Sorry.. which party was elected to govern the country?
That's just a small-minded, power-grabbing mentality where you think you have to change things in reality to make a difference. What is really important is that we were on the right side of history.
What is really important is that we were on the right side of history.
Right on comrade!
Nope, getting elected is what it's all about and get the foreman's job at last.
Balancing the budget does sort-of work because the other factors are either the outcomes (inflation) or have other negative consequences. You can’t just in isolation spend money. That’s not how it works whether you subscribe to MMT or not.
You don't need to subscribe to MMT. MMT is the description of our monetary system.
A framework for analysis.
Balancing the budget means you didn't leave any extra money in the economy which is why out of the last 45 years or so we run deficits nearly all the time. Deficits are pretty normal for many Fiat based economies.
Inflation - if created by government spending has a control measure - it's called taxation which simply deletes money. So we have the capacity to deal with it. (Unlike the recent inflation.)
You absolutely can spend money in isolation - because the country currently needs it, and the only time you wouldn't consider spending loads o' money is if we were actually at full employment.
Who do you think creates the money that we pay our taxes with; what your wages are paid by and money invested in the public sector. And also the money to purchase the bonds. Yeah it's public money created at the BoE. Base money/reserves.
Our country fails to function without it.
If you balance a budget things tend to grind to a halt.
Country desperately needs bringing up to scratch so excusing Rachel Reeves for her appalling fiscal 'irresponsibility' - is not a solution or pragmatic.
We’ve had 14 years of austerity government, that’s probably in part been what’s kept interest rates low (because there has to be money being pumped in somewhere otherwise the economy stagnates)
Because there hasn't really been austerity. The Tories are good at spending money and running up deficits. They just don't like spending the money on the correct things. BTW the economy has stagnated for the best part of a decade.
So yeah just spending money on random things for a few select people is bad - but balancing a budget is the exact opposite of fiscal responsibility.
Forgive me on this but half the problem is senior economists don't have a clue about the monetary system.
Here was a recent viral clip in a film about MMT with one of Biden's senior advisors trying to explain how it works by using conventional economic language - and then sort of blaming MMT for his own ineptitude.
I know it's a bit off topic but if the economists that make decisions can't articulate how we do things - where do you think it leaves the economy?
Rachel Reeves is going in this direction.
Labour have already told you that any of their promises are conditional on growth, this is the self same trickle down economics we’ve had for 50 years.
I'm not disagreeing, but like I said a couple of posts ago, five weeks till the GE. If you reckon you can undo five decades of "economic authodoxy" and re-educate the great unwashed before they go to the polls crack on.
Otherwise why would Labour start a debate around "Growth" knowing they'd lose a good chunk of swing voters.
I think the problem is that this other, well to the left of centre, progressive, social-democratic party you want vote for isn't really going to appear on many ballots. The headbangers and Rascists have plenty of choice and those of us more keen to eject the Tories than examine the current state of the PLP have made a pragmatic compromise, for now. Like all elections it's a gamble, what we get may well not be what we wanted. But what we currently have is pretty dire too.
I know it’s a bit off topic but if the economists that make decisions can’t articulate how we do things – where do you think it leaves the economy?
I seriously doubt that guy makes any decisions without an aide assisting, as for MMT, nobody knows how it works, as it's never been used in the wild, the theory looks good, but that was the same for communism, the weird thing is, if MMT was to work, the US is probably the best place for it to be trialled, as the $ is the greatest currency and the US have influence/power over most.
A question: Would now be a good time to ‘grass up’ / make public some really shitty Tory behaviour around enabling the selling off of national assets which were provided for the benefit of children?
We already know about HS2, but give it a try you might get some money from the press....
Loved the footage put out on the news of the Little Fella purposefully getting off a train, as if it’s something he always does. There was nobody else on said train obviously.
I’m sure he was quickly back to the helicopter and private jet
MMT Magic Money Tree for anyone who's wondering 😋 Several countries have tried it, notably Germany after WW1 and that didn't end too well.
Current guess for kids who will be forced out of private education by Pull-the-ladder-up Sir Kneeler is somewhere between 250,000 - 500,000, and it will be the families with the least money who are hit.
Luckily there isn't a problem finding places at decent state schools these days.
and it will be the families with the least money who are hit.
