Monday 19 April 2010

"Fiscal Drift" by The Great Gordon, Iron Chancellor


So now even the independent and highly regarded Institute of Fiscal Studies has declared Jonah to be an incompetent wanker, whose policies have screwed the UK.

"The IFS praised Labour for sticking to tough spending plans in Government between 1997 and 2001. The party had already made a commitment to follow spending plans set out by the previous Tory Government.

However the IFS identified a damaging period of “fiscal drift” between 2001 and 2007 when debt mounted to pay for spending on public services.

It said Mr Brown’s refusal to match spending rises with tax increases after 2001 had meant the UK had been forced to borrow heavily, up to and through the recession.

While Britain’s spending was the second highest among developed countries in the 10 years to 2007, its tax increases were only fifth highest over the same period, it said.

The result was that on the eve of the financial crisis in 2007 the UK was left “with one of the largest structural budget deficits in the developed world”.

The IFS said: “Mr Brown is fond of reminding us that this has been a global financial crisis. However the UK … has experienced a worse deterioration in its fiscal position than many other industrialised countries.” "

Never mind, said a Liebore spokeweasel, we've all got gold-plated pensions.

The Penguin


7 comments:

Biffo said...

And yet people will still vote for him & his policies!
A friend of mine was talking to a couple the other day - they feel Gordon is 'very genuine', that he 'really cares' & that he's 'far too nice to be in politics'. Proof of there being a parallel universe I suspect.

microdave said...

My local postmaster (a very nice Indian who's been running the shop for over 25 years) spoke of "better the devil you know". FFS, I would have thought an independent, hard working guy like him might know better!!!

If there is a parallel universe can I please request a move to the sensible one?

Anonymous said...

The Tories need to be driving this home now. Time for the gloves to come of and for people to be asked if they really want five more years of this character.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Biffo said...

And yet people will still vote for him & his policies!
A friend of mine was talking to a couple the other day - they feel Gordon is 'very genuine', that he 'really cares' & that he's 'far too nice to be in politics'. Proof of there being a parallel universe I suspect.

19 April 2010 12:57

It seems that you can fool enough of the people for enough of the time if you are prepared to lie and spin.

microdave said...

"And yet people will still vote for him & his policies!"


I nearly spat my tea out a few minutes ago, I was going through the local paper when I got to the letters page. There I found the following:


"May I reply, through your column, to the letter written by Alan Harrison (April 14th)
To me, and I'm sure a few million others, the prospect of the Conservatives getting in at a crucial time in the country's economy doesn't bear thinking about after the fiasco they made of running the country previously.
Perhaps you weren't old enough to remember the 1980's and 1990's but it's etched in my memory for ever. Conservatives are as devoid of ideas now as they were then. It is exactly the same, using Satchi & Satchi and the Sun newspaper to pour out their slogans for them.
But remember this: poverty then was as it was at the turn of the century. Unemployment 3m to 4m. The NHS is not safe in their hands. It wasn't then. Assets were sold to foreign investors: gas, electricity, water, British Telecom, British Rail and council housing.
We saw closure of coal mines, British Steel, the ship building industry and the British naval base on the Falkland Islands, a war costing the lives of nearly 1,000 British and Argentinian troops and Navy personnel. All to save money.
The Conservatives brought the country to its knees. And who got us out of this mess? Gordon Brown, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, a leading figure among statesmen.
Remember this when you place your vote on May 6." Mrs Elizabeth Martin.

She might be right about the Conservatives lack of ideas, but I haven't seen Labour do anything to stop the further selling off British industry. And as for starting wars.....

Biffo said...

No doubt she's some Labour drone's stepmother or ma-in-law - or just completely raving bonkers.

Lady Virginia Droit de Seigneur said...

He's not "genuine" or with "substance" - he is a total see you next Tuesday.

You can tell a man by his friends - Balls , Whelan, McBride, Nick Brown and when cornered like a rat - Mandelson and Campbell.

Quite possibly the biggest pack of arseholes to grace the political stage ever.