Labour's continual calls for the Govt to spend more

hallmark

I'm surprised that a basic truth has not been pointed out, even by the right-wing sections of the press. It's this: Labour's continual calls for the Govt to abandon austerity & spend revolve around the fact that Labour badly wants Britain's economy to collapse.

It's as indisuputable a fact as you'll find & yet no-one seems to have worked it out. If the coalition turns the economy around Labour will lose the next election, most probably by a lot more than they lost the last one. It would be an unmitigated disaster for them.

And anyone who thinks that the Labour Party - particulary this Labour party, with Miliband as it's leader & Balls & his wife etc in the wings - would put the country before their own desire for power - is about as deluded as it's possible to be.

Be under no illusion, the strategists at Labour HQ are utterly desperate for the economy to deteriorate (witness as exhibit A the delight with which Ed Balls greets any bad set of figures & the total lack of comment on any figures that are better than expected).

Of course it is staggering hypocrisy on their part - claiming continually to be rooting for the common man whilst simultaneously hoping for economic disaster in order that they may have a chance to grasp power again. But that doesn't seem to bother them.

Just something to reflect on next time Labour, or their henchmen like Bob Crowe & various other 6-figure salary Union bosses clamour for more spending (with the continual threat of strikes if we don't get it). What they're really begging for is the coalition to abandon austerity in order that we'd get the inevitable trashing of the UK's credit rating & utter misery for all that would ensure. It's a neat & despicable trick. Half the population won't see through it & will just see it as nasty Tories making cuts they don't need to. Only if Labour get their way (or get back in) & continue spending will they realise just how much WORSE things could easily be yet.

Or they could just google "Greece" or even turn on the news occasionally, but that also seems to be beyond most people.

TruckerT

hallmark wrote: »

I'm surprised that a basic truth has not been pointed out, even by the right-wing sections of the press. It's this: Labour's continual calls for the Govt to abandon austerity & spend revolve around the fact that Labour badly wants Britain's economy to collapse.

It's as indisuputable a fact as you'll find & yet no-one seems to have worked it out. If the coalition turns the economy around Labour will lose the next election, most probably by a lot more than they lost the last one. It would be an unmitigated disaster for them.

And anyone who thinks that the Labour Party - particulary this Labour party, with Miliband as it's leader & Balls & his wife etc in the wings - would put the country before their own desire for power - is about as deluded as it's possible to be.

Be under no illusion, the strategists at Labour HQ are utterly desperate for the economy to deteriorate (witness as exhibit A the delight with which Ed Balls greets any bad set of figures & the total lack of comment on any figures that are better than expected).

Of course it is staggering hypocrisy on their part - claiming continually to be rooting for the common man whilst simultaneously hoping for economic disaster in order that they may have a chance to grasp power again. But that doesn't seem to bother them.

Just something to reflect on next time Labour, or their henchmen like Bob Crowe & various other 6-figure salary Union bosses clamour for more spending (with the continual threat of strikes if we don't get it). What they're really begging for is the coalition to abandon austerity in order that we'd get the inevitable trashing of the UK's credit rating & utter misery for all that would ensure. It's a neat & despicable trick. Half the population won't see through it & will just see it as nasty Tories making cuts they don't need to. Only if Labour get their way (or get back in) & continue spending will they realise just how much WORSE things could easily be yet.

Or they could just google "Greece" or even turn on the news occasionally, but that also seems to be beyond most people.

If the economy collapses, then democracy is likely to collapse as well

Labour would go the same way as all political parties

TruckerT

Kennyboy66

hallmark wrote: »

I'm surprised that a basic truth has not been pointed out, even by the right-wing sections of the press. It's this: Labour's continual calls for the Govt to abandon austerity & spend revolve around the fact that Labour badly wants Britain's economy to collapse.

It's as indisuputable a fact as you'll find & yet no-one seems to have worked it out. If the coalition turns the economy around Labour will lose the next election, most probably by a lot more than they lost the last one. It would be an unmitigated disaster for them.

Would this include those pinko crypto commies at the IMF who also recently said that the UK may have to delay cuts to public spending ?

Labour don't call for austerity to be abandoned, they are saying that the cuts are too far & too fast.

As much as they left the economy in a shambles, there is some economic merit in this argument.

