| Topic: | In reply to Thomas Barry | |
| Posted by: | David Giles | |
| Date/Time: | 11/11/09 20:22:00 |
| Thomas Thank you for contribution.You have at least tried to answer the question. I agree that these are not normal times- we are in the biggest economic crisis that I can remember since at least 1979 when Labour last left Government. According to "The Economist" RPI Inflation has indeed fallen to 1.1% in September 2009 compared to 5.2% in September 2008. My own view is that the prices of somne goods and services will reduce and those of others- particularly those imported from abroad such as motor cars - will increase. I am glad that you agree that the situation would be much worse if Britain had followed Tony Blair's wishes and entered the euro. For that credit must be given- not only to Gordon Brown- but to the Conservative Party which alone of all the major parties actively campaigned to keep the pound.I remember helping to man a stall on Chiswick High Road which secured many signatures and much support for Keeping The Pound when William Hague led an impressive campaign on this issue. Gordon Brown's opposition was pragmatic and political whereas the Conservative Party's opposition to the euro was principled and based on a clear understand of the relationship between the currency, sovereignty and democracy. Gordon Brown knew that Labour could never win an election or a referendum if it forced Britain into the euro without the consent of the British people. I think it is too early to judge the effectiveness of the measures taken by Brown and Darling. It is true that two major banking groups have been saved but effective regulation by the Government should have prevented the Scottish banks - RBS and HBOS - from getting into the mess they were and are in. Gordon Brown's encouragement to Lloyds TSB to take over HBOS was a great mistake and will be regretted by Lloyds TSB employees, customers and shareholders. The Government's leaks of confidential information to the BBC did much to drive down the value of bank shares and assets and should be the subject of a criminal investigation. The UK's vital statistics are not very good: 1. UK Balance of Trade Defecit of $130 billion in year to August 2009 compared to France's defecit of $61.0 billion, Italy's defecit of 7.4 billion and Germany's surplus of $17.1 billion. 2. Gross Domestic Product continues to decline (by 5.2% for third quarter of 2009 3. Industrial Production Production continues to decline. 4. Unemployment continues to grow- the rate for August 2009 was 7.9%. 5. Public Sector Debt is the highest on record since the Second World War. I agree with you that an important question is:'how do you stimulate private sector growth so the State can ease off the stimulus?' In the end it will be the private sector that will get us out of this mess that Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Bill Clinton, George W Bush etc got us all into. One way of stimulating private sector growth is to rapidly reduce the size of the public sector, thus reducing the burden of costs the private sector and all taxpayers have to bear. For a start the size of the House of Commons should be reduced to no more than 350 members and the number of Government ministers should be reduced by 50%. In addition, the House of Lords should be reduced to 100 members directly elected by the various regions of the UK. The necessity for every single one of the UK's 700 plus quangoes should be reviewed and the number reduced by 10% per annum until there are only 200 left. Another important reform would be a total reform of the tax and benefits system to encourage people off benefits and into employment. Personal income tax allowances should be increased to £10,000 per person. The public must be relieved of the massive cost of public sector pensions so that public sector pensions are no more generous than private sector pensions. The NHS budget must be cut to eliminate waste.The huge increase in NHS expenditure since 1979 has in no way achieved proportionate results.In many respects- such as hospital infections- the NHS has got worse and not better.Consideration should be given towards moving towards an insurance based system such as that in France and other European countries that have more efficient and effective state health systems than ours. The International Development budget must be reviewed to ensure that public funds are used for emergency relief and effective long term development aid- and not in funding corrupt regimes. All schools must be freed from local authority control and interference and become publicly funded independently owned and managed schools more capable of achieving the same results as schools in the existing private sector at a lower cost. And of course the troops should be brought home from Afghanistan as it is quite obvious that this country can no longer afford to have them there. Desperate times call for radical measures and not Gordon fiddling while Britain declines. |