Is George Osbourne trying to get sacked?

[Mister M]

But only because we were spending well over what we could afford, had massive debts and huge unaffordable commitments.

 

What happened was predicted, expected and inevitable and labour ignored the warnings and stayed on the debt train whilst it ran off the cliff. It’s going to take a while to get back on the tracks.

 

If the linked information is correct (and I have no reason to disbelieve it) then prior to the crash, Britain's national debt as a %age of GDP was lower than when Labour took over in 1997:

 

http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/spending_chart_1996_2010UKp_08c1li111tcn_G0t_UK_National_Debt_As_Percent_Of_GDP

 

Clearly after the banking crisis then the tax take went down, and government spending increased, both as a consequence to pay for higher unemployment and to stabilise the banks.

 

Neither the IMF, OECD or many other institution predicted the crash. Perhaps if you're syuch a mystic Meg Mr Smith, maybe you would like to offer your services to the country by being the next Chancellor of the Exchequer?

[I1L2T3]

The Conservatives would have done nothing to stop the banking crisis.

 

"The City is a great example of using our advantages.The City of London is a great UK success story. It’s the biggest international financial centre on earth.

 

The London foreign exchange market is the largest in the world, with an average daily turnover of $504 billion. That’s more than New York and Tokyo combined.

 

Far from being based on the old school tie, it is supremely meritocratic. It is also highly innovative. You cannot simply set in stone a tax or regulatory regime for the City as it is today because it’s always changing, adapting and mutating.

 

The lessons from the City are clear. Low tax. Low regulation. Meritocracy. Openness. Innovation. These are the keys to success".

 

David Cameron in 2006.

 

Osborne wanted us to copy the Irish model. Labour may have made mistakes but thank God they didn't make that one.

 

He said this in 2006:

 

“Ireland stands as a shining example of the art of the possible in economic policy-making….With its vision of a highly- educated, innovative, open, dynamic, low-tax economy and relentless focus on the long-term drivers of prosperity, Ireland’s economic miracle has shown that it has the answers to the challenges of the new global economy.”

 

Three years later Ireland was toast.

[Mister M]

Osborne wanted us to copy the Irish model. Labour may have made mistakes but thank God they didn't make that one.

 

He said this in 2006:

 

“Ireland stands as a shining example of the art of the possible in economic policy-making….With its vision of a highly- educated, innovative, open, dynamic, low-tax economy and relentless focus on the long-term drivers of prosperity, Ireland’s economic miracle has shown that it has the answers to the challenges of the new global economy.”

 

Three years later Ireland was toast.

 

It is interesting that the Tories are quick to blame the eurozone crisis for Britain's woes; but no doubt had Labour been in power the Eurozone crisis would have been the UK's fault as well

[spilldig]

In my opinion Osbourne should never have got the job anyway. He is nearly as inept as Gordon Brown was.

[MrSmith]

The Tories throughout the last parliament pledged to match Labour's spending. Osborne made the commitment himself.

Yep and this is why the debt is rising.

[I1L2T3]

Yep and this is why the debt is rising.

 

So why are you trying to pretend that the Tories are not part of the problem? And that Osborne is doing a good job of getting things under control when clearly, even by the targets he set himself, things are going very badly wrong?

[MrSmith]

Like I said before, you can't get a blue badge when you are on incapacity benefit or esa, read your own links

 

500,000 face losing disability benefits in clampdown on costs, says Duncan Smith

 

The DLA – which is worth up to £120 a week – will be replaced by a new, more stringent benefit called Personal Independence Payment.

 

If people need DLA to get a blue badge and they lose DLA they will surely lose their badge.

[Supertramp]

Labour were looking to cut too remember. Cuts more brutal than Thatcher they promised us. But they also saw the importance of promoting growth. The Tories deliberately did not promote growth in the mistaken belief the private sector would magically step in to create it. The lack of growth caused us to lose our AAA rating. Private companies are sitting on a mountain of cash but will not invest because of the uncertainty and fear created by Osborne. His failure costs us all 120bn quid every single year and he will have added more debt in 5 years than Labour did in 13 years.

