He really is preparing for that takeover:
The only defence the Tories might have for adopting this philosophy is that the very same neoliberal thinking underpinned New Labour (and I rather suspect most of Labour’s current Shadow Cabinet’s thinking, although they try to hide opinions from view).
It was also LibDem thinking, as their coalition years showed, and there is not too much evidence of change.
And, just to complete the set, the SNP’s economic thinking, as indicated by its Growth Commission, is neoliberal too.
….
We need a new breed of politicians. I’ll call them courageous politicians who believe in a courageous state where the object of government is to ensure that the needs of all in society are met before anything else can happen.
There are certain lovely details:
Meanwhile the savings of ordinary people, whether in cash or pensions, would be directed to socially useful purposes.
Oh Aye?
We did have politicians of this sort at one time. We could have these courageous politicians again. And with the understanding we now have of money and markets and how they integrate that is possible.
Is that too much to ask? I think not. Believing that is what gives me hope. I look forward to living in a courageous state.
The owner of Eulalie is being fitted for his tuberous uniform as we read……
We’re seeing right now how money flies away from ideas of which the market does not approve… good luck with this plan.
I’m feeling rather disinclined to use what is I think probably the thousandth iteration of this fantasy that has been said over the last decade, but for better or worse, here’s some of the gems:
The philosophy (neoliberalism) is fundamentally flawed. Only narcissists, sociopaths and worse, think only individuals matter in life. The majority of us disagree because we know we live in society, and that our communities,from our families upwards, are the biggest determinants of our well-being.
If Straw Men contributed to the national income Murphynwould be one of the most valuable people in the country – not sure how long ago this particular canard from the Thatcher era was debunked but certainly at the very least 90s – so he’s only 30 years behind the curve.
The lies, deceit and corruption that characterised the Brexit debate persuaded the Tories they could go further. The motivation for Brexit (racism apart) was to free business from regulation. The rule book was to be ripped up. It was pure neoliberalism.
51% of the population was racist for wanting to be outside the control of a supranational organization which had no democratic legitimacy. All EU regulation is of course utterly justified and has no adverse consequences…
Enter Truss with her plans to trash every EU derived law and deliver ‘supply side reform’, for which read ‘the very worst in business can lower standards to whatever level they can get away with whilst fleecing maximum cash from people’.
I wish she was planning a review of all EU law but I have serious doubts that is the case….
The problem for us is that all our other politicians believe in much the same stuff as the Tories. Even under Corbyn Labour rattled out the ‘maxed out credit card’ line to claim there were limits on the size of the state imposed by its ability to tax markets.
There is no limit on the size of the state whatsoever – you can look forward to total confiscation of any property and resources you own to assist it. I genuinely don’t think I have heard that even from the North Korean state propaganda service. Genuinely deranged stuff.
The logic of neoliberalism is wrong then. Those who promote it think government is a luxury a strong private sector lets us enjoy. The reality is the opposite. A strong state sector is the bedrock on which risk-taking in a fair, open and truly competitive market can occur.
Without Drag Queen story time and a ‘five a day co-ordinator’ in every district we are genuinely doomed….
For exactly the same reason, the natural monopolies, such as energy supply, train services, water and maybe core internet infrastructure will all need to be nationalised. There is no room for failure here.
So we can look forward to power outages, ongoing train delays through strikes and water shortages as well – how exciting!
And I would suggest that the state should run a bank that meets the needs of 95% of all bank customers, including for mortgages, and leave the banking system to get on with its investment gaming, if it so wishes, from which it takes so much pleasure.?
Whither Premium bonds under his plans?
And most of all, they’d do something that no market can value. They’d set out to provide freedom from fear. Nothing is more important than that.
Don’t worry children – a retired accountant from Ely will be there to give you a cuddle in the event you have a bad dream? Isn’t this the kind of statement that in the more frenzied police forces might lead to him being investigated under Operation Yewtree or other such a program?
