The [income tax] U-turn demonstrates a lack of political competence
Well, maybe. Myself I take it to be a simple lack of knowledge. They’ve got to get to grips with the government finances. And they don;t think they need to do that. There are backbenchers – Clive Lewis say – who think just print and spend upon “need” as if he’s been reading Spud. There are backbenchers – Richard Burgon, say – who are deluded into tihnking a wealth tax will pay for everythhng. There are many more who’ve bought into the idea that there used to be austerity so there’s a pot to spend.
The basic truth is still eluding far, far, too many. Sure, you can raise the size of the state, sure you can. But you’ve got to tax someone to do that – because just printing will produce even more inflation than we’ve currently got. Just taxing “the rich” won;t do it. There aren’t enough of them, they’ve not that much money cumulatively, taxing wealth is a really bad idea, they’ll bugger off if you try and doesn’t do that inflation reduction job for the MMTers anyway.
If you want to have a larger state then you’ve got to tax the mass of the people more.
If government cannot – or won’t – get to grips with that basic truth then why would people be happy with the price on offer for lending to that government? The current post-inflation, or real, interest rate is about 1% at present – and who wants to bet that it stays that high, eh?
I reckon Raquel from accounts really believed in the evil Tory austerity bollocks, so all she had to do was loosen the purse strings a bit a everything would be fine.
But she didn’t inherit the strong and growing economy that Brown, G. was lucky enough to get. So there already wasn’t any money for a Labour government to piss up the wall.
Whatever else she may be, she ain’t Raquel.
And Rachel is a lousy actress…
Why has this stupid cow not been sacked yet?
Running to the toilet, crying – the classic female sympathy play when facts aren’t on their side – only works if you’re a housewife or an office drone, sweetheart. As the Chancellor of the Exchequer, her tears are a disgusting luxury and she should be canned immediately.
Slipping in the bathroom and screwing up her hip would be an excellent career move.
Possibly everyone else interested in the job (and with sufficient party support to hang on to it) is even less competent? Scary thought I know.
Jimmers, my thoughts exactly. This is the first time in my lifetime that Labour have inherited an economy in as bad a state as they usually leave for the Tories……
If you want to have a larger state then you’ve got to tax the mass of the people more.
The Spaffer Curve
Work for Yourself ———————————– Work For the State
Hard to know which set of a delusions a socialist is working under on a particular day. There are so many to choose from.
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…or to darkies?
Not forgetting wimmins and spazzers…
“The current post-inflation, or real, interest rate is about 1% at present – and who wants to bet that it stays that high, eh?”
How would you bet that it wouldn’t? Buy Index-linked gilts at their present prices?
How would you bet that it would?
A betting shop?
Do they take bets on such things? Well I never!
One wonders where Labour think this is going. Are they so genuinely deluded that they think can tax an economy into growth? Or do they know deep down what they need to do but can’t bring themselves to do it? How do they think this is going to play out?
I don’t think they care. This is their big, spiteful chance to get one over on the evil capitalists and permanently change the country into… a caliphate.
Nah, they do care. These cunts have a massive majority in theory but in practice they’ve already spent all their political capital and are now fighting like rats in a sack.
That’s why Rachel was crying. Can’t use their theoretical majority to loot your wallet like she was hoping because Labour MPs are terrified of being permanently unemployed. This was supposed to be the glorious return of the Left after 14 years in opposition, look how quickly they’ve gotten just as bogged down in infighting and strategic paralysis as Boris was.
This is a dead government, shambling. Part of a dead establishment, that has finally become openly estranged from the people it claims to represent. There’ll be lots more tears to come before the funeral.
The attempt to lower the welfare bill shows there are some in this Labour government who know what needs to be done. The fact it was voted down by backbench Labour MP’s shows there are no backbench Labour MP’s who know what needs to be done.
They don’t comprehend the scale of government. “Tax the rich” can only work with a small government. And even then, the rich will react.
