Who does Gideon Osborne think he is kidding?

First topic message reminder :

This Tory-dominated government claims there is no alternative to austerity. Below, nine leading economists, including a Nobel Prizewinner and one of the Chancellor's own advisers, say that's wrong - and offer a different path:-

Cut VAT back to 17.5%
Christopher Pissarides
Agree financial transaction tax
Jeffrey Sachs
Reduce NI contributions
David Blanchflower
Print money for the public
Sushil Wadhwani
Start a national investment bank
Robert Skidelsky
Lift the cap on immigration
Jonathan Portes
Lend directly to small businesses
George Magnus
Launch a green new deal
Ann Pettifor
Set up a recovery fund
Christopher Allsopp

For the details of each of those suggestions, click on the links on this page:-
http://www.newstatesman.com/economy/2011/10/alternative-coalition

Snapshot of a Tory Donor

Sir Anthony and his wife Lady Carole Bamford have homes in Chelsea, Barbados and France and a 1,500 acre estate near Stow-on-the Wold where Lady Bamford also runs Daylesford Organics.

The fellow above looks like he has a nasty smell under his nose - which he does, of course : himself. 

However, it is likely that I am simply jealous - coveting, as I do, a holiday home in Stow-on-the-Wold...   

Perhaps he suspects he did little to deserve it except to choose the right father.

Rupert Murdoch's Times 'news' paper has named his Briton of the Year......None other than Gideon Osbourne............

George Osborne Named 'Briton Of The Year' By The Times Newspaper

George Osborne has been named "Briton of the Year" for setting "the terms of political debate" with his austerity agenda and being "partly vindicated" by the onset of economic growth.

The title was awarded by the Times newspaper, which said in its leader column explaining the decision: "The decisions of the Chancellor have dominated British politics and a return to growth has partly vindicated him."

The newspaper went on: "There is a case that the whole of this parliament, if not just the politics of 2013, has been dominated by a single decision taken by one politician in 2010.

"That decision was the plan to eliminate Britain’s structural deficit within a single Parliament and that man was George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. For resilience that has set the terms of political debate in Britain in 2013, Mr Osborne is the clear choice as Briton of the Year."

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/12/27/george-osborne-briton_n_4507654.html?utm_hp_ref=uk

Has Murdoch given notice who he wants in-charge of the Tory's in the future?

I was a bit gobsmacked when I read that - surely these people inhabit an alternate reality?

Had Osborne been asked for his choice of World Statesman of the Year, he would doubtless have chosen Murdoch....

.....if he knew what was good for him...    

Habitual newspaper-readers will know how the Murdoch Press has gone from supporting Cameron in 2010 to damning him with faint praise.  Elevating Gideon Osborne may be a part of that.

My preferred reading is The Independent which has an article today mentioning the Tory "Bright Blue" Group that apparently includes Theresa May, David Willetts, Maria Miller and Francis Maude - in which it reminds readers that Gideon has promised another £12billion of welfare cuts after 2015.  The Tories' own pressure-group states that squeezing the welfare budget was not changing voter attitudes and would backfire by building sympathy for the unemployed.

In its First Leader today, Saturday, The Independent concludes, "In 2011 Mr Osborne told the Conservative Party Conference: "We have to help business create tomorrow's jobs... We're going to get Britain making things again.  But he has funked that challenge, resorting again to the age-old stratagem of priming the housing market.  That may, as he clearly believes, be enough to get his Party through the next General Election but it will end in tears for the rest of us."

Surely Murdoch can not be serious that Diddy Giddy should lead the Tory party? He has FAILED in every promise he has made whether to the Tory party faithfull or this country, if the Tory think tanks his Welfare reform bill has not changed peoples minds on how to vote come the general election 2015 they had better pull there heads out of there butts and get there eyes opened a lot wider, from what I can see nobody north of the Watford Gap and some areas outside of the City of London will not be voting Tory or Lib-Dem in May 2015. :yeahthat:

But Diddy Giddy is still in post, Redflag, and apparently firmly entrenched planning Tory election policy. We can expect lots of "dirty tricks" between now and the next election, which as always will be decided by the voters' "feel-good" factor at the time.

