (and my pretty little head isn't good with figures) the 2 manifestos don't really give any hope for a short term reduction in public borrowing. Lib dems may reduce spending by a small amount, conservatives will reduce spending but won't say how, where or what we lose in the process.
The lib dem proposals will stimulate economic growth pretty much as soon as the 10k tax exemption is introduced, whether it'll be enough to raise revenues is another matter.
I'd guess that all parties who feel they have a chance of winning some seats are working on the dream that public debt is so huge that we just shouldn't open the letters or answer the phone to the creditors and hope that the economy grows enough to pay off some of the debt. Or just go to the IMF and take the hit. Conservatives would probably love this one as they can blame johnny foreigner for the extreme spending cuts they want to impliment anyway.

Degenerate

lynzpower wrote: »

Thats your opinion. As it is its an opinion I share, I used to think it was a good idea to be part of the Euro, but now, Im not sure at all.

How would you feel if there was a referendum and the people said that they wanted it?

I cannot imagine this outcome. The British public have a tendency to oppose the Euro on petty nationalistic grounds, before you even consider the legitimate economic reasons why it does not make sense. I think any referendum would have a large majority against.

But, to answer your question, I'd probably move abroad to escape the inevitable economic disaster that would follow.

adr0ck

Lib Dem policies would mean existing houses would increase in value, as no new houses would be built

Though you will have at a guess 300,000 job losses

lynzpower

Degenerate wrote: »

I cannot imagine this outcome. The British public have a tendency to oppose the Euro on petty nationalistic grounds, before you even consider the legitimate economic reasons why it does not make sense. I think any referendum would have a large majority against.

But, to answer your question, I'd probably move abroad to escape the inevitable economic disaster that would follow.

FWIW I dont think the people would really want it either, and so therefore thats my favourite choice. Referendum in or out- the lib dems wont give us a choice in/out yet ( if they win of course ) because economically not stable. ONce the situation is stable ( when would that be then?) then people can decide and IMO I think the vote would be a large no. ( for a variety of reasons)

I think the appeal of it is to do with easier trading rates, but as weve seen as sterling has been worth less against the Euro this has increased our trade within the eurozone as our products are cheaper.

lynzpower

adr0ck wrote: »

Lib Dem policies would mean existing houses would increase in value, as no new houses would be built

Though you will have at a guess 300,000 job losses

where does it say that?

adr0ck

lynzpower wrote: »

where does it say that?

just a guess at the figures working in the housebuilding sector and the knock on effect on suppliers etc

I think theres about 1.2 million total construction workforce in the uk (roughly 8% I think of total uk workforce)

so if you effectively shut down private house building overnight (as the lib dems seem to be planning) that would mean roughly job losses of at least 300,000 i would say

beer_tins

Degenerate wrote: »

I cannot imagine this outcome. The British public have a tendency to oppose the Euro on petty nationalistic grounds, before you even consider the legitimate economic reasons why it does not make sense. I think any referendum would have a large majority against.

But, to answer your question, I'd probably move abroad to escape the inevitable economic disaster that would follow.

I agree on the first point. Anything to do with Europe is emotive in this country. The people are scared of Europe. The opposition is eurosceptic, the government marginally europhile. This is true whatever government is in power. I can remember when it was the marginally europhile Tories in power and labour were the eurosceptics. It gets votes, but the party that's in power knows that we need to have a reasonable relationship with Europe.

As for the euro itself, it has also been used as a political plaything here. It would always be rejected by the public on emotive grounds.

As for pros vs. cons. Well, as with most things there are both. Who does better and who does worse out of it depends entirely on who you are and what you do. The main pro is price stability, this is important for any company that deals with the eurozone directly or indirectly, be it tourism or import/export. The main con is the reduced fiscal control. You can no longer set interest rates and must use other means, which becomes problematic.

I honestly don't know if we'd be better or worse off in the euro. but I am certain that the British public would vote against it, (largely) because the queen's head is no longer on the banknotes (but still on the coins).

lynzpower

adr0ck wrote: »

just a guess at the figures working in the housebuilding sector and the knock on effect on suppliers etc

I think theres about 1.2 million total construction workforce in the uk (roughly 8% I think of total uk workforce)

so if you effectively shut down private house building overnight (as the lib dems seem to be planning) that would mean roughly job losses of at least 300,000 i would say

Where does it say they are planning on shutting down private house building?
Or are you just making that up?

Certainly Lib dems want to knock the Homebuy schemes, but depending where you live there are more than enough one bed-new build flats to choose from so why need any more ( we could start knocking them down again a la ireland- should keep demolition firms busy- rolleyes)

They state that they will offer cheap finance for people to take to bring an empty home back into use- presumably this will positively affect the building market or do you not think so?

I suppose you mean outlawing garden-grabbing, but that is already being outlawed here in London under Tory Boris Johnson and I understand that this has a lot of X-party support especially in flood areas.

adr0ck

lynzpower wrote: »

Where does it say they are planning on shutting down private house building?
Or are you just making that up?

Certainly Lib dems want to knock the Homebuy schemes, but depending where you live there are more than enough one bed-new build flats to choose from so why need any more ( we could start knocking them down again a la ireland- should keep demolition firms busy- rolleyes)

They state that they will offer cheap finance for people to take to bring an empty home back into use- presumably this will positively affect the building market or do you not think so?

I suppose you mean outlawing garden-grabbing, but that is already being outlawed here in London under Tory Boris Johnson and I understand that this has a lot of X-party support especially in flood areas.

No i'm not just making it up (its in their manifesto)

Lib Dems are going to put VAT on house building

in this market that is effectively house builders profit margin wiped out

therefore all private development sites will just be mothballed and the majority of people in the industry will lose their jobs

work in the construction industry - vote Lib Dem - lose your job simples

adr0ck

quote for you lynzpower

Roger Humber, strategic policy adviser for the House Builder's Association, said the proposals on VAT could effectively close down the private house-building industry overnight. "It is the single most catastrophic policy to be proposed by any of the main political parties since the second world war," he said. Humber said VAT of just 5% would be enough to entirely wipe out developers profit margins in the current market, with no possibility that price increases could be passed on to the consumer. He said most schemes would be stalled rather than be built at a loss.