UK general election 2017

[GennGreymane]

Best summary I have seen
(picture is highly relevant)

[Deleted]

Midsomer Murders?

Royal Ascot


John Major coming out and saying that a deal with the DUP could lead to violence in NI.

[Rockyreg]

Australia didn't get any "austerity".

Australia has things China wants

[alexw]

Christ, I was worried this was going to happen to UK politics now Welcome to the new campaigning.

The problem with Corbyn promising everybody everything they could possibly want for free ("fully costed" my ass), It means that any other party who actually try and address the crippling financial issues we have as a country are seriously disadvantaged.

My brother ran an election campaign for a rep at university. He thought about policies hard, worked out funding for them and presented them to the students.
In the end, another guy won whos policies were "A free drink for everyone each night at the student union" plus the promise to have Tupac perform at the leaving ball. This was basically Corbyns campaign If people are stupid enough to believe this shit's feasible you can't argue with them... you just have to start promising them even MORE free crap you're never going to deliver on.

A nation states economy and spending is not like that of a person or household. The only limit a government has in its spending is the extent to which spending will create inflation, and that in turn depends on the amount of under-utilized resources in an economy. Given that internally generated inflation is zero that suggests that there is an extreme amount of economic slack waiting to be taken up. Its basically an economic free lunch that has gone to waste ever since the crash in 2008, and which exists because of the total incompetence and extreme economic mismanagement of the current administration.

But hey ho I'm sure you understand none of these things because a government can run out of money, right?

[Fleuria]

Amber Rudd: "THERE IS NO MAGIC MONEY TREE".

Where has May suddenly found this supposedly nonexistent magic money tree?

Well reducing the deficit was a source of the cuts, I mean that can always increase the deficit and increase public spending I guess or they can just implement a few of corbyns policies and 5 years down the line say heh they didn't work get fucked but by that time the electorate will probably think they are Tory policies and forget.

Either way seems like from what May is saying her 2 "advisers" really sent her up the shitter, apparently quite a lot of the things they suggest she wanted to scrap because they were idiotic but she caved :/

[Deleted]

The problem with Corbyn promising everybody everything they could possibly want for free ("fully costed" my ass), It means that any other party who actually try and address the crippling financial issues we have as a country are seriously disadvantaged.

Every bit of data about the economy shows the Tories have displayed complete economic incompetence. From confidence, service sector shrinking, growth to inflation. Yet you still post the propaganda line. As Donald would say, SAD!

[paralleluniverse]

Nah, the Magic Money Tree would just trigger a currency crisis and devalue the Sterling to tissue paper

Wrong.

Has printing £435B for QE triggered a currency crisis? Nope.

In fact, adjusted for inflation, the cost of government borrowing is negative. The same story is true across all major countries with their own currency, hence a currency crisis is impossible.

Let me educate Tory dupes on basic economics: As the experience of the GFC has proved, when the economy is in crisis government borrowing costs automatically collapse, enabling governments to spend. Spending creates growth, cuts create depression, the market is signaling that debt doesn't matter by voluntarily lending to government at negative rates.

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Austerity is just a myth. After the financial crisis its just the 'new normal' for western countries

Nope. Austerity is real.

[alexw]

Well reducing the deficit was a source of the cuts, I mean that can always increase the deficit and increase public spending I guess or they can just implement a few of corbyns policies and 5 years down the line say heh they didn't work get fucked but by that time the electorate will probably think they are Tory policies and forget.

Either way seems like from what May is saying her 2 "advisers" really sent her up the shitter, apparently quite a lot of the things they suggest she wanted to scrap because they were idiotic but she caved :/

It didn't reduce the deficit in the way you seem to think it did, as in overall less debt. In reality it just shifted who took it on so that instead of the government taking on that debt the household sector did it instead. You can see it reflected in the image below (negative values = taking on debt, positive values = saving/paying down debt).



The way the monetary system works is one persons debt is another persons savings, and this works at the macro level too. Because the UK runs a long term trade deficit foreigners are net saving vs the UK, and the UK is net borrowing from foreigners. The only real choice the gov has is where that debt ends up not whether it exists or not. Ideally a government in such a scenario should borrow to invest into the real productive economy such as Obama did with his stimulus bill. Pump the money into improved infrastructure, into new high tech industries (Obama did that with Tesla motors and look where it is now), etc. That then via a more productive economy gives the opportunity to correct the trade imbalance over the long term.

Of course if you are totally incompetent on economic matters and believe in ideological economic fantasies as most right wingers do, then you will do none of the above. Instead you will convince the public who only have their own household finances to work from that the workings of an economy are like those of a persons checkbook. You will then slash government outlays particularly on capital improvements (because its the easiest thing to cut) and hamstring your economy and the chance to make it more productive. Some time after doing all that you will realize your stupidity, panic because you know you cannot tell the public the truth without wrecking your political prospects, and so being a venal politician with no moral backbone decide to instead inflate up an asset bubble to get people to borrow and spend against rising housing values. Of course this then ends up sucking in more imports, making the underlying economic dysfunction significantly worse and the problems which need fixing even more acute.

Hmmmm strange..... now why does this description remind me of the British political economy.....

