Unemployment down, inflation down. Was Gordon right?

[Fittster]

So has Gordon's Keynes economics saved the day? Banking bailed out and continuing as normal, inflation is coming down (so QE hasn't led to hyperinflation) and today's unemployment figures are down:

"The number of people unemployed in the UK fell by 34,000 to 2.47m in the three months to May, official figures show.

Meanwhile, those claiming Jobseeker's Allowance fell in June by 20,800 to 1.46m, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said."

BBC

So did Gordon and New Labour save us from a depression.


Let's see anyone out troll this post today!

[JMGS4]

Fittster said:

So did Gordon and New Labour save us from a depression.

The only depression is Gordons and he is being treated for it in an asylum (sorry mental health intitution) in Edinburgh, according to the news...hopefully he's in a padded cell and won't ever return to normal life...

The total depressing feck-up by Labour is being completely ignored by Labour, I heard fatty lord prestclot on Sunday morning having the gall to say lets forget about small mistakes and focus on the Dem/Cons destroying jobs..
what a feckin arrogant bag of sh 1 t!!!

[NoelWatson]

Fittster said:

So has Gordon's Keynes economics saved the day? Banking bailed out and continuing as normal, inflation is coming down (so QE hasn't led to hyperinflation) and today's unemployment figures are down:

"The number of people unemployed in the UK fell by 34,000 to 2.47m in the three months to May, official figures show.

Meanwhile, those claiming Jobseeker's Allowance fell in June by 20,800 to 1.46m, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said."

BBC

So did Gordon and New Labour save us from a depression.


Let's see anyone out troll this post today!

Fittster said:

inflation is coming down

Can't really base it on one month's numbers




I think he did a very good job. He gave us low debt

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brit...

[chris_w]

JMGS4 said:

The only depression is Gordons and he is being treated for it in an asylum (sorry mental health intitution) in Edinburgh, according to the news...

I know that's the rumour but have you seen any proof, it's almost like there's a news blackout on Brown. Maybe he's got his feet up enjoying Mandy's new book?

[ShadownINja]

I heard Ed Balls on LBC this morning. I'm not sure he realises we're in debt. Insists we spend spend spend on education. And then spend a bit more. I really hope Labour never get in power again. It's a depressing thought that they will.

[fido]

Yes, Alistair Darling and Mervyn King made the right choices.

Do not give the one-eyed imbecile any credit for anything, anyone he has touched has turned to sh8t.

Unemployment in the real world isn't down.

[munroman]

I suspect that a lot of immigrant workers are heading back home, or to other countries with better prospects.

There is a block of flats nearby which suddenly has 6 to let signs up, this was where a lot of the Polish workers lived, so I think they have upped sticks and left en masse.

[ZondaMark]

Fittster said:

So has Gordon's Keynes economics saved the day? Banking bailed out and continuing as normal, inflation is coming down (so QE hasn't led to hyperinflation) and today's unemployment figures are down:

"The number of people unemployed in the UK fell by 34,000 to 2.47m in the three months to May, official figures show.

Meanwhile, those claiming Jobseeker's Allowance fell in June by 20,800 to 1.46m, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said."

BBC

So did Gordon and New Labour save us from a depression.


Let's see anyone out troll this post today!

Keynesianism cannot bring about sustained recovery unless you - like Keynes - believe that consumption & gov't spending are the only measures of output/income. For every pound spent in a Keynesian stimulus, another is lost somewhere else in the economy, so given that it merely redistributes wealth, it therefore cannot bring about recovery as it doesn't create any wealth.

QE was Mervyn's thing, anyway.

Edited by ZondaMark on Wednesday 14th July 12:56

[off_again]

Unemployment down yes, but part-time employment UP as many are forced to reduce hours. So yes, there are more in "employment" as a technicality. But this doesn't represent a recovery as such and we are certainly NOT out of the period of concern.

Come back in a year and lets see from there.