So much for Osborne and his much heralded recovery:-

Blow to economic recovery hopes: construction output slides and industrial sector stagnates

Construction firms saw a 4% fall in output in November, while growth stalled among manufacturers and the wider production sector, according to the Office for National Statistics.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/blow-to-economic-recovery-hopes-construction-output-slides-and-industrial-sector-stagnates-9051766.html

Apparently Gideon Osborne is mainly concerned about reducing opportunities to be seen on TV wearing one of those muy macho hard-hats - although he does complain about having to shake hands with chaps who don't seem to have even HEARD of skin-softener.

Never mind giving spending money to consumers to spend - far better to give seed money to businesses to invest in workers and raw materials - instead of offering loans which cripple expansion by removing profit which cannot then be shared with the workers.

Gideon's gallop for growth continues, but disregards the experience of Japan which had zero growth for TEN YEARS, during which its people enjoyed the prosperity arising from fixed prices.

 

Gideon fears that Labour restoration of the 50% rate of tax for those earning more than £150,000 a year "Will deter foreign investors from coming here."

Does he mean those delightful people who buy British companies in order to increase the cost of living for the British customer?

I'd be happy to pay 60% tax to get rid of this government.

And may have to...    

The Palace of Westminster is not called The best Club in London for nothing.

Phil Hornby wrote:I'd be happy to pay 60% tax to get rid of this government.

And may have to...    

It'll cost you blood.

Yes, but it's only ever a question of 'how much' with any of 'em, Penderyn...!       

In terms of Shakespeare Plays, does Gideon Osborne think he is Henry V ....

or Titus Andronicus?

Can Politics ever be separated from Economics? Gideon is about to produce a Budget. Tories will be hoping for a pre-election Bribe, but the reality is that "Recovery" is taking longer than expected. Private Capital has not yet matched the long-abandoned Public-sector investment. It's obviously all the fault of the previous government, but there's still not enough in Osborne's piggy-bank to square the circle. Poor fellow.

How can Gideon claim that the 40% tax rate is aspirational but that 50% is too high?
 
The Treasury seem to be trying to backtrack now on the reported claims that Gideon had said that those who have been dragged into the 40% tax bracket have been made to feel successful....
 
But his actions over the 50% bracket seem to indicate that it is only those on less than £150,000 that should feel a success but that a 50% rate is a disincentive to feel even more successful!!!!
 
Since the last election, during this period of a 'busted economy' more than 1.4 million more workers have moved into the 40% bracket...

Is the 40% tax rate aspirational?

Is an American Express Black Card aspirational? (You have to pay £600 a year to have one).

Too bloody true they are!

‘New Statesman’ leader: The economic consequences of Mr Osborne
 
“In 2010, a genuine recovery was under way, with the economy growing 2.4% in the 12 months to the third quarter, but premature austerity introduced by the new coalition government, in the form of the increase in VAT and the sharp cut in infrastructure spending, ensured that it was quickly choked off.

Growth remains reliant on debt-led consumption and house-price inflation, rather than exports and investment (which is 20% below its pre-crisis peak). The result is that productivity and wages have slumped, with the average worker £1,600 worse off in real terms than in 2010. Rather than taking the opportunity to invest in house building and other infrastructure projects when interest rates were at historic lows, Osborne relied on quantitative easing and government schemes such as Help to Buy to revive growth, leaving the economy even more reliant on short-term finance and the quick fix of cheap money.

Even judging by the flawed metrics he adopted in 2010, the Chancellor has disappointed. Britain has lost its AAA credit rating, for what it is worth, and borrowing is forecast to be £51bn higher this year (£111bn) than promised in his first budget. Having vowed to eliminate the so-called structural deficit by 2014-2015, he has been forced to extend this pledge by three years to 2017-2018.