[alexw]

Well there is also the option to stop running a trade deficit. But that actually takes a lot of effort

Yes you need the gov to borrow to invest in capital projects, as well as intervene into the real economy so as to restructure the incentives for the private sector. Something like a national investment bank would help too.

But right wing governments never like to do any of those sorts of things. Much better to blow up an economic bubble instead. Its a much better ideological laissez faire fit.

[Deleted]

Some of the snippets YouGov pick out - the wording is theirs:

Class is no longer the dividing line in British politics - ABC1 and C2DE vote for any party is about the same…
whereas age matters much more - Britain’s young overwhelmingly vote Labour, while older Brits vote Tory
Young people still far less likely to vote than their elders - 58% among 18-24-year-olds compared to 79% among 60+
Education level another key divider: the more highly educated someone is, the more likely they are to vote Lab/LD
Working people were more likely to vote Lab than Con - retired people were the only group that backed the Tories
Men were more likely to vote Tory than Labour (45/39), while women were evenly split 43/43

[Deleted]

Wrong.

Has printing £435B for QE triggered a currency crisis? Nope.

The pound is at a 31 year low.
its slated to hit 1.10 dollars by the end of the year.
I think it will hit parity next year - That's not only QE, but its QE.

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Some of the snippets YouGov pick out - the wording is theirs:

Class is no longer the dividing line in British politics - ABC1 and C2DE vote for any party is about the same…
whereas age matters much more - Britain’s young overwhelmingly vote Labour, while older Brits vote Tory
Young people still far less likely to vote than their elders - 58% among 18-24-year-olds compared to 79% among 60+
Education level another key divider: the more highly educated someone is, the more likely they are to vote Lab/LD
Working people were more likely to vote Lab than Con - retired people were the only group that backed the Tories
Men were more likely to vote Tory than Labour (45/39), while women were evenly split 43/43

After a decade of austerity, that has hit the young working people hard, that already had a hard time, there is one group of people the Tories did not subject to austerity, but instead showered money on, the retired, with the triple lock.
Wonder why the young don't don't vote for the Tories.

[draykorinee]

Some of the snippets YouGov pick out - the wording is theirs:

Class is no longer the dividing line in British politics - ABC1 and C2DE vote for any party is about the same…
whereas age matters much more - Britain’s young overwhelmingly vote Labour, while older Brits vote Tory
Young people still far less likely to vote than their elders - 58% among 18-24-year-olds compared to 79% among 60+
Education level another key divider: the more highly educated someone is, the more likely they are to vote Lab/LD
Working people were more likely to vote Lab than Con - retired people were the only group that backed the Tories
Men were more likely to vote Tory than Labour (45/39), while women were evenly split 43/43

Thickos tends to vote Tory then.

[Deleted]

Thickos tends to vote Tory then.

The biggest threat to Tories is thier voter base dying of old age. You'd think they would boost social care and the NHS to keep them alive to vote.


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DCMBJOjXoAAmu8u.jpg:large

Seems its 45 people turn into complete cunts. How old are you again @Kalis ?

[Mormolyce]

Australia has things China wants

Our bauxite is boss.

[Kalis]

Thickos tends to vote Tory then.

No, it is just that the Tory demographic is largely made up of people of an age where it would have been more unusual to go to university. Not having a university education does not mean you are thick, just as having one does not mean you are intelligent.

[draykorinee]

No, it is just that the Tory demographic is largely made up of people of an age where it would have been more unusual to go to university. Not having a university education does not mean you are thick, just as having one does not mean you are intelligent.

It was a joke. I'm a vocational teacher, I put far more stock in vocational learning than the shite most students do at university.

Old people shouldn't be allowed to vote, they'll be dead in a few years.

[Deleted]

It was a joke. I'm a vocational teacher, I put far more stock in vocational learning than the shite most students do at university.

Old people shouldn't be allowed to vote, they'll be dead in a few years.

But seriously - Old people really shouldn't be allowed to vote. They're not wise, they don't know better than their children or their children's children and they're out of touch with current affairs.

I just hope that my own generation can grow old and be able to adapt as the World changes, not be stuck in the 1920's.

[draykorinee]

But seriously - Old people really shouldn't be allowed to vote. They're not wise, they don't know better than their children or their children's children and they're out of touch with current affairs.

I just hope that my own generation can grow old and be able to adapt as the World changes, not be stuck in the 1920's.

My grandad wanted me to drive him to vote but he still calls black people monkeys so I didn't think it prudent, anyone old enough to be institutionally racist shouldn't be allowed to vote even if he did survive being bombed in the war and rationing.

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Tim Farron quits, something about how being found out as a closet homophobe during the election. I'm always proud that religion plays zero party in uk elections outside of when people use it for bigoted purposes.

[Deleted]

Homeophobe or just someone that doesn't care about shoving it down peoples throats.

[draykorinee]

Homeophobe or just someone that doesn't care about shoving it down peoples throats.

He got asked a question and he refused to answer it, this has nothing to do with shoving things down peoples throats. When you're looking to be a PM you ocassionaly get asked questions prudent to your role, and your stance on homosexuality will always be a big issue as a potential PM.