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The G7 isn't just Europe - it comprises Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
It's that high growth rate together with low unemployment and huge numbers of new jobs being created which means that even after years of really tough austerity cuts to sort out the mess of the economy left by Gordon Brown and his acolytes Miliband and Balls the Labour party is still only neck and neck with them in the opinion polls.
They should be streets ahead but the fact is people remember Labour's dire economic policies and they understand that the unelectable Miliband would be a disaster for this country.He's not even the best politician in his own family.
What mess left by Gordon Brown? He was Prime Minister at the onset of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s - considering the situation he was in, gold flogging excluded, he did remarkably well and sought off Britain going the way of many other countries in Europe.
There was no mess 'left' by Gordon Brown - the Tories inherited a terrible economy as a result of external influences - primarily the economic crash in the US that spearheaded the slump elsewhere. Before the economic crash in 2008, Tony Blair presided, arguably, over the best 10 years in UK history between 1997 and 2007. Stop buying into Telegraph lies about terrible UK economic policy and actually see what happened in the UK during Labour's stint in power. See how real wages soared, see how UK poverty rates were cut significantly, see how unemployment was at it lowest in over 30 years, see how homelessness was nearly on track to be nonexistent by 2015 if Labour's policies were still in force.
The Tories have single-highhandedly ruined everything, and have made our country objectively worse now than 10 years ago.
With the sheer volume of right wing pressure in the media it's a wonder Labour can elevate itself into the position it's in.
I wonder what proportion of the population actually understands the reasons for the recession, and can make a qualified judgement on the subject. A very small proportion I would suggest.
I know a number of people who are staunch Tory, who often refer to the 'mess Labour got us into.' However their 'understanding' is entirely fuelled by what they read in the Daily Mail, or similar, and have no knowledge of economics above that of the domestic variety.
Cameron took office on 11th May 2010 - Unemployment 2.51 million
Latest unemployment figures - 1.86 million
The employment rate now stands at 73.3%, the highest rate of people in work since the Office of National Statistics began keeping records in 1971.
Let's deal in facts not diatribes gleaned from a political undergraduate's Third degree from a lesser university that used to be a non-name polytechnic.
Cameron took office on 11th May 2010 - Unemployment 2.51 million
Latest unemployment figures - 1.86 million
The employment rate now stands at 73.3%, the highest rate of people in work since the Office of National Statistics began keeping records in 1971.
Let's deal in facts not diatribes gleaned from a political undergraduate's Third degree from a lesser university that used to be a non-name polytechnic.
Yes, well done to the Tories, for getting more people into unreliable, poorly paid work. They must be really happy with the fact that over 200,000 people are employed using zero-hours contracts. Must be nice for these workers to know that they are not guaranteed a day's work or pay.
I'm sure workers are also thrilled with the news that employment is at its highest on record, as we endure the longest wage slump since the Victorian era..
Must also be nice for the people finding themselves without a home.. the Tories can't even blame Labour for this one as this alarming rise didn't even start until they came into power in 2010.
A huge round of applause for the Tories for taking us back to the 1980s.
Last edited by dunno what to put here; 04-02-2015 at 11:46 AM..
Food for thought. You will not find any of this in the Daily Mail:
Average Tory borrowing 2010-2015: £114.5 bn.
Average Labour borrowing 1997-2010: £34.1 bn.
Total Labour borrowing 13 years: £442.7 bn (including the financial bailout).
Total Tory borrowing 5 years £572.5 bn.
We have suffered austerity in the past 5 years while the stinking rich got richer and we all became hopelessly in debt.
Run by privately company Circle, Hinchingbrooke hospital has been placed into special measures after the Care Quality Commission revealed serious failings. Circle was awarded a 1.36bn NHS contract after many of its investors donated £1.5m to the Tories.
We have established a system that makes a tiny number of people very wealthy at the expense of everyone else - and turns everyone else into debt slaves and cheap labour.
- Alan Grayson US senator
The banks are currently lending to financial "speculators", creating financial instability. If they lent to manufacturers & the real economy, creating jobs and growth, then we might be getting somewhere. Money only revolves around the Tory supporting financial sector. Lending to land speculators caused the 2008 crash.
"This study establishes for the first time empirically that banks individually create money out of nothing. The money supply is created as ‘fairy dust’ produced by the banks individually, "out of thin air"."
- Richard A Werner, economist.
Banks are allowed to created money out of thin air when giving loans. The biggest borrowers are HMG who pay interest. There is no reason why HMG cannot issue its own money and pay off the national debt to the banks. But there would be little money supply as banks destroy money when debts are paid. The Bank of England could print money and pay the national debt, then we wouldn't have to pay interest to banks. The Tories will not, so banks continue to get rich via interest on money they create out of thin air. Then the financial sector back the Tories.
Ten of the largest financial institutions are bigger today than they were before we bailed them out.
- Senator Bernie Sanders
"Poverty is not caused by men and women getting married; it's not caused by machinery; it's not caused by "over-production"; it's not caused by drink or laziness; and it's not caused by "over-population". It's caused by Private Monopoly. That is the present system. They have monopolized everything that it is possible to monopolize; they have got the whole earth, the minerals in the earth and the streams that water the earth. The only reason they have not monopolized the daylight and the air is that it is not possible to do it. If it were possible to construct huge gasometers and to draw together and compress within them the whole of the atmosphere, it would have been done long ago, and we should have been compelled to work for them in order to get money to buy air to breathe. And if that seemingly impossible thing were accomplished tomorrow, you would see thousands of people dying for want of air - or of the money to buy it..."
