The amount of incorrectness in that posts is astonishing. You are ignorant of economic policy and what has caused the world downturn. It is not just the UK it is the rest of the world. i suppose Gordon Brown is to blame for all that.
Do you really think I’m trying to say that the current economic problems only apply to the U.K.
Good grief.
Everybody knows the current problems started when the bottom dropped out of the U.S. subprime lending market…
Of course Gordon Brown is not personally to blame for that, I never said he was.
But, Labour policies of blindly and unquestioningly supporting the U.S. on things like Iraq (over and above the U.N, and against the wishes of the people), have meant that the rest of the world now views us as America’s European bitch.
Consequently when the U.S. economy nosedives, it affects the U.K. far worse than any other country.
That’s why we are in such a state at the moment compared to the rest of Europe.
Of course when the American market struggles the effects are felt globally, that stands to reason.
But no other country is feeling it anything like as badly as we are.
There’s nothing incorrect there mate. It’s pure cause & effect.
While he was chancellor ha presided over a record length of stable economy. If everything had been so good then why were labour voted in in the first place?
OK Yes he inherited a strong economy, we’ve already covered that one.
I doubt very much he’ll leave it in as good a state as he found it.
As for “everything being so good” and “why Labour got voted in in the first place” I think that’s going a bit off topic to be honest lol
I certainly never said “everything was so good” under the tories lol…
Labour got in because of a lot of spin, and also because of a lot of Tory “sleaze” scandals
(you might remember they promised they’d be whiter than white… yeah right)
They also got in on the back of a lot of false promises (which they’re not stuck to) about improving public services…
The money has bene spent, but do any of us really think the services have improved?
That’s why they got voted in, not that it’s relevant to this thread.
Who was it that gave control of interest rates the the Bank of England? Was not the tories was it? This has helped to keep the economy stable without political interference.
Bit off topic again I think, but I don’t think the economy is particularly stable at the moment, do you? Also, allowing the BOE to set interest rates just means the government can wash their hands of bad policy & point the finger when the economy hits trouble. Which is exactly what they are doing.
Who brought in the minimum wage and tax credits for the poor? Was not the tories was it?
You’re making the assumption that those things have been “good”, which is debatable, and also nothing to do with the thread topic.
They were brought in because this country had gone to the dogs under the tories and evryone was sick of them.
I won’t deny ppl were sick of the Tories, but hardly gone to the dogs. The economy was the strongest it had been for decades. Hardly gone to the dogs lol
Unemployment in this country has been at record low levels for years and been stable. Inflation has been low ansd stable for years. industrial action has been negligible for years. If ecomnomic factors take time to come into affect then why is the credit cruch affecting the world so quickly?
Oh dear. Firstly I actually said “the effects of economic changes”… ie a tax hike here, and interest rate change there… budgetary tweaks… these things first need to bite, then people reassess their spending habits and the effect on the economy is felt. It takes a long time for that cycle to complete, and even longer for the effects to be noticed.
That’s totally different from external market events like the U.S. subprime crash which triggered the “credit crunch”. The two are completely different things. Events like that can happen suddenly, at any time, and nobody knows how far reaching or long lasting the effects will be.
One thing’s for sure though, in a high tax, high borrowing, high debt economy when events like that happen on the markets abroad it puts you in a very poor position to limit damage.
The burgeoning economies in China and India and the lack of supplies fromthe OPEC nations has caused the price of oil to rise and the rate of taxes by the goivt has not risen by the same amount
You’re saying if the price of something increases, the rate at which it’s taxed should increase also?!? :|
Thank god you’re not the chancellor LOL
and in fact Gordon brown cancelled a lot of the fuel tax rises they had planned. Just shows how much you pay attention.
I thought he had just “deferred” one of the planned tax rises. Not the same as cancelling it, but he certainly should cancel it. Trouble is that would be a U-Turn, and prime ministers tend to try & avoid making those.
I’d suggest he only deferred the tax increase in the face of massive public unrest, and Labour freefalling in all the opinion polls.
As for Northern Rock. What would you have said if the giovt had let everyone lose their money by letting it go under? What if it was your nest egg or pension or mortgage?
There were offers from the private sector on the table which could have saved Northern Rock at zero risk to the taxpayer.
You mention Iraq that has nothing to do with the economy or Gordons performance as the chancellor?? Why?
LOL The Iraq war cost billions and was funded by the treasury. As chancellor, Gordon Brown was the head of the treasury, and so he was the man who had to find the money. OF COURSE the war is related to the economy & Brown’s time as chancellor lol.
If the tories had still been in there would have been no Health service and even less spent on poublic services while the rich got taxed less and paid less.
Total speculation. Did you get that from your crystal ball, or from the tea leaves?
