PMQ's

[TimberWolf]

I am intrigued to know just how Osborne is supposed to deal with the legacy of debt left by NL. Does he borrow more? Is there some tree on which money grows so that he does not have to make cuts? Or should he do what that well trusted paragon of financial virtue Ed Balls do and ignore the deficit?

What would Maggie have done?

[russell]

I am intrigued to know just how Osborne is supposed to deal with the legacy of debt left by NL. Does he borrow more? Is there some tree on which money grows so that he does not have to make cuts? Or should he do what that well trusted paragon of financial virtue Ed Balls do and ignore the deficit?

Get the economy growing is the best way to start, then over time streamlining the public sector etc. Wholesale slashes all over the place just as you emerge from a recession is not the way to go. There is a bit of a false dichotomy with the Tories they think it's either deep cuts or keep borrowing huge amounts.

[minestrone]

The general theory is that you spend your way out of recession with the money you saved when the economy was booming. Labour forgot to do the saving bit.

[doodab]

remove the employment laws that make it impossible to sack poor teachers.

But that will make thousands unemployed almost overnight.

[TimberWolf]

Some public sector salaries were briefly shown on the news yesterday and they were staggering. IIRC: Nurses ~27K, policemen edging on 40K + holidays and pension and all the rest. And at the top was a cleaner on 7K.

[doodab]

We are now paying for our indulgence with socialism.

We are paying for an obsession with profit at the cost of planning for the future. Good jobs aren't going to materialize at all as long as we are neglecting R&D, neglecting on the job training and pushing people out of work to replace them with somebody cheaper thus making an investment in self improvement somewhat risky.

There are enlightened companies that recognise this and try to do something about it but in a downturn the first things to go are often R&D, student placements and so on. Hardly the way to encourage growth.

[Doggy Styles]

Get the economy growing is the best way to start, then over time streamlining the public sector etc. Wholesale slashes all over the place just as you emerge from a recession is not the way to go. There is a bit of a false dichotomy with the Tories they think it's either deep cuts or keep borrowing huge amounts.

Growth is not simply throwing more taxpayers money at public services. That's what the last lot did. It was like keeping a steamship going by ripping planks from the hull to fuel the boiler, with predictable results.

Growth has got to come from the private sector. This is the problem that HMG know they have to resolve. Be a bit more positive. What are your ideas for stimulating that?

[russell]

Growth is not simply throwing more taxpayers money at public services. That's what the last lot did. It was like keeping a steamship going by ripping planks from the hull to fuel the boiler, with predictable results.

Growth has got to come from the private sector. This is the problem that HMG know they have to resolve. Be a bit more positive. What are your ideas for stimulating that?

Do you know what a false dichotomy is?

[doodab]

Do you know what a false dichotomy is?

Is that a rhetorical question?

[TimberWolf]

I think we need a crash. Things are too ****ed up to start from here.