tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14306519.post1914774698805920399..comments2023-07-15T11:16:18.809+01:00Comments on giroscope: Getting it very wrong on debtT.N.T.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13994761000416067940noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14306519.post-30706821614694351262009-07-25T06:49:22.131+01:002009-07-25T06:49:22.131+01:00I don't want to dismiss this comment out of ha...I don't want to dismiss this comment out of hand as you are certainly right that some items of expenditure should be cut. Replacing Trident, ID cards and "mini-Titan" prisons are all pointless, for example.<br /><br />But I am wary about using the Taxpayers Alliance as a basis for deciding which items to cut as they are a bunch of right-wing nutters looking to cut all benefit spending and introduce a flat tax which would be a massive giveaway to the rich. <br /><br />As far as EHRC goes the solution is simple: fire Trevor Phillips and appoint a competent chief exec. <br /><br />At no stage during their campaigning did the BNP suggest that public spending was too high - in fact theirs is a right-wing Keynesian programme along the lines of Hitler in Germany and George W Bush in the US. They argued, rather, that all the money should be spent on white people. <br /><br />I don't think anyone voted for the BNP because they thought public spending was too high - they would have been more likely to back the Tories or the Libertarian party in that case.T.N.T.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13994761000416067940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14306519.post-24162716702923176772009-07-24T19:14:22.848+01:002009-07-24T19:14:22.848+01:00Whilst I see where you are coming from here, perha...Whilst I see where you are coming from here, perhaps you could explain how the approach you advocate differs from that of Gideon Gono, erstwhile governor of the Central Bank of Zimbabwe? Surely the approach you advocate, which seems to me to amount to 'quantitative easing' will just result in rampant inflation?<br /><br />You advocate running an even greater deficit when the current government has already succeeded in creating the largest deficit (even taking inflation into account) since the Middle Ages. You also seem to confuse symptoms with cause. Surely the key is better direction of Public expenditure, rather than simply pouring money in as a means of countering the recession. As I have said previously the IMF approach is fraught with peril for sure. We can look at Latvia as a prime example of why their 'one size fits all' outlook is inappropriate. I would argue Ireland is in a worse state than the UK because the housing boom there was equally unsustainable but as you rightly point out their presence in the Euro prevented them from raising interest rates to bring their levels of personal debt under control. However, in the UK, we need to take this opportunity to challenge items of expenditure (and innumerable examples can be sourced from Taxpayers Alliance website amongst others) and cut them. (EHRC for example) Fail to do this, and you certainly run the risk of the BNP gaining power. The problems inherent in the current government's approach can surely be seen as the cause of the arrival of 2 BNP MEPs and a host of councillors. Your argument appears to be, had the government spent even more money on them, BNP voters would not have voted BNP. Can you confirm this is your contention?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com