- Robert Tressell
“Once a nation parts with the control of its currency and credit, it matters not who makes the laws. Usury once in control will wreck any nation. Until the control of the issue of currency and credit is restored to government and recognized as its most conspicuous and sacred responsibility, all talk of the sovereignty of Parliament and of Democracy is idle and futile.”
- William Mackenzie King, PM of Canada, 1935
“If you abandon the political arena, somebody is going to be there. Corporations aren't going to go home and join the PTA. They are going to run things.”
- Noam Chomsky
“There once was a time in history when the limitation of governmental power meant increasing liberty for the people. In the present day the limitation of governmental power, of governmental action, means the enslavement of the people by the great corporations”
- Theodore Roosevelt, 1913
“In short, multinational companies employing thousands of people, controlling great resources, with a vested interest in territorial development and with reserves of capital and know-how to protect, have become states and must expect to be treated as such… The single biggest political issue of the 70s, 80s and beyond is the need for the democratisation of power.”
- Tony Benn 40 years ago. How prophetic.
The 2008 USA Wall Street bailout cost more than: The Martial Plan, Louisiana Purchase, Race to the Moon, Korean war, Iraq war, Vietnam war and NASAs lifetime budget (all adjusted for inflation) COMBINED.
New Statesman via freedom of information act found that the largest billionaire landowners received millions of pounds in taxpayer subsidy.
last year:
Sir Richard Sutton: £1.7m
The Duke of Westminster: £748,716
Queen: £730,628
Earl of Plymouth: £675,085
Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia: £273,905
Duke of Buccleuch: £260,273
Duke of Devonshire £251,729
Duke of Atholl £231,188
Prince Charles: £127,868
In the 20 years to 2013, average national house prices rose from £62K to £247K. That is £185K gain for doing nothing. The owners never created that value rise. The average man would have paid £117,000 in tax in that time. So the home (land) owner got all services free: schools, transport, fire dept, parks, police, hospitals, etc, and profited by £67K (£185K - £117K). Those renting get zero profit and pay for all services. There is such a thing as a free lunch.
"This [the land market] is no more than a giant pyramid selling scheme and one whose dire consequences we have seen again and again."
- Martin Wolf of the FT on the land (house) market, which most regard as normal
“Films, football, beer, and above all gambling filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult"
- George Orwell
Outstanding post. Whilst some may consider people on benefits to be a drain, the biggest freeloaders are the ultraweathy. Quantitative easing, privatisation, and bail outs are flat out theft at the expense of the average citizen.
By all means vote the same parties in, and blame imm8grants and the poor for the country's ills.
Outstanding post. Whilst some may consider people on benefits to be a drain, the biggest freeloaders are the ultraweathy. Quantitative easing, privatisation, and bail outs are flat out theft at the expense of the average citizen.
By all means vote the same parties in, and blame imm8grants and the poor for the country's ills.
According to official figures the top 1% of earners in the UK currently pay almost a third of all taxes.Under the previous Labour administration this figure was less than a quarter.
At least try to source some proper evidence to back up your nonsense.
The G7 isn't just Europe - it comprises Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
It's that high growth rate together with low unemployment and huge numbers of new jobs being created which means that even after years of really tough austerity cuts to sort out the mess of the economy left by Gordon Brown and his acolytes Miliband and Balls the Labour party is still only neck and neck with them in the opinion polls.
They should be streets ahead but the fact is people remember Labour's dire economic policies and they understand that the unelectable Miliband would be a disaster for this country.He's not even the best politician in his own family.
Yes, GDP growth performed well against the G7 for sure, but you are ignoring economic reality (which you have been doing throughout this thread).
GDP growth in 2014 was revised up to 2.8% from 2.6% and it looks all rosy on the surface, but investment was down 0.9% at the end of the year, and has now fallen for two consecutive quarters (having grown since early 2012). As a result, domestic demand looks ever more dependent on consumption, contrary to the stated aim of the Tories to rebalance the economy away from such gluttony.
The services sector shrank by 0.2% in January, mainly due to weak growth in the City. Experts believe the economy actually shrank by 0.3% in January. Monthly data can change but it is still a warning that the economy is not strong, and has certainly not recovered from the recession (which was way longer than it should have been as a consequence of Tory policies).
Another weak figure for April would spell trouble for the Tories..
According to official figures the top 1% of earners in the UK currently pay almost a third of all taxes.Under the previous Labour administration this figure was less than a quarter.
At least try to source some proper evidence to back up your nonsense.
Yah, and they are consuming more than 20% of GDP too
According to official figures the top 1% of earners in the UK currently pay almost a third of all taxes.Under the previous Labour administration this figure was less than a quarter.
That just proves how much is earned by so few !!!!!!!!!!!!
That just proves how much is earned by so few !!!!!!!!!!!!
Welcome to capitalism baby.It pays for the welfare state.
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