Even by his own standards this thread reveals someone on the verge of dementia. If he wasn’t such an obnoxious piece of crap I’d genuinely be concerned for his mental faculties.
The SNP is neo-liberal now? He really has abandoned all sense of proportion.
But in the end politicians all become concerned about political concerns. This is human nature.
So “courageous politicians who believe in a courageous state where the object of government is to ensure that the needs of all in society are met before anything else can happen.” *might* start off as true but will soon wander off into “what’s best for me will somehow be best for everyone else”.
“They’d set out to provide freedom from fear. Nothing is more important than that.”
Government in this country has been hiring ‘experts’ to point out ways of ramping up the fear of various hobgoblins. Fear is a part of Government’s modus operandi. If government was more all-encompassing, would not that apply also to their use of fear?
Oh, and thanks VP for reading that so I don’t have to.
Liz Truss is supposed to be announcing another U-turn today, this time on corporation tax
Because we have a “conservative” majority in parliament that wants to raise the cost of doing business in the worst and most dangerous economic slump we’ve seen since the 1930’s.
Kwasi – who is now looking like the most obvious patsy since Lee Harvey Oswald – was forced to break off talks with the IMF in America last night and fly home for “emergency budget talks”.
Lads, at this point we’ve lost our democracy. Any PM who isn’t fully 100% on board with the BBC, the EU, the WEF and our pipeline bombing allies in America can expect to be monstered in the press and destroyed by his or her own backbenchers. You can vote for anyone you like, but they’ll only be allowed to do what the establishment wants.
Not sure how you fix that without a sufficient quantity of large feline predators from the African savannah, but here we are. Comrade-President Putin, please announce Special Military Operation for liberation of Great Britain.
Captain Cankerous, Supreme Potato to take over running the country?
The eyes have it, the eyes have it.
Who said accountants were boring? Spud is merely trying to prove that vile assertion wrong…
The bus campaign for Brexit was brilliant. Remainers fell right into the trap by disputing the figure.
Truss is going to trash every EU law? Yay! Bring it on! She’s not though.
Internet infrastructure is a natural monopoly? Check the definition in a dictionary mate.
The state providing freedom from fear? Like during Covid you mean?
Grist… Spud isn’t an accountant. At least not one you’d trust your financial affairs to…
I imagine Spud striding around his living room, wellies on his feet slapping his thigh as he composed that insane pile of peelings.
Any uniform he should be fitted for should have extra long sleeves with straps to buckle at the back.
Comrade-President Putin, please announce Special Military Operation for liberation of Great Britain.
He can start with your town; at least you won’t need to worry about the bins anymore.
I wonder how quickly Spud would collaborate. There has to be certain mentality / personality for that.
PJF – Can you even imagine if England was being invaded by hostile, violent foreigners?
That would be mental.
Steve
That Moscow dacha I saw you in on Instagram looks tempting at the minute!!
Because we have a “conservative” majority in parliament that wants to raise the cost of doing business in the worst and most dangerous economic slump we’ve seen since the 1930’s.
Given they look certain to be turned off we’re in for a ‘Rainbow coalition’ – to quote ‘Bachman Turner Overdrive’ – ‘ You ain’t seen nuthin yet’
Kwasi – who is now looking like the most obvious patsy since Lee Harvey Oswald – was forced to break off talks with the IMF in America last night and fly home for “emergency budget talks”.
Brilliant – and it looks like Kwasimodo has made the history books….
Lads, at this point we’ve lost our democracy. Any PM who isn’t fully 100% on board with the BBC, the EU, the WEF and our pipeline bombing allies in America can expect to be monstered in the press and destroyed by his or her own backbenchers. You can vote for anyone you like, but they’ll only be allowed to do what the establishment wants.
Remember what happened to Alex Jones when he said this – beware of commenting on any school shootings.. But of course you are absolutely correct. The nominally ‘Conservative’ administration is nothing of the sort – indeed it’s in many ways well to the Left of North Korea on Social matters. Not sure Drag Queen storytime is on the table in Pyongyang.
