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Labour To Freeze Pay And Sell Assets In Dash For Cash


Injin

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HOLA441

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/poli...icle6856194.ece

Labour plans to halve Britain’s deficit with spending cuts and asset sales worth £75 billion without resorting to further tax rises, The Times has learnt.

Senior ministers are demanding that the pay of judges, top civil servants and NHS managers be frozen within weeks as the cuts package begins to bite. The remaining five million public sector workers can expect only minimal rises, union leaders have been warned privately. They had told the Prime Minister that protecting existing jobs was their chief priority.

Gordon Brown is looking at “a very big list†of defence procurement orders. He plans to shelve or scrap capital projects to pay for new equipment for troops in Afghanistan, seen as an overwhelming political priority.

Rows are raging within Government over the scale and timing of the cuts. Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, is resisting pressure to outline specific departmental budgets this autumn.

Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, scored a significant victory by persuading Mr Brown to ring-fence the £35 billion schools budget. Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, is pressing for a similar commitment on frontline policing.

Each Cabinet minister has been asked to identify priorities around Labour’s key election theme of encouraging social mobility. The issue has been identified by election strategists as David Cameron’s weakest flank.

Cabinet ministers are also being pressed for a list of possible privatisations. They believe that sell-offs, particularly of property, could significantly reduce the deficit. Ordnance Survey is among the state-owned bodies being considered for sale, although ministers acknowledge that it will be difficult to ensure best value for such sell-offs given the state of the economy.

More details of the plan to reduce Britain’s deficit — expected to reach £200 billion — will be revealed in the Pre-Budget Report later this year.

Officials believe that tax rises already announced will deliver a quarter of the £100 billion needed to reduce the deficit over the next five years. These include the increase in national insurance in 2011, the new 50p tax rate for top earners and future fuel duty rises, along with increasing revenue as the economy recovers

Forget about it.

State failure.

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I think they are more - Roll and smoke man

Shhh.

Admitting you are old enough to know who cheech and chong are is seriously uncool dude.

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Guest The Relaxation Suite

<a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6856194.ece" target="_blank">http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/poli...icle6856194.ece</a>

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Labour plans to halve Britain’s deficit with spending cuts and asset sales worth £75 billion without resorting to further tax rises, The Times has learnt.

Senior ministers are demanding that the pay of judges, top civil servants and NHS managers be frozen within weeks as the cuts package begins to bite. The remaining five million public sector workers can expect only minimal rises, union leaders have been warned privately. They had told the Prime Minister that protecting existing jobs was their chief priority.

Gordon Brown is looking at “a very big list†of defence procurement orders. He plans to shelve or scrap capital projects to pay for new equipment for troops in Afghanistan, seen as an overwhelming political priority.

Rows are raging within Government over the scale and timing of the cuts. Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, is resisting pressure to outline specific departmental budgets this autumn.

Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, scored a significant victory by persuading Mr Brown to ring-fence the £35 billion schools budget. Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, is pressing for a similar commitment on frontline policing.

Each Cabinet minister has been asked to identify priorities around Labour’s key election theme of encouraging social mobility. The issue has been identified by election strategists as David Cameron’s weakest flank.

Cabinet ministers are also being pressed for a list of possible privatisations. They believe that sell-offs, particularly of property, could significantly reduce the deficit. Ordnance Survey is among the state-owned bodies being considered for sale, although ministers acknowledge that it will be difficult to ensure best value for such sell-offs given the state of the economy.

More details of the plan to reduce Britain’s deficit — expected to reach £200 billion — will be revealed in the Pre-Budget Report later this year.

Officials believe that tax rises already announced will deliver a quarter of the £100 billion needed to reduce the deficit over the next five years. These include the increase in national insurance in 2011, the new 50p tax rate for top earners and future fuel duty rises, along with increasing revenue as the economy recovers<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Forget about it.

State failure.

Classic deflation. Pay cuts, etc. Someone should award Gordon Brown the DFC. (Dash for Cash). QE cannot beat the deflationary juggernaut. Cash is King.

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Guest The Relaxation Suite

Surely Zimbabwe proves that enough QE can....albeit with unpalatable results

Stuff happening in Zimbabwe only proves what happens when stuff happens in Zimbabwe. The deflation we are facing is like a tsunami, IMO, and this explains why the powers that be have been so happy to hit the print button. No, in fact it'smore like they're leaning in it with their elbows while they search online for one way flights to Tahiti.

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HOLA4421

Classic deflation. Pay cuts, etc. Someone should award Gordon Brown the DFC. (Dash for Cash). QE cannot beat the deflationary juggernaut. Cash is King.

I agree, I think some of you are neglecting the significance of this story. The government is one of the largest employers in this country and if they freeze pay and cancel contracts it will spawn considerable deflation. It also underlines their hunger for cash so they are betting this way as well.

Take heed.

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Surely Zimbabwe proves that enough QE can....albeit with unpalatable results

QE only causes inflation when it enters the real economy, in Zimbabwe cash was handed out as bribes to the "war veterans" (I shudder to label them so kindly).

In Britain the QE is being held as capital reserves, the banks had been keeping the ratios too low and as failures increased they could not cover losses. With government contracts drying up and job losses the reserve ratios will be increased so no QE will be leaking into the real economy.

No inflation.

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HOLA4423

Selling assets for cash?

I thought it was time to load up with leveraged assets financed with fixed rate debt?

On the basis that Gordon is a twonk, and that on that basis its always best doing the opposite to our great leader, then it must definatley be time to leverage and buy something tangible.

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Cabinet ministers are also being pressed for a list of possible privatisations. They believe that sell-offs, particularly of property, could significantly reduce the deficit. Ordnance Survey is among the state-owned bodies being considered for sale, although ministers acknowledge that it will be difficult to ensure best value for such sell-offs given the state of the economy.

Brilliant, having f***ed the country up beyond belief and blown the government finances out of the water they're now planning a fire sale of whats left. Anyone know how to say "shoe shine" in Chinese?

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Classic deflation. Pay cuts, etc. Someone should award Gordon Brown the DFC. (Dash for Cash). QE cannot beat the deflationary juggernaut. Cash is King.

As I've pointed out elsewhere, there is no "classic" deflation because theres only ever been one example.

if they government can't pay it's bills and has to cut back - this is a sign of inflation, not deflation.

If I up the price in the shops of everything by 10% and you have to therefore buy 10% less stuff, that's not deflationary, is it?

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