Osborne's vote chasing Budget
19 March 2014, 04:49 PM
#1
Osborne's vote chasing Budget
This budget shows if you give him enough goes (this is his 5th), even an idiot can get some things right!
It was a brilliant budget for a man with very little wriggle room and whose economic mistakes have condemned us to 5 more years of cuts to pay for the huge govt debt his austerity measures have run up in the past 4 years. After all he was supposed to have reduced the deficit to zero this year but instead his policies will add £118Bn to the govt borrowing credit card bill in this year alone.
His growth predictions are welcomed though nothing more than what happens in an economic cycle after any recession. And even he had to mention that the upward economic growth predictions are dependent on a fragile European recovery. (Are you listening, you Euro-sceptic flat-earthers?)
But I have to give him some credit because even though few of us will be any better off in real terms over the next 5 years he’s managed to throw some crumbs to more groups than any other budget statement I’ve listened to.
He’s targeted:
- pensioners
- low income earners
- middle income earners
- savers
- businesses
- manufacturers
- exporters
- motorists
- charities
- first time buyers
- publicans
- brewers
- drinkers
- Scots
- gamblers
- polluters
- Financial Advisers (many thanks, Mr O
) …
Have I missed out any group of core voters? No? Then even I have to admit: that’s quite some feat!
It was a brilliant budget for a man with very little wriggle room and whose economic mistakes have condemned us to 5 more years of cuts to pay for the huge govt debt his austerity measures have run up in the past 4 years. After all he was supposed to have reduced the deficit to zero this year but instead his policies will add £118Bn to the govt borrowing credit card bill in this year alone.
His growth predictions are welcomed though nothing more than what happens in an economic cycle after any recession. And even he had to mention that the upward economic growth predictions are dependent on a fragile European recovery. (Are you listening, you Euro-sceptic flat-earthers?)
But I have to give him some credit because even though few of us will be any better off in real terms over the next 5 years he’s managed to throw some crumbs to more groups than any other budget statement I’ve listened to.
He’s targeted:
- pensioners
- low income earners
- middle income earners
- savers
- businesses
- manufacturers
- exporters
- motorists
- charities
- first time buyers
- publicans
- brewers
- drinkers
- Scots
- gamblers
- polluters
- Financial Advisers (many thanks, Mr O
) …Have I missed out any group of core voters? No? Then even I have to admit: that’s quite some feat!
19 March 2014, 08:45 PM
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19 March 2014, 08:48 PM
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Yes but that is not giving anyone anything. If I say that in a few months I will take £100 off you and then tomorrow say I won't have I given you a £100.... nope!
He's been doing this for years now and it is political bollox in the extreme!
He's been doing this for years now and it is political bollox in the extreme!
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20 March 2014, 07:31 AM
#13
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This budget shows if you give him enough goes (this is his 5th), even an idiot can get some things right!
It was a brilliant budget for a man with very little wriggle room and whose economic mistakes have condemned us to 5 more years of cuts to pay for the huge govt debt his austerity measures have run up in the past 4 years. After all he was supposed to have reduced the deficit to zero this year but instead his policies will add £118Bn to the govt borrowing credit card bill in this year alone.
His growth predictions are welcomed though nothing more than what happens in an economic cycle after any recession. And even he had to mention that the upward economic growth predictions are dependent on a fragile European recovery. (Are you listening, you Euro-sceptic flat-earthers?)
But I have to give him some credit because even though few of us will be any better off in real terms over the next 5 years he’s managed to throw some crumbs to more groups than any other budget statement I’ve listened to.
He’s targeted:
- pensioners
- low income earners
- middle income earners
- savers
- businesses
- manufacturers
- exporters
- motorists
- charities
- first time buyers
- publicans
- brewers
- drinkers
- Scots
- gamblers
- polluters
- Financial Advisers (many thanks, Mr O) …
Have I missed out any group of core voters? No? Then even I have to admit: that’s quite some feat!
It was a brilliant budget for a man with very little wriggle room and whose economic mistakes have condemned us to 5 more years of cuts to pay for the huge govt debt his austerity measures have run up in the past 4 years. After all he was supposed to have reduced the deficit to zero this year but instead his policies will add £118Bn to the govt borrowing credit card bill in this year alone.
His growth predictions are welcomed though nothing more than what happens in an economic cycle after any recession. And even he had to mention that the upward economic growth predictions are dependent on a fragile European recovery. (Are you listening, you Euro-sceptic flat-earthers?)
