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That Politics and Economics Thing

So, there I was, 45 minutes ago, insisting that politicians simply do things for political reasons, not economic ones.

Politicians are interested in political solutions because they are politicians. They’ll do whatever it is that they think will get them re-elected, that will appease some power base.

Any connection between what they do and an economic solution is entirely coincidental.

Now I see Gordon Brown\’s latest plan.

MORE than 7m families who receive child benefit are to be given a one-off payment of £150 to help meet soaring fuel bills under plans being drawn up by Gordon Brown.

Hmmm, there\’s an awful lot of people out there who get child benefit (you get it for having a kid, not because you need it) who don\’t need help with paying their fuel bills. So why is it being done in this expensive manner?

The plan to extend the scheme to 7.5m families with children is recognition of mounting public discontent with rising household energy costs. It also highlights Brown’s desperate need for a bold announcement to silence Labour critics plotting to oust him from No 10.

Until now it had been expected that extra financial assistance would be targeted at pensioners, the low-paid and people on benefits who suffer from “fuel poverty”, defined as when more than 10% of household income is used to heat the home.

However, Brown is determined that middle-class families – whose votes will determine the outcome of the next general election – should also gain from any new handouts.

Hmm, do something, do anything, to show that a politician is indeed doing something. And do it in the manner which buys the maximum number of votes.

Getting politicians to do things on rational economic grounds really is just like trying to get Mittens to play fetch, isn\’t it?

4 thoughts on “That Politics and Economics Thing”

  1. A primitive economic thought: primarily market-driven ‘bubbles’ tend to be corrected and brought into line by market forces; the government-driven bubbles of tax and spend on any/all programmes rarely seems to suffer the same fate, they just go on and on and on…

    Gosh, why is that?

  2. “However, Brown is determined that middle-class families – whose votes will determine the outcome of the next general election – should also gain from any new handouts.”

    I think he’ll find they aren’t so cheaply bought…

    PS: I have a cat that happily plays ‘Fetch’. Mind you, he is Siamese…

    Obviously happy to come over here and do the jobs native-born cats won’t do 🙂

  3. A whopping £150 isn’t going to make a dent in the brown hole that is my family’s finances. I think Gorgon needs to take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut.

    Stop taxing us, Gorgon, stop wasting out money.

    Oh, and die, please, painfully if at all possible.

  4. I’m a siamese cat person too. If you want your siamese cats to be fruitful and multply, and gain productivity, you provide them with a positive environment. You scale back their tax, thus improving their chances of finding an affordable litter box with a cat-flap, and you issue them with education vouchers for their kittens.

    I have three freeloaders on my hands right now. Maybe I shouldn’t be giving them pocket money, twenty pence per pussycat per week. Plus free bed and board. They are all overweight. But whenever I bring up the subject of employment, and paying their way, they just roll over on to their backs and I just can’t give them their marching orders.

    Bugger.

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