On 30 Nov 2014 at 10:14am Clifford wrote:
'George Osborne has actually borrowed more than Alistair Darling, his Labour predecessor, planned to do. As a proportion of GDP, Britain’s deficit is higher than that of Portugal, France and Italy – those European “basketcases” of Tory rhetoric. It is higher than that of Greece.'
On 30 Nov 2014 at 10:26am bastian wrote:
If I understand the figures correctly, our GDP is actually based on a proprtion of what we borrow, not real capitaion coming into the country from export. After all, it is so important to stay in the top G8 isn't it.
On 30 Nov 2014 at 1:22pm The Old Politics wrote:
I don`t know ….(deep sigh) ….I have sometimes wondered what on earth the world most look like to people who only read the Guardian. Its like discovering a tribe that thinks the sky sits on the forest canopy and people were brought into being by a great tortoise defecating on the sand . You hardly know where to begin explaining.
Greeces deficit is 12-13% of GDP. Ours is about 5-6% of GDP which is about the EU average ... our growth and especially job creation are way ahead of the continent which is why it has been impossible to hit immigration targets. Italy is in recession and both Spain and Greece have 25% unemployment
I have been saying for a long time that the endless complaints that we are suffering brutal austerity , were the opposite of the truth. Its nice to see that now the idiot Andrew Rawnsley is saying it then Clifford does to( UKIP have said the same thing all along )
We are certainly not under borrowed and the National debt itself is creeping dangerously up to 100% and our growth has predictably ( ie I predicted) not turned into tax receipts so there is a mass of pain to come.
The comparison with Italy , let us say , is not a good one though , it makes the entirely foolish assumption that countries have the same capacity to borrow as a proportion of GDP . Actually the amount of money in a country is only one factor , the political stability of the country and its default record are more important . The UK is uniquely credit worthy and can afford to risk more with fiscal stimulus as a consequence
I think they have it about right and Cameron Osborne as well as Clegg and yes NORMAN BAKER deserve some credit for navigating this country through the last few years .
On 30 Nov 2014 at 2:44pm Clifford wrote:
Good to know that everything is fine and dandy The Old Politics or, in that old weasel phrase 'about right', and that the Tories and their poodles have done a great job 'navigating this country through the last few years'. Meanwhile, in the real world...
On 30 Nov 2014 at 4:37pm Mark wrote:
I wouldn't dare attempt to argue with Old Politics on fiscal policy or any of the nitty gritty. I just have to take his word and make an assumption that it's not all smoke and mirrors. I am sure that AR wouldn't have agreed, as suggested. That has to be something he's written taken out of context. I am certain that the "pain" OP eagerly anticipates won't be felt by the millionaire members of the rich club who (and it's quite bizarre that our austere government haven't noticed this) pay their council tax at Band H and have just had a nice tax cut. Bizarre that cuts in corporate taxation (when it gets paid) are affordable. This is a cruel, cynical and dishonest government.
On 30 Nov 2014 at 5:10pm Ex-Lib-Dem Voter wrote:
I just look at the world that I can see, and our government has only made it worse. The obvious dissatisfaction of people is not caused because everything is fine and dandy, and the double insult to people like me, is that this horrible Government, (assisted by self interested Lib Dem egotists) is not standing up to disillusioned racist political extremes, but is trying to appease them and copy parts of their agenda.
On 30 Nov 2014 at 6:55pm Fairmeadow wrote:
In fact, while consistently denigrating Ed Balls & Gordon Brown, George Osborne has done exactly what they did. Shout austerity, while actually behaving as a Keynesian. And it has worked.
Pity about the deficit though - bigger under Osborne than anyone else. Someone will have to pay sometime - hopefully after I have moved on.
Keynes won; Monetarists nil.
On 30 Nov 2014 at 7:13pm lewesian wrote:
Thanks Paul Newman (The Old Tory apologist).
On 30 Nov 2014 at 7:28pm bastian wrote:
I still find it disappointing that Old Politics thinks the best way to challenge someone who thinks differently to them is to treat them as if they are a child or a bit dim. This is what I have come to expect of Right political thinkers, insufferable doesn't cover it.
From the ground looking out at the world, I don't have to look far to see a government hell bent on smashing the state and the under paid. I'm not on a pillar watching, I am at the front line.
On 30 Nov 2014 at 7:31pm Big fookin snore wrote:
@Old Git. No one just reads the Guardian any more. Grow up, move on, get a life and broaden your outlook (you are badly in need of this).
On 1 Dec 2014 at 11:26am Old Bloke wrote:
Strikes me there's an abundance of people on here who suggest anyone who disagrees with them is dim.
Some prime examples on this thread.
My message to Osborne and Balls is stop trying to bribe us with our own money. I'm sure Clegg and Co will be in with a higher NHS offer before long.
Bunch of w***k*rs the lot of them.
Baker's a fairly decent verging on ordinary constituency MP but nowhere near u t the demands of higher office
On 1 Dec 2014 at 3:41pm Belladonna wrote:
Unbelievable to receive through the door this morning the same old party literature from the LibDems - claiming again to be the only party to keep the Tories out!! Oh, the irony and hypocrisy. The 'old' parties still don't realise they are sickening the electorate. Why doesn't Baker tell us where he now stands on tuition fees, funding/ privatising the NHS / pay rises for nurses and MPs, the bedroom tax, food banks, bankers bonuses / corporation tax, immigration and asylum seekers, etc etc ? He cannot stand and defend the way he has voted (almost always with the government) and attack the Tories at the same time. Do they really think we are that stupid ?
Norman - defend your collaboration with this awful retrograde and repressive government at a public hustings and stop sending out lying publicity material
On 1 Dec 2014 at 6:28pm bastian wrote:
Yes it p*ssed me off to but I just tore it up and threw it in the fire.
On 2 Dec 2014 at 11:18am Ed Can Do wrote:
I want to know Norm's opinion on Cameron and Osborne's insistence on keeping a loophole in our tax laws that allows companies to channel profits through Luxembourg and not pay any tax in the UK, despite them saying publicly that they were going to stop international tax avoidance. Essentially the coalition has turned the UK into a tax haven for multinationals and the complete deregulation of the financial sector has made us the number one choice for international money laundering too. Sadly, unlike Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Caymen Islands we have a pretty big population and a crappy average wage so whilst they can all afford to not charge any tax to big companies and get by on the reduced government income, we absolutely can't. The whole system as it stands in unsustainable but our politicians don't care and are just creaming off enough to pay for their move abroad when it all goes bottom up.
Particularly ironic to hear Gordon Brown in his leaving speech today saying how he thinks politicians should be in it for the common good rather than personal gain, given how much he has personally profited from his stint at the trough and the lengths he went to to help his big business buddies avoid paying any tax. By deregulating the banks he pretty much single-handedly caused the global financial crisis and by bailing them out afterwards he ensured that it's us taxpayers who are paying for it whilst the financiers came out of it smelling of roses.
If Norm can stand up in PMQs and ask Cameron for a straight answer as to why we still allow companies to push cash through to Luxembourg without paying tax and continue to ask until he gets a straight answer then I'll vote for him.
On 3 Dec 2014 at 10:13am Mark wrote:
How pleasing to see so many people ranting about the Tories! I think we need to keep in the forefront of our minds that they are the sort of folk who think it's fine to call a policeman a "pleb" while he's trying to uphold the law and shout at a taxidriver, "I'm a QC, you little sh*t." This is the very archaic mindset that believes in things like ridiculous ideas "breeding" and "natural entitlement". The Bullington mentality.