 

Even more disastrous than Labour - quite some achievement.

 

I wouldn't think they are more disastrous than Labour as if they hadn't have inflated the public sector, government spending wouldn't be as high anyway.

 

The cuts should have been deeper IMO, as it stands there are pretty much no cuts really. A proportion of any savings should be spent on infrastructure projects to get the economy moving.

 

But the problem is no politician will do what is necessary to get the debt/spending under control as they will be annihilated in the next election.

[MrSmith]

If the linked information is correct (and I have no reason to disbelieve it) then prior to the crash, Britain's national debt as a %age of GDP was lower than when Labour took over in 1997:

 

http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/spending_chart_1996_2010UKp_08c1li111tcn_G0t_UK_National_Debt_As_Percent_Of_GDP

 

Clearly after the banking crisis then the tax take went down, and government spending increased, both as a consequence to pay for higher unemployment and to stabilise the banks.

 

Neither the IMF, OECD or many other institution predicted the crash. Perhaps if you're syuch a mystic Meg Mr Smith, maybe you would like to offer your services to the country by being the next Chancellor of the Exchequer?

 

A government would normally save money, pay down debts, build and repair infrastructure when the economy is growing, labour didn't, they wasted the money on increasing the size of the public sector which made the crash worse than it should have been, this government was left with high public sector commitments, high social security commitments, a crumbling infrastructure and high debts at a time when the economy was falling.

 

One fix’s the roof when it's sunny, you shouldn’t wait for it to rain before fixing it.

 

---------- Post added 05-04-2013 at 15:54 ----------

 

So why are you trying to pretend that the Tories are not part of the problem? And that Osborne is doing a good job of getting things under control when clearly, even by the targets he set himself, things are going very badly wrong?

 

I'm not, its the electerate that is the problem.

 

---------- Post added 05-04-2013 at 15:56 ----------

 

I wouldn't think they are more disastrous than Labour as if they hadn't have inflated the public sector, government spending wouldn't be as high anyway.

 

The cuts should have been deeper IMO, as it stands there are pretty much no cuts really. A proportion of any savings should be spent on infrastructure projects to get the economy moving.

 

But the problem is no politician will do what is necessary to get the debt/spending under control as they will be annihilated in the next election.

 

I agree, the problem is that it will be political suicide to do what is necessary, because the public don't want the pain that is required.

[Anna B]

But only because we were spending well over what we could afford, had massive debts and huge unaffordable commitments.

 

What happened was predicted, expected and inevitable and labour ignored the warnings and stayed on the debt train whilst it ran off the cliff. It’s going to take a while to get back on the tracks.

 

Who is the 'we' you're talking about?

 

This sounds like a direct quote from 'call me Dave' Cameron. Did you ever question it, or did you just believe it because he said it?

 

I for one had no debt, and there were plenty of others like me, working hard, paying tax, not taking anything from the state, etc. I object to all of us being lumped together to get the government off the hook..

 

If the government were spending more than they could afford who's fault is that? I can't say I noticed money being lavished in my direction, or services improving greatly so where was the money going? Certainly not into infrastructure. Most of that was PFI funded - again a bright idea of the government which anyone could have told them was doomed to failure.

 

Before you tell me it was the previous government, I blame both parties. It took a long time to reach this point. They are equally guilty. Maggie sold off the family silver, Gordon sold off the gold, Maggie deregulated the banks, Gordon told us there would be no more boom and bust.... Blair took us into a very expensive war for heavens sake... Bad, bad government, poor decisions.

 

Meanwhile the little people like me just got on with it, it's not like we had any say, and even if we had, do you honestly think any of them would have listened?

 

So don't blame us when the sh** hits the fan.