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Opinions on austerity?

With the Labour leadership election soon i was wondering what you think of austerity and its effect on the country and the economy.

Personally I think it's a terrible idea and I hope Jeremy Corbyn wins the leadership election, but what do you guys think?

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Reply 1
Original post by McCannKay
With the Labour leadership election soon i was wondering what you think of austerity and its effect on the country and the economy.

Personally I think it's a terrible idea and I hope Jeremy Corbyn wins the leadership election, but what do you guys think?


Think it's a great idea and also hope Jeremy Corbyn wins so that Labour continue to lose elections.
It's a con. Merely so that ideological cuts can be taken disguised as economic necessity.
Even Osbourne in the last Parliament started to backtrack and apply Keynsian economics.
Reply 3
Original post by Reue
Think it's a great idea and also hope Jeremy Corbyn wins so that Labour continue to lose elections.


Why when it has caused massive inequality, benefited the rich, increased the debt and destroyed economic growth?
Reply 4
Original post by McCannKay
Why when it has caused massive inequality, benefited the rich, increased the debt and destroyed economic growth?


Because I am the rich $$$
Original post by McCannKay
With the Labour leadership election soon i was wondering what you think of austerity and its effect on the country and the economy.

Personally I think it's a terrible idea and I hope Jeremy Corbyn wins the leadership election, but what do you guys think?


Personally I can't say I've been affected by austerity and the economy is doing very well.
Original post by McCannKay
Why when it has caused massive inequality, benefited the rich, increased the debt and destroyed economic growth?


It hasn't caused any of those.
it's so helpful that the german government itself, that actually repeats it as a mantra, doesn't use it when it comes to their country


"it's true - it says so right here in this biased left wing news paper!"
I think that austerity is ideological and not something that is necessary. So long as we keep spending consistent or increase it slower than the economy is growing, then the deficit falls naturally.

All austerity does is punish the poor for the mistakes of the rich. Our current fiscal situation wasn't caused by hard working people benefiting from tax credits, it wasn't caused by unemployed people desperately looking for a job, and it wasn't caused by immigration. The cause of our current predicament was the Banking crisis, and the government's choice to bail them out.

When I see that the government is cutting tax credits, reducing eligibility for Housing Benefit, making very substantial cuts to the basic safety net in this country; all I can think of is when Lehman Brothers and RBS crashed. When those companies were struggling, it wasn't even an issue whether or not we had the money to bail them out, we were going to find it. We're now in a situation where millions of people have visited food banks because they are struggling to afford to even eat. Why is the argument that 'we don't have enough money' unreasonable to use on the banks, but perfectly reasonable when single mothers, the unemployed and the homeless are unable to afford to eat, or stay warm?
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by zippity.doodah
"it's true - it says so right here in this biased left wing news paper!"


Admittedly, a left wing paper is not exactly "impartial" or "objective" (like anything in UK media is).
At least look at Chapter Three, and then you can discredit, berate, criticise me all you want.
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by FKA Stiglitz
Admittedly, a left wing paper.
At least look at Chapter Three, and then you can discredit, berate, criticise me all you want.


the guardian to left wing is what the daily mail is to right wing - if people discredit the daily mail for being "too right wing" then it is more than easy to say the same, except "too left wing", about the guardian
and I'll give it a read in a minute or two
Original post by zippity.doodah
the guardian to left wing is what the daily mail is to right wing - if people discredit the daily mail for being "too right wing" then it is more than easy to say the same, except "too left wing", about the guardian
and I'll give it a read in a minute or two


The paper may be left wing, but the fact it's written by a Nobel Prize winning economist is what gives it its authority. I would say at least.
Thing is, simply saying 'austerity is bad' isn't really an argument. What will you replace it with?

I think this is in part why Labour lost the election - object to austerity, fine, but they didn't propose an alternative.
Original post by gladders
Thing is, simply saying 'austerity is bad' isn't really an argument. What will you replace it with?

I think this is in part why Labour lost the election - object to austerity, fine, but they didn't propose an alternative.


Labour didn't object to austerity.
Original post by McCannKay
With the Labour leadership election soon i was wondering what you think of austerity and its effect on the country and the economy.

Personally I think it's a terrible idea and I hope Jeremy Corbyn wins the leadership election, but what do you guys think?


Well firstly i think for the benefit of people who are not clued up we should define what austerity actually is (because there's a lot of crap and misunderstanding)..

So is austerity a reduction in government spending? No is the simple answer, government spending has increased..



So what is austerity then.. Austerity is a reduction in government spending.... as a percentage of GDP..



The reason for austerity is to reduce the deficit (as a percentage of GDP)..



Not the debt (which is increasing).. a common misconception (this will fall once we eradicate the deficit)..



..........

Getting back to the question at hand..

I personally support austerity because i both value fiscal discipline but also think that the state spends too much. I see no issue in aiming to even better the surplus of 98-01 and the 38% spending to GDP we had in 01..





Regarding its effect on the economy, this can be split in two sections since 2010..

1) 2010-2012 - This period saw deep cuts to both current and capital spending along with mortgage lending at levels not seen since the 70's. It saw weak economic growth and a poor labour market performance. After the low hanging fruit was done with, the deficit also rose slightly.

2) For whatever reason Osbourne changed course and went to plan B. Current spending was cut at a slower rate, capital spending on the books was doubled and Help To Buy essentially brought about a debt based capital spending programme. The result is that unemployment has fallen from near 8% to near 5.5%, economic growth returned to moderate levels and the deficit began to fall again.







..

In summary, so long as capital spending remains high i will continue to support the slower increase in government spending that we have observed.
(edited 8 years ago)
Dont know what it means
Reply 19
Original post by Rakas21
Well firstly i think for the benefit of people who are not clued up we should define what austerity actually is (because there's a lot of crap and misunderstanding)..

So is austerity a reduction in government spending? No is the simple answer, government spending has increased..



So what is austerity then.. Austerity is a reduction in government spending.... as a percentage of GDP..



The reason for austerity is to reduce the deficit (as a percentage of GDP)..



Not the debt (which is increasing).. a common misconception (this will fall once we eradicate the deficit)..



..........

Getting back to the question at hand..

I personally support austerity because i both value fiscal discipline but also think that the state spends too much. I see no issue in aiming to even better the surplus of 98-01 and the 38% spending to GDP we had in 01..





Regarding its effect on the economy, this can be split in two sections since 2010..

1) 2010-2012 - This period saw deep cuts to both current and capital spending along with mortgage lending at levels not seen since the 70's. It saw weak economic growth and a poor labour market performance. After the low hanging fruit was done with, the deficit also rose slightly.

2) For whatever reason Osbourne changed course and went to plan B. Current spending was cut at a slower rate, capital spending on the books was doubled and Help To Buy essentially brought about a debt based capital spending programme. The result is that unemployment has fallen from near 8% to near 5.5%, economic growth returned to moderate levels and the deficit began to fall again.







..

In summary, so long as capital spending remains high i will continue to support the slower increase in government spending that we have observed.


Why do you think government spending is too high? Under the last Labour government spending was higher and a surplus was run for much of their term. Unfortunately before deficit reduction took place the recession hit which should have meant increased public spending to combat the effects on the private sector. However we got austerity which has caused mass poverty, inequality and ruined the economic growth of 2010.

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