Cutting Taxes and Axing Osborne

In 2010 the Tories had plan A, deficit reduction, and by and large the British public bought the idea, which was simple, “We have to cut the deficit because sky-high public debt will kill growth and investment and lead to long term depression”.  Some of this proved to be wrong but enough of the narrative still works.  In all polls that ask the question “who do you trust to manage the economy?” the Tories are in a comfortably lead. We Brits have a long memory and the Brown / Balls bubble will not be forgotten and more recently Ball’s idiotic call for a plan B made him the laughing stock of Westminster.

Despite the Tory’s hard talk on deficit reduction the reality is that progress has been hampered by the coalition’s bargaining (with the illiberal Lib Dems), which ring fenced welfare, the NHS and pensions from the ravages of austerity.  Nearly all the cuts imposed in this Parliament have been born by spending departments that receive less 40% of the entire public sector budget.  There have been some interesting results – less spending on police has reduce crime, less spending on “enterprise” has helped growth take off, lower spending on Europe has made Europe even less popular and a huge increase in international aid has seen our stock in the world fall dramatically!

Fair Tax - Kitemark Needed?

It happens in all great industrial upheavals, first there is a boom then a premature bust, followed by a period of consolidation, then we get the monopoly ‘robbery barron’ era, before settling down into a better regulated more consumer friendly state.  The evolution of train transport and telephony business followed this pattern as has the oil industry, all bringing untold benefits to society but at some cost!  The internet has followed the same pattern with the boom in 1997-2000, the bust in 2001-2003, the recovery and consolidation, and now we are in the robber-barron phase.  The evidence is all round us.  Business oligarchs have made undreamed of fortunes, The lack of enforceable regulation means a small number of companies have been able to secure and then operate virtual monopolies  (Google, Amazon, Apple) and a consequence of this crazy wealth creation is that they have become uncontrollable.  They have been aided by both the rise of the internet and the fact that we live in a global market.