But I have to give him some credit because even though few of us will be any better off in real terms over the next 5 years he’s managed to throw some crumbs to more groups than any other budget statement I’ve listened to.
He’s targeted:
- pensioners
- low income earners
- middle income earners
- savers
- businesses
- manufacturers
- exporters
- motorists
- charities
- first time buyers
- publicans
- brewers
- drinkers
- Scots
- gamblers
- polluters
- Financial Advisers (many thanks, Mr O
) …Have I missed out any group of core voters? No? Then even I have to admit: that’s quite some feat!
Sam, I'd be interested to hear what you think he should have done when he came into power? ie what alternative path would you have followed?
20 March 2014, 09:16 AM
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The day after, I'm thinking it was not such a good budget. A few quid here and there, but where is the economic vision. The only way to improve everyone's lot in the long run, is to boost the economy by getting people back to work, to work more productively and boost growth.
I'm not a labour supporter, but they do have a point about youth unemployment. They are our future workforce, and there was nothing.
What would I like to see.
1. A new version of the enterprise allowance scheme to help people start a business.
2. A quality standard for apprenticeships. End the Mickey Mouse ones, supported by a huge advertising campaign.
3. Encourage the sponsorship of people who do degrees by companies, so that there is an end result.
4. Linked to number one, a scheme to give people 6 months exemption of business rates if they re-open one of the thousands of empty shops there are.
I think that would win votes. I don't really care if mrs pink rinse from the littlehampton bridge club gets a few extra quid from her granny bonds.
I'm not a labour supporter, but they do have a point about youth unemployment. They are our future workforce, and there was nothing.
What would I like to see.
1. A new version of the enterprise allowance scheme to help people start a business.
2. A quality standard for apprenticeships. End the Mickey Mouse ones, supported by a huge advertising campaign.
3. Encourage the sponsorship of people who do degrees by companies, so that there is an end result.
4. Linked to number one, a scheme to give people 6 months exemption of business rates if they re-open one of the thousands of empty shops there are.
I think that would win votes. I don't really care if mrs pink rinse from the littlehampton bridge club gets a few extra quid from her granny bonds.
20 March 2014, 11:00 AM
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Read Stephanie Flanders article in the FT. On the same line as what i said, no vision for jobs or growth. He should have invested in skills and infastructure.
His budget was like those crap insurance policies where you get a free pen. Crap chancellor, but dont worry, you get a "free" £100 off your tax bill.
His budget was like those crap insurance policies where you get a free pen. Crap chancellor, but dont worry, you get a "free" £100 off your tax bill.
20 March 2014, 11:36 AM
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It beats me why your average indian (as opposed to chief) would expect anything substantial from any Budget, let alone one where the State are skint.
Certainly as someone who has spent their life as either single or shacked up in sin (metaphorically speaking for the most part) I can't think of a single Budget that has affected me in anything other than a trivial way.
In this Budget the childcare nonsense winds me up but has no significant effect on me directly.
The mistake I and my parents probably made was signing me up to the crew of HMS Row Your Own Boat while the biggest queue was enlisting with HMS Hand Me That Crutch or HMS I've Got My Hand Out.
The film 'A Few Good Men' often comes to mind at times like this, with Jack telling the court 'You can't handle the truth'. Any party telling the electorate the truth would have absolutely no chance of getting elected because the majority of the public can't accept the truth, and most are concerned only with what they are getting in their back pockets irrespective of the bigger picture.
Pragmatism is dead.
This 'Cost of Living' BS is getting really tedious, although predictable as it's the only card Labour have to play.
Budget aside, I would like HS2 to be scrapped. Most people never use trains because you can't go when you want at short notice door to door, a service provided rather well by 2 or 4 wheels. Spend half the money released (partly) fixing the roads and the rest on whatever the hell you want (I'd rather the whole lot went on the roads but I'm a pragmatist so I would take it on the chin).
Certainly as someone who has spent their life as either single or shacked up in sin (metaphorically speaking for the most part) I can't think of a single Budget that has affected me in anything other than a trivial way.
In this Budget the childcare nonsense winds me up but has no significant effect on me directly.
The mistake I and my parents probably made was signing me up to the crew of HMS Row Your Own Boat while the biggest queue was enlisting with HMS Hand Me That Crutch or HMS I've Got My Hand Out.
