Friday, Sep 26, 2008
Blaming the Tories for Labours economic "stability"
the Guardian: We must seize the initiative on the economy
The economic system constructed under Thatcher and Reagan is collapsing around us. The Tory party was partly responsible for this failed system and this gives Labour the opportunity to take the offensive – provided it is bold and draws the necessary conclusions.
Gordon Brown now has an opportunity to set Labour's agenda for the coming decade.
Labour has to take the arguments of his speech that addressed these issues and follow through with policies that will protect the public. As someone is going to have to pay the price for this economic crisis, Labour has to make clear it will not be the people the party must represent but the Tories whose Thatcherite system created this mess in the first place.
Posted by sold out @ 04:11 PM (1067 views) Add Comment
21 Comments
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1. sneaker said...
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul481.html
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul479.html
2. Mariothegreat said...
yeah yeah, whatever... why no to blame first the Romans because invaded England 2000 years ago?
3. harold said...
"The economic system constructed under Thatcher and Reagan is collapsing around us."
Any article that starts with such nonsense is worthless. Thatcher and Reagan were the mere political window-dressing of an economic system that has been in place since the establishment of the BoE and Federal Reserve.
4. beartil2010 said...
Utter, utter drivel, bile and invective masquerading as balanced opionion from a bitter man with a phenomenal lack of knowledge of the subject on which he chooses to expound.
I managed to read it without smashing my screen but can't bring myself to begin to critique it because there are so many glaring contradictions, such a lack of understanding, such poorly formed and dangerous ideas and so many flat-out factual mistakes.
5. uncle tom said...
Did he write articles like this while he was mayor and The City was oozing cash? No.
What a pathetic little has-been.
6. This comment has been removed as it was found to be in breach of our Blog Policies.
7. japanese uncle said...
If Tories happened to have been in power for the past decade, they must have followed eaxtly the same policy as NULABOR's, causing the rise and fall of the housing bubble. There is no doubt about that, as the both parties share the same master, the most powerful financiers. Tory Bliar's new career in JP Morgan says it all. Look what is going on in the US. JP Morgan bought Bear Sterns and WAMU at laughingly cheap, looking like the ultimate winner, along with Goldman Sachs whose ex-CEO happens to be the Treasury Secretary aka financial dictator of the country.
8. jack c said...
Perhaps someone should remind Ken that the Labour party have been in power since 1st May 1997 (11 full years) and during that time Gordon Brown has been either number 1 or 2 throughout.
9. mark wadsworth said...
Priceless - it's like in 1984 where they justify all the horrors by saying it was worse before The Revolution!!!!
BUt, as JU points out, the Tories have had their fair share of house prices booms/busts, and being the Landowning NIMBY party are unlikely to contemplate getting in Land Value Tax man to sort this all out.
There is no conspiracy - the problem is the culture that has been fostered by both large parties in the UK that House Prices Rises are A Good Thing. But the bubbles always burst - I continually promote LVT as a large part of the solution and half of people cotton on, and the other half come up with the hoary old chestnuts about 'little old ladies being forced to sell the family home' and 'how can you value 20 million different plots' and 'it's a tax on living' which is all nonsense really, provided you understand logic and facts and economics.
Ah well.
10. jonb said...
Can you remind me. Which party has been in charge for the last 11 years?
11. japanese uncle said...
No conspiracy indeed. If Tory Bliar aka Silky Teflon was employed by JP Morgan after retirement, he must have done something good for the bank while in office, in return for the future stinking salary for just shitting. Anyone who thinks otherwise is too naive to be allowed to walk on the street alone at night.
12. techieman said...
I agree - drivel. The problem was that Thatcher and Regan DID preside over de-regulation of the banking system. BUT they kept a lid on the effect by keeping a closeish eye on the Money Supply and squeezed it when neccesary - conveniently forgotten by Ken. Mr No more boom and bust idiot decides to essentially abandon a restriction of the money supply while being "prudent" on budget deficits. It dont make no sense to me Gordy. Or does my memory fail me?
13. Chilli said...
Inflation is the means by which the rich steal from the poor. - Milton Friedman
So if we print more money its good for the rich, according to Mr Friedman.
Apparently according to Mr Livingston, its not.
Monetarism is an improvement on the system that existed before. The problem today is we have encountered its limitations. I think it allows us to create very stable bubbles for a long time. The other thing is that printing money will keep us all in the black nominally speaking, but I'm very much starting to wonder if our modern society is really as emancipated as we think.
14. mark wadsworth said...
@ JU, yes, Tiny Blur was a crook. But a stupid one - as Stephen Reed in Pittsburgh showed, he who introdcues Land Value Tax stays in power for ever.
15. enuii said...
It's simply the result of the economic vacuum created by the fall of British Industry i.e. manufacturing and engineering, finance and services filled the vacuum, both of which owed their stupendous growth to cheap 'n' easy credit. This stretched the elastic of consumer spending to the limit until it snapped, lazy politicians did now't whilst the going was good and took the credit whilst the bankers milked the opportunity for all it was worth. Once it turned sour the same weak minded and morally vacuous politicians are now looking for the convenient scapegoats to blame rather than look in the mirror.
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17. Richard Davidson said...
They're both to blame, and Labour inherited the same warped values as thatcher.
18. Dbc Reed said...
@Mark Wadsworth
In fact Stephen Reed is mayor of Harrisburgh,& has been for 24 years which is remarkable,since it was flat-out when he started.
It is strange that P4crash, particularly, is so resistant to LVT because it is the planner's dream as Harrisburgh shows.You build major infrastructure or even minor improvements, land prices go up, you tax the land price rises and you've got the money back to pay for the infrastructure /improvements.As Don Riley explained from his own experience as an investor in the area , the Jubilee Line could have paid for itself several times over in the amount of land value uplift it gifted to the private sector.
Some land taxers or Georgists (>Henry George) leave it at that: LVT is an ideal way of making infrastructure construction, such as transport systems, self financing. Others see that the current UK problem is that too much credit has gone into housing and land on a macreconomic scale.But LVT deserves a chance and,at least, a fair hearing.
19. shipbuilder said...
They're all as bad as each other - anything else is wishful thinking. We have no real alternatives to the current system, voting in the other corporate-funded party of a different colour will produce exactly the same effect in the long run and the sooner we realise this the better. I predict PM Cameron, another bubble (in renewables and enviro-products?) and more self-flagellation in a decade or so. Yawn.
20. Yoss said...
And theres me thinking it was J Hoovers fault
21. Baudot said...
Ha, ha, ha, what do you expect from the Guardrain. Let the Sun have a go, perhaps with "Pommery and Prada Politicians Preach Proleterian Pravda".