Enforcing £12bn welfare cuts (and a lot more beyond that if the deficit is really to be eliminated) is draconian and callous as a means of making the poor subsidise the rich so that the latter can walk away free of any liability, but no-tax-increases in this Parliament doesn’t end the matter. It doesn’t preclude […]
Posts Tagged ‘Deficit’
However silly no-tax-increases are, they should cut tax reliefs to pay off deficit
May 30th, 2015 by Michael Meacher.
Did New Labour spend too much?
May 24th, 2015 by Michael Burke.It is not sufficient for big business to have secured an election victory and an overall Parliamentary majority for the Tory Party. It is also necessary to intervene in the Labour Party to ensure that its leadership also conforms to big business interests too. This currently takes the form of candidates in the leadership contest […]
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Osborne has as much chance of a budget surplus in 2018 as of the Titanic resurfacing
May 24th, 2015 by Michael Meacher.Osborne is telling another of his wheezing yarns which he’s much better at than solving real problems. His first yarn in 2010 was that he would eliminate the structural deficit by 2015; it turns out that it is currently £92bn. His next yarn today is that he will now eliminate it by 2017-8. Fat chance. […]
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Greek myths retold: confronting the ideologues of austerity
Apr 25th, 2015 by Michael Burke.The world economy is not strong and the President of the United States is sufficiently concerned about new shocks to it that he recently met the Greek Finance Minister to urge ‘flexibility on all sides’ in the negotiations between the Syriza-led government and its creditors. US concern is fully justified. In any attempt to reach agreement it […]
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There are 3 ways to cut the deficit – why has Labour chosen the wrong one?
Apr 23rd, 2015 by Michael Meacher.The budget deficit, which has been far more central to this election campaign than it should have been, can be dealt with in three separate ways. It can be reduced by cutting net expenditure either by taxing the poor or by taxing the rich, or it can be reduced by cutting unemployment (the ‘automatic stabilisers’ […]
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The central issue of this election is a mystery wrapped in an enigma
Apr 17th, 2015 by Michael Meacher.The key issue of this election,behind all the superficial flashy giveaways, is paying off the deficit. It still stands this year at £92bn when Osborne pledged in 2010 it would be £37bn or below – a discrepancy of £55bn, not exactly a minor slippage. So how exactly, after 5 years in which Osborne has tried […]
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Osborne’s claim of a let-up in austerity in next 5 years is a lie
Mar 19th, 2015 by Michael Meacher.George Osborne didn’t deliver a budget yesterday. He delivered a party political broadcast on behalf of the Tory party in which analysis of the macroeconomic state of the economy, which is the real purpose of budget statements, was almost totally absent. Osborne’s speech yesterday had two aims. One was to give the impression that the […]
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Austerity didn’t even cut the deficit
Mar 10th, 2015 by Michael Burke.The Coalition parties are set to feature deficit reduction as a central achievement of their time in office as part of the election campaign. The economic crisis is driven by the excessive saving of the private sector – its refusal to invest. As the government’s deficit is a response to this private sector saving, cutting […]
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How do the parties think they’ll reduce today’s deficit of £100bn to zero by 2020?
Feb 1st, 2015 by Michael Meacher.Osborne continues trying to taunt Labour about eliminating the deficit altogether by 2020. But he’s never set out any strategy by which he might get within even spitting distance of it. Economic growth isn’t going to do it. Under his current policies Britain now invests only 14% of its GDP, one of the lowest rates […]
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Tory own goal on debt and the deficit pledges
Jan 23rd, 2015 by Michael Burke.The Tory Party has decided to make public finances a key battleground for the election. Key supporters of austerity such as the FT’s economics editor Chris Giles have echoed that, arguing that the “defining battle of the 2015 general election [is] over borrowing and public spending“. It is only possible to stake out political ground on […]