The US Civil War was triggered by higher taxes on the rich. They decided to just make their own, separate country.
The US war of independence was a tax-dodging affair. As long as British and Irish taxpayers paid for the defence of the North American colonies all was quiet. When getting the colonists to defray part of the costs was mooted, bugger me they discovered that the King was a Tyrant, etc, etc.
Interesting. Never thought of it that way.
“Taxation without representation” might cover it.
Maybe in the cold of winter this year, I’ll go back and review the alleged grievances the Colonies had.
The US Civil War was fought over lighthouses, so it’s possible the Revolutionary War was just as trivial.
We can surely all agree that Rachel from Customer Services is clueless about economics in general and the current state of the UK economy in particular. But there are 3,000 people working in the Treasury – one or two of them must have a clue and could have explained matters to her, in pictures if necessary?
I know they hid stuff from Kwasi and Liz in order to bring down the government, but surely that can’t be their cunning plan today, when the most likely outcome would be Nigel in No 10? Or perhaps they have a plan to fix that, too.
the most likely outcome would be Nigel in No 10? Or perhaps they have a plan to fix that, too.
I have no doubt they do. Going on UKIP’s performance, Reform have no idea how UK governance actually functions. They just have some vague ideas about “democracy”. Governance is about power & they are the ones with the power. So they’ll carry on doing what they want to do. Reform will be easier because the other parties, having been in government, at least have a vague idea how it functions & have a chance to impede them in small ways.
Reform appears to have learned the lessons of Trump 1& 2 and have seen what’s happened to Labour who didn’t have a plan.
Nigel and his team are making the right noises about bringing in experienced people and that after the election they want to bring in their own team of senior people in to the civil service and even as ministers.
it’s a good start but even if they get elected with a good plan they’ve shared with the electorate they’ll have a hostile CS, HoL and BBC to deal with as well as their own backbenchers who will resent all those jobs given to those who weren’t elected.
Trump 2 has done well to avoid the household name establishment Republicans like he hired the first term. I think Trump 1 trusted the consultants. Trump 2 decided, “I’d rather do it myself!”
His picks have generally done well. Who new Pam Bondi could be AG? Or Kristi Noem for DHS? And Tom Homan is right out of central casting!
I know they hid stuff from Kwasi and Liz in order to bring down the government…
Did ‘they’? Citation needed.
IMHO, the Truss budget failed because she and her Chancellor had not reassured the City (and its vast markets) in advance. That was foolish and very amateurish.
If the Treasury had a clue, it wouldn’t still have 3,000 people working in it.
taxing wealth is a really bad idea, they’ll bugger off if you try
And once you’ve taxed away the wealth, it’s no longer there any more to be taxed.
Mmm. Problem, that. D’you think it’s occurred to Clever Torsten?
Yep. It’s a One-Show trick.
Then they find out it was the wealthy who employed everybody.
Then they get mad and kill all the knowledgeable and capable people, like the French Revolution, or Stalin and his generals.
And when the wealth is taxed away you have also lost the income it used to generate.
It’s a variant on killing the goose that lays golden eggs.
Yep. There’s an old saying:
“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for life”.
There must be a corollary about high taxes driving talent abroad but this is the best I can think of:
“Exile the teacher of men how to fish, and no-one learns how to fish and no-one is fed a fish”
Teach a man to fish and you’ve taught him to tell lies for the rest of his life.
The situation now is that a large section of society doesn’t wan to learn to fish because they’re living off the efforts of those who can and do fish, whilst at the same time complaining they have all the fish.
No, it’s a simple lack of political competence. You don’t “signal” about the budget, or talk about the budget, or leak the budget, you deliver the budget and then we can talk about this.
And there’s a good reason for this: in politics, the map is the territory. If you’s the CotE and you talk about an income tax rise, the economy reacts as if it’s going to happen.
So it shouldn’t be possible to have a budget U-turn, because you shouldn’t be blabbing about it in the first place.