I’d imagine if you’re sending your kids to a private school, then you’re hardly likely to be seen at a food bank any time soon
Let’s all get the really, really small violins out for those who claim they will no longer be able to afford their offsprings fees for their private education.
I’m sorry but taxpayers funding, through tax breaks, a system which simply entrenches inequality from school age and massively limits the life chances of the majority is absolutely indefensible
Current guess for kids who will be forced out of private education by Pull-the-ladder-up Sir Kneeler is somewhere between 250,000 – 500,000, and it will be the families with the least money who are hit.
Oh no........thoughts n' prayers.
Current guess for kids who will be forced out of private education by Pull-the-ladder-up Sir Kneeler is somewhere between 250,000 – 500,000, and it will be the families with the least money who are hit.
Luckily there isn’t a problem finding places at decent state schools these days.
Newsflash - the families with the least money aren't going to private school, and Starmer very famously didn't pay to go to his grammer. State schools are on their arses because Tories.
I’m sorry but taxpayers funding, through tax breaks, a system which simply entrenches inequality from school age and massively limits the life chances of the majority is absolutely indefensible
Agreed.
Although I've an 8.30 meeting with one of the most expensive and hope that they don't cut back too quickly until I get paid for the work. 😉
There's nothing like hearing a plummy received pronunciation at a snotty rag comprehensive.
Current guess for kids who will be forced out of private education by Pull-the-ladder-up Sir Kneeler is somewhere between 250,000 – 500,000, and it will be the families with the least money who are hit.
With due respect, I’d suggest that is exactly that, a guess. Several reasons - firstly, what’s the denominator? There are about 7% if UK children at private school (compared with 40-odd% in Aus, interestingly). Secondly, children’s schooling is an emotive issue and I’d expect people will scrimp and save to keep their kids in private school once they’re there (though obviously a big increase in fees will put people off). Lastly, private schools are businesses and they charge what they think the market will bear. If they don’t think the market will take a big increase they’ll cut fees, either by swallowing it or making things that are currently included extras.
The long and the short of this is that we don’t really know what the effect of VAT will be - Eton/Winchester/other bastion of privilege for the very wealthy will be fine, a provincial day school that’s already struggling probably not.
Of course we should be funding state education better (IIRC private schools have about 3x the income per pupil as state)…
I’m sure the extra VAT on school fees could be covered by not taking the nanny along to the ski holiday, or even downgrading the Range Rover lease to a Discovery lease.
We all have to make compromises in life eh?
My mate works as the secretary/receptionist in the estate agents in town (kirkcudbright), she gets folks from down south all the time asking her about the choice of private schools in the area and they are always surprised that the nearest would be 100 miles away in Glasgow/Edinburgh area, I guess the private school idea is pretty much an English thing.
I’m more comfortable with Starmer than Sunak as a future PM.
Can the bar go any lower?
@towpathman While it’s an easy line of attack, realistically the majority of people with kids at private school won’t have a nanny to take on the ski holiday, if they have a ski holiday - the fees for a private day school are much less affordable than a generation ago, it’s likely both parents are working professional jobs to cover them, and we’re largely talking secondary children who can get themselves home and let themselves in.
The ****panzer on lease is however entirely fair criticism.
@somafunk For reasons I don’t quite follow the Scots appear to have a different attitude to this, and the proportion of kids at private schools in Scotland is lower.
Can the bar go any lower?
What are the options?
Good grief. After Jackie Walker's history of antisemitic pronouncements and the reason for Abbott's suspension you'd think she'd have the brains to choose different company
https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1795880768721531354
After 37 years in pin a red rossette on a donkey Hackney, shouldn't she give someone else a go?
Same old Labour
The charitable staus of public schools is mainly based on their granting of subsidised places. These generally go to the children of the teachers or occasionally to the children of the impoverished but titled families to add a bit of snotty glamour.
EDIT or to kids who play unusual instruments for the school orchestra. So if you sing or play at a cathedral you get your kids trained up and they get the places.
@BillMC Again, I’m not sure that’s a stereotype borne out in reality. Maybe at Winchester, very unlikely there are distressed nobility at MGS, never mind Hulme’s Grammar School.
realistically the majority of people with kids at private school won’t have a nanny to take on the ski holiday, if they have a ski holiday.
