Why the Lib Dems are good and effective

[butchersapron]

Odd how Clegg based his attacks on labour and tories during the election squarely on the IFS's analysis of their proposals. If it's good enough for that clown...

 

[Blagsta]

Some people in the City may not think it's the biggest problem, you are right that there other problems. To state no-one in the city thinks it's the biggest problem seems a rather bold assertion though.

In that case, you can link to a report which analyses the budget differently can you?

 

[butchersapron]

Thew3 IFS report was actually based on the treasury's own figures and included the effects of benefits cuts and tax changes which the OBR deliberately removed from their own calculations. You're going to have to do better than this if you want to rubbish it. Do you intend also to rubbish the IMF's and the OECDs substantially identical analysis too?

 

[moon23]

Thew3 IFS report was actually based on the treasury's own figures and included the effects of benefits cuts and tax changes which the OBR deliberately removed from their own calculations. You're going to have to do better than this if you want to rubbish it. Do you intend also to rubbish the IMF's and the OECDs substantially identical analysis too?

I don't want to rubbish it, i'm not a Professor of economics either so I wouldn't really be qualified to do so. I'm just stating this is one early anaylsis and I'd prefer personaly to wait a bit to judge the impact of things. I do think the VAT increase is regressive, and i'm not happy that was agreed too.

 

[moon23]

I'm not going to defend everything the Coalition does as wonderful, it's mostly a Tory government with a Lib Dem infulence helping to deflect the worst of it. If it starts to emerge that not enough Lib Dem polices are getting enacted and the agreement isn't being stuck too then you have to question how much it's worth supporting it. Currently I think it needs to be given a chance to see how things do, and I agree there does need to be an attempt to reduce the deficit, although maybe not as much as Osborne and the Tories make out.

 

[Sesquipedalian]

I don't support the Lib Dems but I think there is a lot of misinformation and misconception about the Lib Dem's behaviour in recent months and I want to help portray a fairer picture with the help of my partner who will supply the information for this thread.

More to come soon...

LOL.

 

[moon23]

LOL.

It's reasonble, there is a massive Lib Dem smear campaign going on. You must be aware all of Labour's attack dogs are focusing on the party at the moment becuase they see it as the weak link in the Coalition. It's niave to think that all those spin doctors don't have an impact, Labour's media machine is massive.

 

[fractionMan]

It's reasonble, there is a massive Lib Dem smear campaign realisation of what's actually going on.

fyp.

 

[frogwoman]

It's reasonble, there is a massive Lib Dem smear campaign going on.

Oh noez its a conspiracy Wonder if the Jews had anything to do with it?

 

[frogwoman]

It's reasonble, there is a massive Lib Dem smear campaign going on. You must be aware all of Labour's attack dogs are focusing on the party at the moment becuase they see it as the weak link in the Coalition. It's niave to think that all those spin doctors don't have an impact, Labour's media machine is massive.

They also control hollywood you know. and brought down the twin towers with remote controlled planes

 

[butchersapron]

Lib-dems announced they're privatising Royal Mail. How good and effective is that?

 

[frogwoman]

that'll go well

 

[poului]

i saw this banner at an exhibition on the industrial revolution today, and thought it had a new resonance.

Oooh I like this!!!

 

[frogwoman]

Any chance of a reply to my post? x

 

[killer b]

Oooh I like this!!!

they were the tory candidates apparently. it seems 'justice for the poor' was something tories & whigs both promised, with both failing to deliver.

plus la change...

 

[Streathamite]

We have had one term of Parliament since the election, in that we have the Identities and Document Bill which is scrapping ID cards and the closure of the ContactPoint Database,

but both of those were earmarked for the chop in the Tories' manifesto anyway...

 

[frogwoman]

Who cares about fucking ID cards anyway when far greater intrusions of privacy are going on every day with the benefits system and the humiliation these peopel have to go through - fully endorsed by the Cult of Cleggie

 

[Streathamite]

Different Economic Think tanks have their own methodologies and means of analysis.

actually, that the last budget hit the porest hardest was more or less proven by detailed analysis carried out by teams of qualified tax accountants (like LBJ said - "auditors") and no-one in the libdems has seriously queried or challenged their number-crunching. Those findings were NOT just 'opinion'.
bet you've not got the numbers to refute it now, either.

 

[Streathamite]

Matthew Elliot from the Tax Payers Alliance who is running the NO2AV campaign will be peddelling the myth that AV will be barrier to PR and attempting to split the Yes vote. This type of attitude will result in the status quo. Labour will probably even promise PR to win back votes and lie again to people and fail to deliver anything like last time.

PLease explain - SPECIFICALLY - how this is a 'myth', given that it is a centuries-old stratgem of those resisting real change, to fob people off with a cosmetic concession. AV will NOT deliver true proportionality, and it has not, anywhere else it has been introduced.

 

[Streathamite]

This is the most pointless post, I could easily say the same about people who blindly go on thinking having a massive defecit isn't a problem and that we can ignore problems that would result with losing our AAA credit rating.

OH ffs!
1) There is not the slightest chance we could lose our AAA rating for the simple reason that the British economy is overwhelmingly stronger and more balanced than those of Greece and Portugal (and Spain's too, FWIW) and has far fewer inbuilt structural defects.
2) NO-ONE has said the deficit 'isn't a problem' - it is, clearly - it just isn't the most critical one, the most insurmountable one, the most dangerous one, or the key to solving all our problems. Growth, on the other hand, is.
Are you REALLY this economically and fiscally illiterate?

 

[Streathamite]

Some people in the City may not think it's the biggest problem, you are right that there other problems. To state no-one in the city thinks it's the biggest problem seems a rather bold assertion though.

alright, cap'n pedantic, how about this; "going by feedback received from the extensive number of City contacts I have acquired over the years, it seems there is an overwhelming, near-universal consensus that the deficit isn't the biggest problem UK plc faces, nor the hardest to solve".
IT's clear to me you know absolutely f-all about either finance or economics, and I - whilst I don't claim to be a guru - do know a fair bit. So I'll try to explain. Britain services its' debt partly by selling bonds. As Britain is generally economically viable - our numbers add up , in other words -these bonds are attractive investment vehicles, within the context of a balanced portfolio. So the city boys and girls are actually rather happy when the Treasury issue more bonds.
In short, provided the British economy shows growth, and productivity (precisely the things the Tory cuts are most likely to scupper), the City is generally sanguine about the deficit.
Got that?