The Conservative Party

[mancityvstoke]

Targeting UC claimants whilst giving rich people £55,000 or more is disgusting

 

[Gareth Barry Conlon]

Gordon Brown nails it in this thread.

 

[The Future’s Blue!]

The only person I’ve heard praising this is a right-wing, libertarian brexiteer who is backed by wealthy Americans who want to sell off our country, piece by piece.

 

[Gabriel]

That will also expose how many real vacancies there actually are/were

Rising unemployment will also make it harder for the government to squeeze those at the bottom and get those 50+ers who have opted out of the market back into work.

The rate has been rising in the Netherlands over the last few months, not by huge amounts, but just enough each month to make me wonder if that is now the prevailing trend.

 

[Gabriel]

Gordon Brown nails it in this thread.

Interesting choice of expression ‘the new poor’. Accurate, alas.

 

[BrianW]

The first thing a Labour Government should do is abolish charitable status for private schools, put VAT on school fees and put top rate tax up to 80%. Fuck it. Stop being nice.

 

[kaz7]

Thought the labour response was crap , so many open goals , if they are to get the working class voters back today was it , spineless wimps

 

[city2]

Also nothing for the millions of pensioners, nothing surprises me about the tortes they have always been the party for the well off.

 

[supercity88]

And don’t forget, those public schools have charitable status.
We are subsidising them as they don’t pay any tax.
All they have to do is demonstrate that they create public benefits.
Well………don’t they???

They create the next generation of Tory MPs. So quite the opposite.

 

[supercity88]

Policies that have been shown to be utterly corrosive wherever they have been implemented.

The evidence of Kwarteng's budgetary incompetence is actually already out there in empirical form and has been since the late 90's when John Gray published the first edition of False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism. Gray is, of course, noted for having predicted the 2008 crash.

In that book, Gray looks in detail at four countries that have experimented with neoliberal economic policies of the kind favoured by Truss and Kwarteng: the USA, UK, New Zealand and Mexico. In each instance, the imposition of these policies demonstrably increased economic inequality (thus confirming the well-known research of Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett), and reduced social mobility and cohesion.

For example, according to the Rowntree Report on Income and Wealth, inequality in the UK increased dramatically and quickly between 1977 and 1990, a period during which the poorest income groups ceased to benefit from economic growth, and there was a threefold increase in the proportion of the population earning less than half of the national income. However, by 1984-85, the richest 20% of earners enjoyed a 43% after tax share of that income, the highest since the end of the World War 2. Meanwhile, in New Zealand a previously non-existent underclass was created following the introduction of neoliberal policies (by a Labour government!), while in Mexico the size of the middle classes was substantially reduced, and the very poorest were driven into a state of even more abject poverty.

This time around I will leave it there. But I am quite happy, if need be, to author a much longer post citing multiple sources that all converge on the same conclusion, namely, that Kwarteng's brand of economics is already known to be an epic fail.

It's not failing everyone though is it. It's benefiting the rich and that's exactly what they want to do. It's setting them up for the future when their political careers are over. That's a very short term future.

 

[Mr Kobayashi]

And don’t forget, those public schools have charitable status.
We are subsidising them as they don’t pay any tax.
All they have to do is demonstrate that they create public benefits.
Well………don’t they???

One of the public schools in my town used to send their sixth formers to hold PE sessions at the primary school I went to (perhaps they still do) and they even invited us to attend their own facilities on some occasions.

Of course as I was aged 10 I didn't realise then it was just a cynical way to justify their parasitic charitable status.

 

[Gabriel]

Thought the labour response was crap , so many open goals , if they are to get the working class voters back today was it , spineless wimps

They don’t need them back today, they need them back at the next General Election, and the pain of the next months will drive many more to the opposition parties anyway. It’s actually in Labour’s interest to let this now unfold, painful as that may be, as it cannot be reversed.

And for those looking for a Labour manifesto of coherent and costed policies ahead of the General Election, I would say don’t hold your breath. The Conservatives have shown that manifestos are now meaningless and irrelevant. Far better to go into the election offering a slogan, e.g. ‘a bold and radical overhaul’, and then set about implementing whatever that means.

 

[bluemoon32]

Remember that scene in the Sopranos where they got control of the restaurant, borrowed to the hilt on its account, took the money , left it bankrupt & then burned it to the ground ?...........

 

[bluemoon32]

Thought the labour response was crap , so many open goals , if they are to get the working class voters back today was it , spineless wimps

If the working class still back the Tories after today then theres fuck all hope for any of us

 

[meltonblue]

 

[hampshireblue]

As a high rate tax payer - the extra money i get will not be offset by the increase in my energy bills. So for me it changes nothing. But I'm concious that the lower you earn the less benefit and everyone's energy bills are going up. Its morally wrong.

Do you mean high rate as in 40% or the 45% they're cutting to 40%? These tax cuts are not about paying your fuel bills, you're getting a chink to help do that already. Also what are they doing about the 62% marginal rate between 100-125K? Sod all on that I guess.

 

[Kirkstall Blue]

Listening on the radio that tax cut at the top losses the treasury £2 billion the people that benefitting number about 600k each will be £10k better off, Jesus Christ if people can’t see how they are looking after their mates then they are blind.

We will pay for it by cuts in public services and borrowing from the IMF, if Labour get in at the next GE they will struggle to do anything about it we’ll be in so much debt.

 

[Gareth Barry Conlon]

Do you mean high rate as in 40% or the 45% they're cutting to 40%? These tax cuts are not about paying your fuel bills, you're getting a chink to help do that already. Also what are they doing about the 62% marginal rate between 100-125K? Sod all on that I guess.

Yeah the benefit to me is in the NI change (circa £1k a year better off). I'm not in the additional rate bracket so no gravy there for me.

The thing is they claim that they are reducing tax to help grow the economy but surely if its that simple you can adjust any band and generate the same effect. The obvious question for them is what is it about people earning over £150k a year that made them want to target them, to reduce their tax, to help the economy. Why not tinker with the basic rate?

Income Tax rates and bands

Band	Taxable income	Tax rate
Personal Allowance	Up to £12,570	0%
Basic rate	£12,571 to £50,270	20%
Higher rate	£50,271 to £150,000	40%
Additional rate	over £150,000	45%

 

[BobKowalski]

Sterling hits $1.09. Knew I sold too early.

 

[Bodicoteblue]

Remember that scene in the Sopranos where they got control of the restaurant, borrowed to the hilt on its account, took the money , left it bankrupt & then burned it to the ground ?...........

But to be fair, the Sopranos were decent, honest upright people in comparison to these crooks.