Not sure how you fix that without a sufficient quantity of large feline predators from the African savannah, but here we are.
We’ve got a fair few African predators coming over from the Sahel and the Sahara (Or thereabouts) – my guess is they might not be as effective as what you had in mind…
Comrade-President Putin, please announce Special Military Operation for liberation of Great Britain.
You’ve made Owen Jones’ Twitter fantasy come true (And apparently a few other commentators on here)
Rhoda
You’re welcome – I have a masochistic streak so my family tell me….
“The lies, deceit and corruption that characterised the Brexit debate persuaded the Tories they could go further. The motivation for Brexit (racism apart) was to free business from regulation. The rule book was to be ripped up. It was pure neoliberalism.”
Yeah, that’s why every single one of the EU’s regulations was incorporated into British law on exit and we let the bastards impose the NI Protocol.
I can say with reasonable confidence that he’s never seen the inside of a law office. I’ve told the story many times online of the moment I became a libertarian. It was around March or April of 1991, when I was helping my dad’s firm move. They had a bookcase with bound volumes of the Scottish Statutes going back to the 18th Century. The early books were pretty slim; you could easily have read one in an afternoon. Over time though, they got thicker and thicker. By the 20th Century they resembled decent-sized dictionaries. The last one was lying open on the bottom shelf. “Is that last year’s?” I asked. “No, that’s this year… so far. There’ll probably be another two like that. Maybe three, at this rate”.
And we only had 650 people churning ’em out back then, before they started opening branch offices. Anyone who thinks the last forty years of British government has been an orgy of small-state anti-government “neoliberalism” is living in dreamland.
“and maybe core internet infrastructure will all need to be nationalised“
They’re installing gigabit broadband on my street this week. That’s enough bandwidth for 40 simultaneous 4K video streams* per connection. Back in the ’70s, the GPO had a six-month waiting list for telephones. A bit like, you know… the NHS.
Although I can’t understand why anyone would want 40 simultaneous 4K streams, I kind of like having the option.
And I would suggest that the state should run a bank that meets the needs of 95% of all bank customers,
And I would suggest that everyone should get off with 95% of the people they fancy.
It’s like shooting fish in a barrel, isn’t it? I almost feel sorry for the guy. Almost.
*Roughly. I worked it out yesterday and can’t recall the exact figure I came up with. Depends on the compression, of course. But it’s a ridiculous number.
Potato logic is unfortunately believed by many on the left, even with his increasingly deranged utterances. Perhaps he’s afflicted with blight?
VP – marvelous.
They’ve just appointed Jeremy “Rhyming Slang Is Always Right” Hunt Chancellor of the Exchequer.
This isn’t your average Tory infighting. This is a full blown M&S coup against the British electorate.
Russians will be enjoying heat, light, low taxes and plenty of affordable food on the shelves while we’re shivering in the dark like the poverty-stricken losers we now are. Maybe the Kremlin will send us foreign aid?
“Russians will be enjoying heat, light, low taxes and plenty of affordable food on the shelves while we’re shivering in the dark like the poverty-stricken losers we now are. ”
You’re entitled to your own cuntish opinions, but not your own facts, Oh sucker of Putin’s cock.
Lord Spudcup has asserted that nobody “needs” 40 different types of pizza toppings, I asked him if there was a “need” for the 40 different women’s magazines I see on the shelf in my local supermarket. He declined to answer, as he declined to answer if model railways were a “need”. I expect his opinion on if 40 simultaneous video streams is “needed” will be different today to tomorrow.
Snag – You’re entitled to your own cuntish opinions, but not your own facts, Oh sucker of Putin’s cock.
Cool it with the homophobia.
It’s not Putin’s fault you’re poor, and have a government determined to keep you poor.
@jgh. I can imagine Lord Spudcup’s National Internet would need gigabit speeds.
