Cuts when hasn't there been cuts

[thinfourth2]

Oh aren't the Labour Party horrible


Lets have a pointless rant


I love maggie

Edited by thinfourth2 on Tuesday 25th December 08:35

[randlemarcus]

Dreadful grammar notwithstanding, no.

[madala]

I remember when Blair got in and then in the next 11 years Public spending went way out of control....what cuts?.....cuts!!.....you just need to add the "n" after the second letter to some up those stheads.

[thinfourth2]

madala said:

I remember when Blair got in and then in the next 11 years Public spending went way out of control....what cuts?.....cuts!!.....you just need to add the "n" after the second letter to some up those stheads.

I don't remember anyone telling us that they were spending more

I do remember being told they weren't spending enough

[V88Dicky]

Gaz. said:

thinfourth2 said:

I don't remember anyone telling us that they were spending more

I do remember being told they weren't spending enough

from June 2011


I remember the front page of the Independent in 2006 saying that spending exceeded income for both the government and also that household debt exceeded GDP and that the spending had to be reduced.

That graph says a lot. Approaching 1997, government spending was coming down, revenue was going up. Between 1997 and 2001, we earned more than we spent. From 2001 onwards, seemed like a socialist spunkfest.

[Jasandjules]

I think quite often the Govt like to say they must cut this that and the other as a good excuse rather than out of necessity. At the moment however I think we have necessity!

[Guybrush]

V88Dicky said:

Gaz. said:

thinfourth2 said:

I don't remember anyone telling us that they were spending more

I do remember being told they weren't spending enough

from June 2011


I remember the front page of the Independent in 2006 saying that spending exceeded income for both the government and also that household debt exceeded GDP and that the spending had to be reduced.

That graph says a lot. Approaching 1997, government spending was coming down, revenue was going up. Between 1997 and 2001, we earned more than we spent. From 2001 onwards, seemed like a socialist spunkfest.

Got it in one. Labour does its usual and bu44ers the economy, Tories try to fix it and get labelled by the destructive left as the bad guys. Add in the blowing of the money that came from Brooon selling much of our gold, the unfunded public sector pensions from all the non-jobs created and the creation of those terrible PFI deals, the open door immigration which the country (ie the economy) could not handle and you have what amounts to an intentional destruction of the UK. What's even sadder is that there are people who actually want Labour back - how stupid is that?

Edited by Guybrush on Monday 24th December 08:36

[thinfourth2]

I know you guys love having a moan about the Labour party

But this isn't a thread about the labour party

Its about the constant whining we hear in the press about there isn't enough money being spent and the constant moaning about cuts.

There is plenty of threads where you can moan about the labour party and fantasise about a tory government but this is meant to be about the press

[Hackney]

V88Dicky said:

That graph says a lot. Approaching From 1997, government spending was coming down, revenue was going up. Between 1997 and 2001, we earned more than we spent. From 2001 onwards, seemed like a socialist spunkfest.

Corrected that for you.

[shoestring7]

randlemarcus said:

Dreadful grammar notwithstanding, no.

Education cuts.

SS7

[loafer123]

thinfourth2 said:

I know you guys love having a moan about the Labour party

But this isn't a thread about the labour party

Its about the constant whining we hear in the press about there isn't enough money being spent and the constant moaning about cuts.

There is plenty of threads where you can moan about the labour party and fantasise about a tory government but this is meant to be about the press

I'll complain about the Labour party wherever and whenever I like, thanks.

They are a bunch of s, and it is a civic duty for everyone to be reminded of that fact as often as possible.

[fridaypassion]

Of course the Tories have a habit of leaving graphs looking in their favor just prior to been kicked out. England in 1995/1996 was such a land of opportunity of course. Thats if you survived the gangfk of the early 90s and the total mess they made of handling the economy. Graphs dont show what a miserable sthole they have left behind.

The Conservatives backed Gordon Browns public spending plans £ for £ right to the end. Nobody disagreed with Brown that we had found genuinely sustainable prosperity in this country. If the credit crunch hadn't come the Tory party would probably have been disbanded by now. No need for it.

I would imagine 2013 will see Osbourne out and the coalition adopting Labour's " we said that all along" plan of getting some infrastructure plans kicked off and public spending back where it should be on development and salaries rather than simply paying dole.