Oh, and as mentioned, Darling and King made some right decisions. Not sure they made all of the right decisions, but they certainly made some.

[JagLover]

Some of the emergecy responses, like bailing out the banks or QE, helped stave off a worse recession.

However Britain was very poorly placed to withstand a downturn thnks to Labour mismanagement.

We are facing a 'lost decade' in terms of personal standards of living, at the very least.

[Fittster]

fido said:

Yes, Alistair Darling and Mervyn King made the right choices.

And who appointed them?

[NoelWatson]

Fittster said:

fido said:

Yes, Alistair Darling and Mervyn King made the right choices.

And who appointed them?

Was it the same person that set the wrong inflation target?

[fido]

Fittster said:

fido said:

Yes, Alistair Darling and Mervyn King made the right choices.

And who appointed them?

Spurious rhetoric. Just because someone was employed by Gordon Brown, it doesn't [automatically] make them a complete c8ck. In the same way, David Cameron is putting Nick Clegg to good use - and some would say [i certainly subscribe to this] that the Liberals are moderating the extremes of Tory policy in a good way.

[Fittster]

NoelWatson said:

Fittster said:

fido said:

Yes, Alistair Darling and Mervyn King made the right choices.

And who appointed them?

Was it the same person that set the wrong inflation target?

You are going to have to expand on that point.

Inflation targeting goes back further than Gordon Brown:

"Six years ago this week, sterling left the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) of the
European Monetary System and dropped by 7% from DM2.80 to DM2.60. But since
falling below DM2.20 in l995, sterling has risen to levels higher than before its exit from
the ERM. In an economy as open to international trade as the United Kingdom, one
might have expected that such large swings in the price of foreign exchange would
destabilise domestic price inflation. Not so. For every month since the start of 1993,
inflation(3) has remained in a range of 2% 3½%. This is an uncharacteristic degree of
UK price stability by recent historical standards (see Chart 1). Over the same period,
annual GDP growth has averaged about 3%, well above trend, and the unemployment
rate has fallen from 10% to 6.2%.(4)
For these six years, the United Kingdom’s nominal anchor has been an explicit inflation
target, and on 1 June this year, a new statutory framework for the implementation of
price stability (and much else) came into force in the shape of the Bank of England Act
1998(5).

source

[NoelWatson]

Fittster said:

You are going to have to expand on that point.

Inflation targeting goes back further than Gordon Brown:

But not CPI @2%

[The real Apache]

I don't think the double bounce caused by unemployment has hit yet....hope I'm wrong though

[Fittster]

NoelWatson said:

Fittster said:

You are going to have to expand on that point.

Inflation targeting goes back further than Gordon Brown:

But not CPI @2%

Forgetting the fact that Merv hits that figure about as often as an English striker hits the back of the net at the world cup.

What should the target be set to or would you prefer to go back to another system (summon the ghost of Alan Waters)?

[NoelWatson]

Fittster said:

What should the target be set to or would you prefer to go back to another system (summon the ghost of Alan Waters)?

If we have to stick to CPI I would set the target lower. However, I would rather introduce a measure that actually resembled real world inflation.

[ZondaMark]

Fittster said:

You are going to have to expand on that point.

Brown's decision to switch to CPI, which ignores housing costs, is the root cause of our housing bubble and subsequent bust.

[Fittster]

fido said:

Fittster said:

fido said:

Yes, Alistair Darling and Mervyn King made the right choices.

And who appointed them?

Spurious rhetoric. Just because someone was employed by Gordon Brown, it doesn't [automatically] make them a complete c8ck. In the same way, David Cameron is putting Nick Clegg to good use - and some would say [i certainly subscribe to this] that the Liberals are moderating the extremes of Tory policy in a good way.

No individual can run any large organisation single handedly, the key is to delegate to the appropriate people that you have put in place. If you think Darling and King did a good jobs you have to congratulate the person who put them in place. If Gordon was unhappy with they way either of them did their roles he had the power to remove them from office.