After all, it’d only be allowed to transmit messages Pleasing Unto Spuddan, but all the hi-res livestreams of model railways and “documentaries” and “interviews” about the brilliance of his Sagaeous Plans would take up all the bandwidth freed up by censoring everything else..
jgh
Was this on Twitter – or on another blog post?
Perhaps he’s looking to go the full Kim Jong un and mandate permissible hairstyles?
He got most irate (As did PSR who I can’t work out – either he’s a satire of pure genius or he genuinely believes his BS) when one commenter called it ‘communism under another name’ – an accurate comment although I’d say Murphy’s probably to the Left of North Korea.
This is a full blown M&S coup against the British electorate.
What’s the plan, take over the government and force everyone to buy their underwear selection?
“Was this on Twitter – or on another blog post?”
It was on his blog, via one of my sockpuppets. I can’t remember if I was a famous economist, or almost a candidate in Dunny On The Wold.
It’s difficult to find many positives at the moment, but one is that Starmer will have nothing to do with someone whose economics were rejected by Corbyn and McDonnell as batshit crazy.
Snag
Bear in mind that I am actually Ramzan Kadyrov and ‘Steve’ is Yevgeny Prigozhin before posting insults. Precisely what ‘facts’ are you disputing?
“Russians will be enjoying heat, light, low taxes and plenty of affordable food on the shelves while we’re shivering in the dark like the poverty-stricken losers we now are. ”
Heat – even assuming there aren’t power cuts over the next winter if Truss is defenestrated and a rainbow coalition comes in the scientific innumeracy of relying on renewables to keep the power running is real. No amount of pro Ukrainian sentiment changes that fact. Furthermore the Gas Boiler ban remains in place – most homes can’t have heat pumps so the future is not bright – it’s cold.
Light – power outages , as already mentioned are exceptionally likely and going forward the longer term plan is that your ability to use electricity will be limited., The WEF and UN are specifically clear on this point and every single party is committed to the Paris treaty and the Climate Change bill which mandates this poverty into law.
Low taxes – the one are where he might be vaguely wrong but the low cost of heating and lighting and a government that doesn’t want (Whether through some external mandate or its own misanthropy)it’s citizens shivering to death in the dark is (At least as far as I can see) in place in the Kremlin. It’s not what I hear from the ‘blob’ or most of the Westminster parties.
Affordable food – most foods are going to be carbon priced out of reach for most families over the next decade. The government is committed to the Climate change scam and in order to achieve that meat eating will have to be reduced. Insects are already being trialled in Australia and here, so Yes they don’t want cheap or affordable food for the masses.
Sadly however much you dislike the dressing around them – the facts are immutable. Our overloards are manifestly incompetent and committed to making us poorer and more miserable than ever before in order to save the planet.
If you think that is ‘sucking Putin’s cock’ would suggest the issue is on your side.
Sam Jones
Nevertheless its closer to the mark that the contention of the BiS is correct – it’s Murphy’s world we just live in it. Almost everyone believes in the Magic Money Tree and indeed the economic dislocation of realizing that isn’t true is likely to be enormous. The only silver lining is that the fat bastard is likely to be worse off than me. It’s a slim one.
We need a new breed of politicians. I’ll call them courageous politicians who believe in a courageous state where the object of government is to ensure that the needs of all in society are met before anything else can happen.
Dear Spud,
What an excellent idea. You’ve already written your manifesto for The Courageous Party, so all you need to do is form the party. Its quite easy when you’ve got lots of supporters.
I look forward to seeing the results after the next GE, when I expect to be I expect to be somewhat financially better off by betting that the Monster Raving Loony Party gets more than your party.
Yours,
BiND
Bollocks, cocked up the HTML.
VP
I think Pilgrim Slight Return is real and probably moonlights as a fluffer in gay porn
Seeing the treatment of Boris and Truss here and Trump in the U.S. it hard not be a raving conspiracy theorist, a friend of mine has claimed for years that we don’t live in a democracy and it’s all a sham, really isn’t worth arguing with him these days