If they limp on through 2013 with the same tired old plan I think it will be enough to see them out of power for a generation. They have got to come up with something now. They failed to win an election with the widest of wide open goals and at this rate they are leaving themselves wide open to a landslide with Ed Milliband at the helm. Even as a committed red I have to say that would be utterly embarrassing for them!

[speedy_thrills]

I agree the graph would be more useful if it started at an earlier date, however it is a welcome addition to the thread.

In 2000 (and onwards) the government was forced to change its approach to prevent a recession by cutting taxes and increasing spending. In the U.S. that was the end of the dot-com bubble and then they had the Trade Centre attacks which made a lot of businesses edgy. In the UK you actually avoided recession of course.

Almost all western governments took this approach and borrowed to keep public spending up, cut interest rates to a point where they created a housing bubble...anything rather than face a recession and I think it’s remarkable that it worked for nearly 10 years. However it’s a short-term approach to a long-term problem in taxation and spending, more balance is needed which probably means more recession.

[thinfourth2]

loafer123 said:

I'll complain about the Labour party wherever and whenever I like, thanks.

They are a bunch of s, and it is a civic duty for everyone to be reminded of that fact as often as possible.

Oh I give up

[JDRoest]

thinfourth2 said:

I know you guys love having a moan about the Labour party

But this isn't a thread about the labour party

Its about the constant whining we hear in the press about there isn't enough money being spent and the constant moaning about cuts.

There is plenty of threads where you can moan about the labour party and fantasise about a tory government but this is meant to be about the press

I left the UK shortly after I heard some OAPs in the north complaining that their social days at a social centre would end because of the "Tory cuts". Like....they couldn't use one of their Mobility cars to round a few OAPs up and spend a few mornings together in their own homes of course....?? No, entertainment has to be supplied by the taxpayer.

[fridaypassion]

Hmm. Another way of viewing that would be that the local council funds one day a week when isolated pensioners get chance to go to a community center and get fed and socialise with people. Possibly the only time in the week they see anyone else.

But hey if these pensioners aren't wealthy enough to get a taxi to the local golf club screw em eh?

[loafer123]

fridaypassion said:

Hmm. Another way of viewing that would be that the local council funds one day a week when isolated pensioners get chance to go to a community center and get fed and socialise with people. Possibly the only time in the week they see anyone else.

But hey if these pensioners aren't wealthy enough to get a taxi to the local golf club screw em eh?

Couldn't agree more, but unless you come up with something better to cut instead, the simple answer is, "we can't afford it"

So, what would you cut instead, exactly?

[fridaypassion]

Means testing winter fuel allowance. Stopping WFA for people that live abroad. Capping child benefit at 1 child, increasing inheritance tax.

Funnily enough really the answer to cuts isn't cuts. I reckon 2013 will be the year Osbourne has to realise this! All the cuts have done have create uncertainty and additional instability. If the government did the opposite next year and committed to no further cuts at all I wonder if we would see 2-3% growth and a reduction in the deficit?

What have the cuts achieved? Swap spending on wages for spending on dole. Thats the sum total of what the coalition have "achieved" so far. Its not working and we have to try a more credible plan.

[loafer123]

Did you not look at the graphs above, which show how much spending has grown in recent years?

And yet you still don't think reductions in spending are sensible?

Bizarre.

[Murph7355]

fridaypassion said:

Means testing winter fuel allowance. Stopping WFA for people that live abroad. Capping child benefit at 1 child, increasing inheritance tax.

Funnily enough really the answer to cuts isn't cuts. I reckon 2013 will be the year Osbourne has to realise this! All the cuts have done have create uncertainty and additional instability. If the government did the opposite next year and committed to no further cuts at all I wonder if we would see 2-3% growth and a reduction in the deficit?

What have the cuts achieved? Swap spending on wages for spending on dole. Thats the sum total of what the coalition have "achieved" so far. Its not working and we have to try a more credible plan.

We've been trying to spend ourselves out of a hole for 15yrs. If we keep doing that our debt will become unserviceable.

Unless we think we are in the middle of a global Mexican stand off, where our slate will just get wiped clean eventually, we need to MTFU and make real, hard cuts. Unfortunately these will hit the "needy" hardest. But if we think the needy will be helped more by going bankrupt, we are collectively insane.