The UK is in need of public investment to rebalance the economy and to narrow regional disparities. Until this happens, Britain will not have a recovery worthy of the name.”
 
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/03/leader-economic-consequences-mr-osborne

One of the standard Tory myths is that they pretend to be ‘the tax-cutting party’. At best, they are a tax re-arranging party, shifting the balance from direct taxation (of which the rich pay most) to indirect taxation (which hits the poor hardest). In 1979, the standard rate of income tax was 33%, but VAT was only 8%. Now both of those are 20%. At worst, the Tories are a tax-increasing party, as we saw under John Major, when, to pay for their ‘Black Wednesday’ debacle, the scope of VAT was widened considerably.
 
The Tories are now trying to half-inch the credit for the Lib Dem policy which forced them to raise the income tax starting threshold to £10,000 by next month. However, Osborne never reminds us of the 24 tax increases which he has brought in since 2010. Not all of them are bad measures – some of them are progressive – but it’s important to mention them when countering the Tory tax-cutting myth:-
 
- VAT increased to 20% from 2011

- Income tax age-related allowances frozen and eligibility restricted ('granny tax') from 2013-14

- Income tax higher rate threshold cut to £42,475 in 2011-12

- Higher income child benefit charge introduced in 2013

- National Insurance contributions rates, limits and thresholds increased in line with CPI rather than RPI from 2012-13

- Income tax higher rate threshold frozen at £42,475 in 2012-13

- Insurance premium tax increased from 2011

- Capital gains tax increased to 28% for higher rate taxpayers from June 2010

- New duty introduced on high strength beers from 2011

- Duty on hand-rolling tobacco increased by an additional 10% from 2011-12

- ISA subscription limit uprated in line with CPI rather than RPI from 2012-13

- National Insurance contributions - changes to contracting-out rebates from 2012-13

- Capital gains tax annual exempt amount frozen in 2012-13

- Stamp duty land tax increased to 7% on properties over £2 million from 2012-13

- VAT increases on a range of items, including caravans, sports drinks, and listed buildings from 2012

- Duty on tobacco increased by RPI + 5% in 2012

- Income tax higher rate threshold cut to £41,450 in 2013-14

- Capital gains tax annual exempt amount increased in line with CPI rather than RPI from 2013-14

- Income tax cap on reliefs introduced from 2013-14

- Pension tax relief restricted from 2014-15

- Income tax higher rate threshold increase capped at 1% in 2014-15 and 2015-16

- Capital gains tax annual exempt amount increase capped at 1% for 2014-15 and 2015-16

- Inheritance tax threshold frozen in 2015-16

- National Insurance contributions - ending of contracting-out rebates from 2016-17

Crafty old George may have produced a budget today which proves attractive to many wavering voters. All on the backs of those with very little, who need the largesse more than most of us of course, but George won't worry about that.
 
Given that he still has two more chances before May 2015 to bribe the electorate and offer a few apparent giveaways and Bob's your uncle - another Tory government by courtesy of a grateful ( and hoodwinked) British public. Better get used to the idea, folks...             

Quite a lot of tinkering in today's budget with "opportunities" for any money which anyone might have left over for discretionary investment. Very generous of you, Gideon. Might be attractive to Nigel's blue-rinse UKIP supporters.

The budget has been nothing but an attempt to buy the election.

I sense that the problem is not getting the Labour Party to shift their posteriors but what ideas they will have to offer once they have actually stood up.

The evidence so far is that they have painted a few of their usual slogans onto a number of white sheets and are waving them about - but there seems no real conviction and nothing tangible to stir the interest of what should be a desperate British electorate.

Meanwhile, Dave is set to light his cigar and settle down to another term of destruction. Oh for some inspiration from somewhere...

“Oppositions can only complain, while governments can act. “  
 
So says Rafael Behr, the political editor of ‘The New Statesman’.  The opposition does complain – and even mock – though I didn’t hear Ed Balls’ jibe at Osborne and Cameron reported on the BBC: "When Osborne told Cameron he wanted to cut taxes for ‘Bingo’, Cameron thought he was talking about an old school chum."
 
