Re: The General Election Thread : Sun Mar 29, 2015 3:51 pm  

For me, the economy is the most important factor in my decision making process and the Conservatives are by far the most competent.

Lucy Powell MP was on Sunday Politics today and argued that Labour have a three pronged way of clearing the deficit.

1. 'Fair taxes' - whatever that means. She did admit that one tax rise was to re-introduce the 50p tax rate which best estimates state would bring in £2BN

2. Cuts. She was vague about this and only mentioned a few things, winter fuel allowance, ministerial salaries and capping child benefit at 1% rises. Any savings from these would be minuscule.

3. Higher Wages etc. Then there was some general chatter about ensuring people are paid more to increase the tax take. The usual sound bites about zero hours contracts were trotted out. But she said they would not be abolished.

Then at the end she admitted that there would be more borrowing to the tune of £30BN to fund investment.

I just don't see how Labour have a credible plan to deal with the deficit and the economy.

Re: The General Election Thread : Sun Mar 29, 2015 3:57 pm  

Ajw71 wrote:

For me, the economy is the most important factor in my decision making process and the Conservatives are by far the most competent.

Lucy Powell MP was on Sunday Politics today and argued that Labour have a three pronged way of clearing the deficit.

1. 'Fair taxes' - whatever that means. She did admit that one tax rise was to re-introduce the 50p tax rate which best estimates state would bring in £2BN

2. Cuts. She was vague about this and only mentioned a few things, winter fuel allowance, ministerial salaries and capping child benefit at 1% rises. Any savings from these would be minuscule.

3. Higher Wages etc. Then there was some general chatter about ensuring people are paid more to increase the tax take. The usual sound bites about zero hours contracts were trotted out. But she said they would not be abolished.

Then at the end she admitted that there would be more borrowing to the tune of £30BN to fund investment.

I just don't see how Labour have a credible plan to deal with the deficit and the economy.

You should have been watching an hour earlier when IDS was interviewed live by Andrew Marr, he too had no apparent idea of how he would save his targeted £12bn in benefits savings, or at least that was the party line that he had to toe - you could see where his tongue was bleeding from all the biting he was having to do while Marr kept insisting that he must at least have some idea of where the target would be achieved.

Basically in the first Sunday of the election campaign (even though it doesn't start until tomorrow) both the Tories and Labour have refused to give any detail on ANY policy, this is like buying a car and all that the dealer will say is "Its a blue one".

Re: The General Election Thread : Sun Mar 29, 2015 4:03 pm  

JerryChicken wrote:

You should have been watching an hour earlier when IDS was interviewed live by Andrew Marr, he too had no apparent idea of how he would save his targeted £12bn in benefits savings, or at least that was the party line that he had to toe - you could see where his tongue was bleeding from all the biting he was having to do while Marr kept insisting that he must at least have some idea of where the target would be achieved.

Basically in the first Sunday of the election campaign (even though it doesn't start until tomorrow) both the Tories and Labour have refused to give any detail on ANY policy, this is like buying a car and all that the dealer will say is "Its a blue one".

I can sympathise that they don't want to actually go into great detail about actual cuts. By its very nature will upset some group of voters which you don't want to do before an election.

But I have more confidence that a conservative government will actually make the necessary cuts and take the difficult decisions rather than Labour who will say they will cut now but when it comes to it and they have the power, they will back out and borrowing and the deficit will spiral.

Re: The General Election Thread : Sun Mar 29, 2015 5:03 pm  

Neither party will come clean on their deficit reduction plans, they never do.

As at the last election, Labour has the most realistic target for reducing the deficit, the Tories' target is unrealistic. However the Tories are more likely to hit Labour's target than are Labour. Labour cannot achieve its target simply through taxing the rich. Eventually they will have to come up with some cuts that will hurt. But it will take at least two years of internal wrangling and bitter opposition within the party before they can actually start to implement them.

Re: The General Election Thread : Sun Mar 29, 2015 7:15 pm  

Quite simply there is no debt! There is an intangible concept that people really get upset about but to date the "money " hasn't been seen, just numbers in computers and on prices of paper. To keep people " happy " there are paper and metal representations of Pounds sterling, Euro's and Dollars etc, but to date no one has ever seen them.
A bit like these deity things people chunter on about.
Capitalism and double entry book keeping, the greates ponzi scheme, perpetrated by the human race.

Something for nothing, magic really

Re: The General Election Thread : Sun Mar 29, 2015 7:17 pm  

Well it looks like I'll be voting for Left Unity - the only anti-austerity party standing in my area.

Re: The General Election Thread : Sun Mar 29, 2015 8:20 pm  

Leaguefan wrote:

Quite simply there is no debt! There is an intangible concept that people really get upset about but to date the "money " hasn't been seen, just numbers in computers and on prices of paper. To keep people " happy " there are paper and metal representations of Pounds sterling, Euro's and Dollars etc, but to date no one has ever seen them.
A bit like these deity things people chunter on about.
Capitalism and double entry book keeping, the greates ponzi scheme, perpetrated by the human race.

Something for nothing, magic really

Not really. A currency is only worth what both the buyer and seller agree it's worth. Therefore, in reality, all money/currency is intangible and are merely represented by coins, notes, bank accounts or whatever is being bartered.

Unless you think we should all, and by all I mean every single one of us, should grow or farm the food we individually need to eat and make the tools we need to survive then there will need to be currency of one form or another. You can go that way if you like but I'd suggest it's not actually a step forward in society.

Re: The General Election Thread : Mon Mar 30, 2015 10:10 am  

Ajw71 wrote:

By its very nature will upset some group of voters which you don't want to do before an election.

Far better to wait until after everyone's made their decision and upset them then.

"OK OK, I'll have the blue car. What do you mean there's no engine?"

Re: The General Election Thread : Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:01 am  

The most bizarre outcome could be that neither Labour or the Tories will want to form a government. Cameron and Miliband will be to desparate to do a deal in order to keep their job. But behind the scenes there could be more greater reluctance to form what might be a very unstable government. Perhaps better to stay in opposition, change the leader and position the party for the second election. If you were Yvette Cooper or Theresa May, wouldnt that be a more appealing prospect?

It could be a case of "After you". "No, after you"

Re: The General Election Thread : Mon Mar 30, 2015 2:31 pm  

Cibaman wrote:

The most bizarre outcome could be that neither Labour or the Tories will want to form a government. Cameron and Miliband will be to desparate to do a deal in order to keep their job. But behind the scenes there could be more greater reluctance to form what might be a very unstable government. Perhaps better to stay in opposition, change the leader and position the party for the second election. If you were Yvette Cooper or Theresa May, wouldnt that be a more appealing prospect?

It could be a case of "After you". "No, after you"

Yvette Cooper - are you serious? One of Brown's bullies, despised by most at Westminster!!