Losing_the_way

If we look at the current plans we see that the bulk of the spending cuts are yet to come. The truth is many of the cuts that we should have had have actually been watered down, the so called bonfire of the quango is a case in point. At the moment we are actually borrowing more than we ever have in history, so where will the money for this paid stimulus come from?

Out current linear party's policies are disgusting, they all avoid grasping the nettle when ever they can. If the Conservatives want my vote they'd better shape up and that might mean dumping wishy washy Cameron for someone with a backbone.

1984ReturnsForReal_2

Kennyboy66 wrote: »

Would this include those pinko crypto commies at the IMF who also recently said that the UK may have to delay cuts to public spending ?

Labour don't call for austerity to be abandoned, they are saying that the cuts are too far & too fast.

As much as they left the economy in a shambles, there is some economic merit in this argument.

Sending an extra £3bn to India & Africa is just what we need

Joe_Bloggs

I think it is a stroke of political genius to offer libdem cabinet ministers a position in a future tory administration. They may have no choice but to serve in the House of Lords. They should make the most of the lords reform while they still can.
J_B.

What is the plural of Monegasque ? Is it plural already. I was surprised that my free Firefox spell checker knew of the word.

shortchanged_2

Austerity is all well and good as long as there is the predicted levels of growth in the economy. If there isn't growth then it's a double whammy of less taxes coming from income tax, more benefits to be paid to the unemployed and less tax coming from VAT etc.

hallmark

I'm certain that even had the Govt abandoned austerity our GDP would be no different. The UK is basically performing the same as the US & the Eurozone i.e. very slow recovery. It's unfeasible to imagine that extra spending would mean the UK would be booming whilst the US & Eurozone flatlined.

By implementing austerity at least the UK get's to benefit from low bond rates because of the perceived safety of their debt.

Rochdale_Pioneers

There is a clear demand from the market for growth - they are desperate for things to pick up. The government knows that it can invest in infrastructure projects which delivers this growth - both in spending and jobs now plus a return on that investment in the long term - which is why it is pulling forward as many budgeted projects as it can.

So with long term bond rates offering us money that is essentially free (being less than half the rate of inflation), and a myriad of investment projects needed to upgrade UK infrastructure to match our competitors, it seems like a no-brainer. Borrow the money for free, tell the markets its all being spent on ransport and fibre optics, and go do it.

Sadly even Labour aren't arguing this position. Smart businesses are using the downturn to invest money - even if its borrowed - on projects which will make them stronger and will pay back in the long term. We need to do the same as a nation or we will exit this with lower debt but less chance of competing due to our crap infrastructure.

System

The problem with government spending is that it is almost by definition on the wrong things. They just splash money around with political motives, and cannot be trusted with anything that might be of real relevance to growth.

They think just because it is borrowed money, and lots of it, it can be called "investment".

They need to slash public expenditure and taxation at the same time, to encourage productive industry to do proper investment, in things that will yield a return and create real growth.

The underlying cause of the whole prolonged crisis in my view is that the state has arrogated too much power to itself, and thinks it has the right to collar everyone else's money and then waste it.

MacMickster

Rochdale_Pioneers wrote: »

There is a clear demand from the market for growth - they are desperate for things to pick up. The government knows that it can invest in infrastructure projects which delivers this growth - both in spending and jobs now plus a return on that investment in the long term - which is why it is pulling forward as many budgeted projects as it can.

So with long term bond rates offering us money that is essentially free (being less than half the rate of inflation), and a myriad of investment projects needed to upgrade UK infrastructure to match our competitors, it seems like a no-brainer. Borrow the money for free, tell the markets its all being spent on ransport and fibre optics, and go do it.

Sadly even Labour aren't arguing this position. Smart businesses are using the downturn to invest money - even if its borrowed - on projects which will make them stronger and will pay back in the long term. We need to do the same as a nation or we will exit this with lower debt but less chance of competing due to our crap infrastructure.

This, of course, is exactly what a responsible government should look to do to stimulate the economy and employment during a recession. Coming off the back of a 15 year boom period in the economy tey should be starting from the position of budget surplus however, rather than the deficit that we actually have (to which bank bailouts, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan etc have contributed significantly).

Unfortunately the deficit limits the options for economic stimulus available to a government of whatever colour.