Would somebody like to tell us what they expect the Labour Party to be doing at present? Labour has 258 of the 650 MPs, so it can’t change anything by a vote in Parliament without help from the Lib Dems. Labour is a party which subscribes to democracy, so it won’t be storming Westminster and seizing power. It doesn’t get anything like fair coverage on the BBC or in most of the press, so what do you suggest it does? Occupy the BBC?
 
Every weekend, party members, often supported by MPs and members of the shadow cabinet, take to the streets of Labour’s 108 target constituencies and talk to people on their doorsteps. If you have any legal ideas about what the party could be doing instead, I’m sure Ed Miliband would like to hear them.
 
Behr continues: “The chancellor says his plan has worked and that his Budget brings blessed relief to the nation’s toiling classes. Maybe everyone who is inclined to buy that story is already voting Tory and no one else is listening.” Despite the defeatist talk on this forum, history says that the governing party doesn’t increase its percentage of the vote. And there’s no way that Labour will poll anywhere as near as low as 29% next time. About one-third of those who voted Lib Dem in 2010 had switched their votes to (or back to) Labour within a few months, and there is no sign of any of them returning. Labour’s lead is relatively small – between four and eight points – but it’s solid; people of a centre-left persuasion have no other mainstream party they can turn to these days.
 
Electoral Calculus is saying there's a 73% chance of an outright Labour win next year, but only a 7% chance of an outright Tory win. The betting industry has Labour at 13/8 on to win the most seats, a Labour majority is at 6/4 and Ed Miliband is 11/8 on to be the next PM. I’ve no doubt both Lynton Crosby and ‘The Daily Mail’ have plenty more lies, smears and dirty tricks up their sleeves, but as most people will still feel worse off next year than they felt in 2010, I can’t see anything other than a Labour win.
 
Sources used:-
 
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/03/growth-unemployment-down-%E2%80%93-labours-stubborn-poll-lead-remains
 
http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/homepage.html
 
http://www.oddschecker.com/politics/british-politics

But it will now after all be legal to drink in a Pub until 1 a.m. on the night that England beats Italy in the World Cup match on June 14th at Manaus.

Clearly, given his prediction, ow has been drinking already...    

I'm not as thunk as you drink I am, fella!

George Osborne has been strutting around the world boasting about the UK’s so-called economic success recently. Apart from Cameron’s deranged claim that some Tory policies are inspired by God, and various attempts to sound tough on immigration (in the hope of preventing more voters jumping ship to UKIP), hyping up the UK’s ‘recovery’ seems to be the main tactic for trying to keep the Bullingdon boys in Downing Street after May next year. However, the two articles below suggest that the Tories are deceiving the electorate by not revealing anything like the true picture.
 
Osborne is rewriting history on austerity
 
Extracts from an article by George Eaton:-
 
With the IMF forecasting that Britain will grow faster than any other G7 country this year, the chancellor has decided to round on his critics. But in claiming that his critics have been proved comprehensively wrong, he is engaging in a crude rewrite of history. His Keynesian opponents never said there would be no recovery, only that it would be painfully slow.

And they were right. More than five years after the financial crisis, GDP is still 1.4% below its pre-recession peak. The US, by contrast, is more than 5% above. To this, the Conservative riposte is that the UK suffered a bigger crash than any other major country, with output falling by 7.2% from peak to trough. But as Larry Summers noted at the World Economic Forum: "The deeper the valley you are in, the more rapidly you are able to grow."

Hippocrates’s injunction to "first, do no harm" should have been his watchword. Instead, with the private sector already contracting, he chose to tighten the squeeze. VAT was raised to 20% and infrastructure spending was slashed by 42%. We are still paying the price today. That there is now growth is in spite of austerity, not because of it. Even judging by the flawed metrics he adopted in 2010, Osborne has failed. Britain has lost its AAA credit rating and borrowing is forecast to be £48bn higher this year (£108bn) than promised in his first Budget. Having originally vowed to eliminate the structural deficit by 2014-2015, he has been forced to extend this pledge by three years to 2017-2018.
 