Nah, they'll have a chalet girl instead. ESF do great business with British private schools late season in some resorts, as do the kayak outdoor adventure type places though Brexit has shut some of them as they can no longer employ Brits with dodgy qualifications prepared to work for peanuts. There's been quite a shake up/out.
EDIT or to kids who play unusual instruments for the school orchestra
Tromboning with the older boys?
Players of the pink piccolo
Good grief. After Jackie Walker’s history of antisemitic pronouncements and the reason for Abbott’s suspension you’d think she’d have the brains to choose different company
https://twitter.com/MrHarryCole/status/1795880768721531354
/a>After 37 years in pin a red rossette on a donkey Hackney, shouldn’t she give someone else a go?
Same old Labour
Harry Cole works for the S*n, doean't he?
Jackie Walker is Jewish (but black).
Players of the pink piccolo
Pink oboe wasn't it?
Owen Jones runs through the utter hypocrisy with Diane Abbott and racism as outlined in the Forde report regarding the Labour Party, outlines everything in 10 mins.
Wow, Jess Philips is a bit of work aint she?
edit...hang on a min....****ing stw copy/paste shit
Don't know what she's done to merit that comment but Jess is my favourite Labour MP. 🙂
Edit: I see you've managed to add a Youtube. I hoped Jess would win the Labour leadership race, it would be very different party if she had, and survived in the role. It would be the Labour party rather than what it is now.
watch the vid, about 2 mins in
And Wes Streeting gets it too (he sooo deserves it) at 13mins
The video isn't very helpful as there is no context:
"Phillips verbally clashed with fellow Labour MP Diane Abbott on 14 September 2015 over the gender composition of Jeremy Corbyn's first Shadow Cabinet. After she asked Corbyn why he had failed to appoint a woman to shadow the great offices of state, Abbott accused her of being "sanctimonious" and said that Phillips was "not the only feminist in the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party]". Corbyn did not intervene.[65] Owen Bennett wrote in The Huffington Post that Phillips recounted: "I roundly told her to **** off." When asked what Abbott did after that suggestion, Phillips replied: "She ****ed off."[66] According to Abbott in a January 2018 Guardian interview: "Jess Phillips never told me to **** off. What was extraordinary is that she made a big deal of telling people she had."[67] Phillips later apologised.[68][69]"
There are about 7% if UK children at private school (compared with 40-odd% in Aus, interestingly).
I assume that 40% includes Catholic schools, which charge a very low school fees because most funding still comes from the state budget.
@somafunk For reasons I don’t quite follow the Scots appear to have a different attitude to this, and the proportion of kids at private schools in Scotland is lower
lol! 13% of London schoolkids are in private schools. 25% of Edinburgh schoolkids are in private schools. No true Edinburgh schoolkid fallacy inbound...
https://www.thenational.scot/news/23709036.private-schools-one-four-edinburgh-students-attend/
A question: Would now be a good time to ‘grass up’ / make public some really shitty Tory behaviour around enabling the selling off of national assets which were provided for the benefit of children? Just wondering whether to speak to an appropriate journalist, or if it would be lost in the election stooshie
What would you like to achieve by doing this? For the common good, your organisation, the people who did it? Punishment, redress, consequences through side effects, loss of respect? Currently you have options, once it's out you no longer have those options. If you've just found out about it now, think back in say two month increments and consider what effect it would have had then, would any of those times have been better for your desired outcomes, now well when might such a time come again? Also you may well have options other than grassing up and causing one more shitty Tory story behaviour in the news. Do they know you know, do they care, are they worried about what you might do?
Sir Kneeler: 16 and 17 year olds should get the vote.
Why would Labour say that, one wonders...
Three weeks ago there was 'uproar' about Natalie Elphicke crossing the floor to join Labour. Now, that's not even yesterday's news; it's ancient history.
Diane Abbott is, rightfully, an iconic figure; the current frothing about whether she can - or can't - stand again will last longer than the noise about elphicke but will also die away without having a significant impact.
There will be attempts by owen jones, momentum and others to keep this in the headlines but it will have little impact.
For clarity - I am in no way at all attempting to make any comparison between Diane Abbott and Natalie Elphicke; the latter isn't fit to clean the shoes of the former but the truth is...no individual is bigger than the party and the news cycle will roll on, regardless.