The film 'A Few Good Men' often comes to mind at times like this, with Jack telling the court 'You can't handle the truth'. Any party telling the electorate the truth would have absolutely no chance of getting elected because the majority of the public can't accept the truth, and most are concerned only with what they are getting in their back pockets irrespective of the bigger picture.
Pragmatism is dead.
This 'Cost of Living' BS is getting really tedious, although predictable as it's the only card Labour have to play.
Budget aside, I would like HS2 to be scrapped. Most people never use trains because you can't go when you want at short notice door to door, a service provided rather well by 2 or 4 wheels. Spend half the money released (partly) fixing the roads and the rest on whatever the hell you want (I'd rather the whole lot went on the roads but I'm a pragmatist so I would take it on the chin).
20 March 2014, 11:42 AM
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It beats me why your average indian (as opposed to chief) would expect anything substantial from any Budget, let alone one where the State are skint.
Certainly as someone who has spent their life as either single or shacked up in sin (metaphorically speaking for the most part) I can't think of a single Budget that has affected me in anything other than a trivial way.
In this Budget the childcare nonsense winds me up but has no significant effect on me directly.
The mistake I and my parents probably made was signing me up to the crew of HMS Row Your Own Boat while the biggest queue was enlisting with HMS Hand Me That Crutch or HMS I've Got My Hand Out.
The film 'A Few Good Men' often comes to mind at times like this, with Jack telling the court 'You can't handle the truth'. Any party telling the electorate the truth would have absolutely no chance of getting elected because the majority of the public can't accept the truth, and most are concerned only with what they are getting in their back pockets irrespective of the bigger picture.
Pragmatism is dead.
This 'Cost of Living' BS is getting really tedious, although predictable as it's the only card Labour have to play.
Budget aside, I would like HS2 to be scrapped. Most people never use trains because you can't go when you want at short notice door to door, a service provided rather well by 2 or 4 wheels. Spend half the money released (partly) fixing the roads and the rest on whatever the hell you want (I'd rather the whole lot went on the roads but I'm a pragmatist so I would take it on the chin).
Certainly as someone who has spent their life as either single or shacked up in sin (metaphorically speaking for the most part) I can't think of a single Budget that has affected me in anything other than a trivial way.
In this Budget the childcare nonsense winds me up but has no significant effect on me directly.
The mistake I and my parents probably made was signing me up to the crew of HMS Row Your Own Boat while the biggest queue was enlisting with HMS Hand Me That Crutch or HMS I've Got My Hand Out.
The film 'A Few Good Men' often comes to mind at times like this, with Jack telling the court 'You can't handle the truth'. Any party telling the electorate the truth would have absolutely no chance of getting elected because the majority of the public can't accept the truth, and most are concerned only with what they are getting in their back pockets irrespective of the bigger picture.
Pragmatism is dead.
This 'Cost of Living' BS is getting really tedious, although predictable as it's the only card Labour have to play.
Budget aside, I would like HS2 to be scrapped. Most people never use trains because you can't go when you want at short notice door to door, a service provided rather well by 2 or 4 wheels. Spend half the money released (partly) fixing the roads and the rest on whatever the hell you want (I'd rather the whole lot went on the roads but I'm a pragmatist so I would take it on the chin).
21 March 2014, 11:16 AM
#21
It’s often forgotten/ignored that the economy wasn’t in recession when Osborne became Chancellor.
It was Osborne’s pursuit of US-style, ‘small govt’ dogma using the excuse of ‘deficit reduction’ that’s brought us the painful cuts and austerity and caused so many so much pain and left us with 40% more on the national debt credit card so far.
He’s finally realised what all good Keynesians (including Brown/Darling) knew all along: you can’t close a deficit just by cutting, you have to do it by stimulating growth and increasing the tax take from that.
The massive increase in govt spending in 2008/09 was a one-off splurge to save the banks, avert unemployment and protect the UK economy from the impact of a worldwide (BRICS apart) recession. So the deficit was set to fall anyway. However it gave Osborne the excuse he needed and a big stick to beat Labour with.
So as Chancellor from day one I’d have:
- Continued to apply a good dose of Keynesian reflation
- Allowed a stepped increase in inflation (to 5% say)
- Built infrastructure and houses
- Supported exports
- Discouraged non-EU imports
- Taxed polluters heavily
- Taxed some of the ‘sacred cows’ that even Osborne wouldn’t to protect his core voters
I can be more specific if you want, but I only get worse if you encourage me…
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