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/04/osborne-rewriting-history-austerity
 
Under the bonnet of the UK's economic recovery all is not well
 
Extracts from an article by Stewart Wood:-
 
Last month, the OBR confirmed that Britain is now experiencing growth of over 2%. After the slowest recovery from a recession on record – partly because of the depth of the impact of the crash, partly because of the fiscal austerity chosen by this government – we should all welcome this news.

However, it is a recovery predominantly fuelled by consumption, partly from the expansion of household debt, which reached a record high at the end of 2013, and partly from people running down their savings to spend more. Between January 2012 and December 2013, the UK savings ratio went from 8% of GDP to 5.4%. Germans save nearly twice as much as that.

It is a recovery of an economy that is relatively inefficient. Our productivity is now about 20% below the average of our G7 competitors. This year, Britain’s trade deficit is predicted to rise to the highest level of any industrial country in 2014, its highest level for a quarter of a century. And as a share of GDP, investment in the UK economy dropped by a quarter in the five years after 2008.

It is a recovery whose benefits are being felt by a very few, not by the broad majority. And not any old "very few" either. City bonuses are predicted to be 15% up on last year. Meanwhile, average earnings are £1,600 a year lower than at the last election, and earnings will only have grown by half the level of the overall economy by the next one. The poorest 40% have the lowest share of national wealth of any Western country.  
 
http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/04/under-bonnet-uks-economic-recovery-all-not-well

And yet, there are still I believe polls showing that a majority feel Tories are more to be trusted with the economy - beggars belief

The fact that the Tories are still 'getting away with it' is down to the paucity of the Labour Party's opposition strategies and ability to get across to a battered public any 'messages' they may have.

They should be strolling it, but they are currently as effective as a wet paper bag. Too few folk see them as a realistic and convincing alternative - and who can blame them...?

boatlady wrote:-
And yet, there are still I believe polls showing that a majority feel Tories are more to be trusted with the economy - beggars belief

It just goes to show how right Josef Goebbels was when he said: “If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it.” As soon as this vile government crawled into power, its members not only repeated over and over again the lie that Labour had caused the global credit crunch, but threw in for good measure that the former education secretary Ed Balls was personally responsible for much of it. For the first four months after May 2010, the Labour Party was preoccupied with electing a new leader; in the meantime, those lies became embedded in the national psyche. The first lesson that Labour needs to learn from this is that future leadership elections must be sorted out much more quickly, in a month at the most.
 
Thanks to the intimidation of the BBC by the Tories, and the assistance of their poodles in the press, any rebuttals of the “it’s all Labour’s fault” lie went largely unreported, as did the fact that Cameron, Osborne and Redwood used to criticise Gordon Brown for having too much regulation of the banks. Then we have the ad hominem attacks on Ed Miliband for being “weird”, while of course it’s okay for Cameron to claim “divine inspiration” for his evil agenda. It doesn’t help when a comedian like Bill Bailey, who is supposed to be a Labour supporter, comes out with: “Ed Miliband is like a plastic bag caught in a tree. No one knows how he got up there and no one can be bothered to get him down.” Bill Bailey, will you please go home!   
 
(To be fair to Mr Bailey, he has called Cameron “a congealed, laminated weasel”, while he sees UKIP as “a group of sozzled berks whose policies largely centre round an electrified fence at Dover and a ‘no women in the bar area’ rule.” He says that the only trace of the Liberal Democrats after the 2015 election will be “a bunch of flowers taped to some railings”.)
 
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/bill-bailey-compares-labour-leader-ed-miliband-to-a-plastic-bag-caught-in-a-tree-no-one-knows-how-he-got-up-there-and-no-one-can-be-bothered-to-get-him-down-9254935.html