It's official - we're all doomed, doomed

[David Johnson]

So what do we know from Boy George.

1. UK growth is at 3.0% which apparently is the biggest in the G7 countries.
2. Unemployment is less than many EU countries.

And yet, despite the above, Boy George is having to borrow ?12 billion more than he planned in the next two years. That's ?12 billion more than he predicted just a few months ago in the Budget.

So why is that?

1. The UK is now officially a low wage, zero hours, self employed economy. This means that the tax take is far lower than expected in terms of the money coming into the government even at a time of relatively rapid growth. And this is not temporary. The Office of Budget Responsibility expect this to carry on.
2. By increasing the tax free allowance more people on low paid work have now been taken out of tax.

So given that growth is expected to drop over the next few years to make the fiscal position even worse, what is Boy George going to have to do if re-elected?

Basically, Boy George is going to take us back to the 1930s



"If protected areas continue to be protected, the OBR calculated that spending by other departments would fall from ?3,020 per person in 2009-10 to ?1,290 per person by 2019-20 (all in 2014-15 prices), which would be a fall of 57.3%." This takes us back to the 1930's in terms of proportion of GDP spent on services.

So if Boy George gets elected next year, top tips for forumites. Whatever you do, don't

1. Get sick.
2. Lose your job.
3. Become disabled.

If you do, you will be totally and utterly FUCKED!

[Essex Lad]

David Johnson wrote:


> So if Boy George gets elected next year, top tips for
> forumites. Whatever you do, don't
>
> 1. Get sick.
> 2. Lose your job.
> 3. Become disabled.
>
> If you do, you will be totally and utterly FUCKED!

Ah, so you are Neil Kinnock. He was wrong when he made that prediction too...

[David Johnson]

Well it is not my prediction. Nor Neil Kinnock's. Nor Ed Miliband's.

It is the prediction of the Office of Budget Responsibility and the independent Institute of Fiscal Studies based on their figures and those provided by the government for where the savings will come from.

Boy George has already provided a steer that the enormous cuts still to come will largely be funded by public sector expenditure cuts and reductions in welfare spending rather than tax rises.

I could also add to the list, the low paid workers. Their living standards which have been going down year on year as prices have risen faster than wage increases, will continue to head south.

[Arginald Valleywater]

Won't bother the Kinnock clan.....not quite in the Bliar's category of wealth but doing well for "socialists".....

What I do want to know. In simple and short points is what Eddie Bollocks has up his Savile Row suited sleeve to save us all within a month of them winning the next election (and The Pope signing for Rangers...)....gold paving stones, free Mercedes all round and zero taxation...

[David Johnson]

"What I do want to know. In simple and short points is what Eddie Bollocks has up his Savile Row suited sleeve to save us all within a month of them winning the next election (and The Pope signing for Rangers...)....gold paving stones, free Mercedes all round and zero taxation."

Well there is always the election manifesto when it emerges. I wouldn't bank on the free Mercedes though, if I were you....

It is a rather common misconception that when things are shite, they can never be anything else other than shite. This is what Call me Dave and Boy George are hoping you will swallow.

Take you reference from the Clem Attlee government in terms of what was done when the country was totally bankrupted after the war. Or when West Germany took on board a bankrupt East Germany after the fall of the wall 25 years ago.

[Essex Lad]

But Kinnock did come out with something very similar before an election: "I warn you not to get old. I warn you not to get sick..."

He was wrong then. Why do you place so much faith in statistics? They are usually way off the mark like the recent UN proclamation about how any will die because of (non-existent) man-made global warming...

[David Johnson]

I know what Kinnock said. What someone said decades ago is irrelevant to the situation now.

You do not appear to understand what is going on in this country. I am not basing my view solely on forecasts. I am looking at what has happened in the last 5 years.

Despite huge numbers of public employees losing their jobs, cuts in welfare spending, the government has totally failed in its overriding objective to balance the books by now. And this is despite having the biggest growth in the G7. Not only that but the deficit is going up compared to the estimates made in March.

So unless any future Tory government gave up on reducing the deficit, their only options are cutting public spending and welfare benefits further. The Tories have already discounted using substantial tax rises to reduce the deficit.

[Arginald Valleywater]

And how will Labour get everyone working, earning a big salary and making the NHS profitable without the ever increasing drag of more and more really ill older patients? Let me guess......more taxation?

[David Johnson]

"And how will Labour get everyone working"

Well, there has been a big drop in unemployment under the Tories, yet the amount being borrowed by the government is much higher than estimated in March. It is more a question of how much people get paid.

"earning a big salary"

Well a start would be to increase substantially the minimum wage. I see absolutely no reason why the taxpayer should subside the starvation wages paid by corporations in the form of tax credits.

"The NHS profitable"

THe NHS does not need to be profitable unless you are Nigel Farage and planned to sell off the NHS. It does need to be value for money which largely it is. What the NHS does not need is the Tories to piss away ?3bn on a top down reorganisation of the NHS which no-one in the NHS wanted and for which there was absolutely no electoral mandate.

"More taxation"

It depends what sort of society you want to live in. If you lose your job Argie, do you want to have to queue for food parcels? If you go old and sick do you want to be left for large amounts of the day sitting in a pool of shit and urine? There are minimum standards of public sector services that any civilised country requires and you can't find the money for them simply by cutting other expenditure. There is a place for extra taxes and the banks would be a good start since they have largely got away scot free.

[Essex Lad]

David Johnson wrote:

> I know what Kinnock said. What someone said decades ago is
> irrelevant to the situation now.
>
So what was in the Ukip manifesto in 2010 is irrelevant to the situation now. You can't have both ways.