The Budget

[BillyStubbsTears]

A summary from that well known raving lefty, Fraser Nelson.

http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/03/budget-2014-the-six-scary-graphs/

[River Don]

Another well known left-wingers take.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/budget/10709115/Budget-2014-Britains-false-recovery-is-a-credit-mirage-unlike-real-recovery-in-the-US.html

[BillyStubbsTears]

RD
"Perhaps he should have launched his industrial policy earlier, exploiting super-low borrowing costs to rebuild Britain’s infrastructure, energy and technology base at bottom of the slump. On that the Keynesians were right. It is very late in the day now."

EXACTLY the argument that was stupidly ignored in 2010. What a lost opportunity. We could have built roads, houses and fibre optic lines in an era when our borrowing costs were rock bottom. Instead we paid dole money to half a million construction workers and had them sit on their hands.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

And how much higher would the debt and borrowing costs have been had we done that? Construction companies then would've wanted low risk contracts so the costs would have been high.  We're getting there but my main gripe is how out of control the public sector remains. Very disappointing that inefficiencies haven't been driven out still.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

On the budget though it wasn't bad for the working man.

[BillyStubbsTears]

BFYP

The Hoover Dam is the textbook example of what I am talking about. The Govt invested to get people back to work. They utilised thousands of unemployed construction workers and produced, at low cost, a facility that kick started an entire region and is still producing relatively cheap electricity 75 years later.

We could have done the same with our fibre optic network. We chose to pay people dole to sit at home instead. Big historic choices.

As for who the Budget is good for, it is spectacularly good for 55 year old high rate tax payers. They can now shovel money into pension pots and get 40% tax relief. When they retire, if they manage their drawdown sensibly, they'll only pay 25% tax. So they have been given a 15% income tax cut on all their disposable income. Not bad eh?

[BillyStubbsTears]

Plus, the OBR's own figures state that the net effect of tax and benefit changes announced yesterday will mean that immediately, anyone on the lower half of the income spectrum will be worse off. Anyone in the 50-90% range of incomes will be better off.

So it's good for the richer working man, but not much help for anyone earning less than £25-30k.

[River Don]

55 year old high tax rate payers?

The kind of people who have been giving the Tories a bit of a headache with their support for UKIP?

[Jenny]

They are definitely going for the grey vote aren't they....

[nightporter]

This is a joke, right?       

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26658742

[Keith Myath]

This is a joke, right?       

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26658742

Did that actually happen? Jesus.

There's generalisation and then there's the Tories. Cant wait till they try and help out us Yorkshire folk, i can see the adverts now, VAT paid back on all Whippet and flat cap purchases.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Grant Shapps is supposed to be the Tory Party's contact with the common man. He was born and brought up on a council estate apparently, although he's changed details of his biography more often than Mad Mick, so who really knows?

[Filo]

I actually think that Gideon was pretty patronising on TV this morning when he was on about being able to get your pension pot rather than being forced to buy an aninuity. He was explaining it like he was talking to a bunch of five year olds

[Jenny]

In all fairness Filo, there are plenty of people who probably needed that level of explanation about it, not everyone is financially savvy and things need to cater to the denominator.

[big fat yorkshire pudding]

Exactly, most of the population needs that level of explanation - a quick look on Facebook tells you that one.  The one that amused me most was the person who is unemployed complaining that they don't benefit from the personal allowance going up - cheeky t**t!

BST, it's all well and good stating 75 year old projects, but times have massively changed.  That project mobilised tens of thousands, modern ones definitely would not (and most of the stuff would happen outside the UK anyway).  So the government doesn't necessarily get the boost it once did.

We need to make ourselves more competitive and giving out handouts is not the way to do that.

[River Don]

BFYP

If we really want to compete properly, it would mean dragging living standards and conditions for a great many to the level of Chinese and Bangladeshi factory workers.

I'm not sure we really want to see that.

[Filo]

BFYP

If we really want to compete properly, it would mean dragging living standards and conditions for a great many to the level of Chinese and Bangladeshi factory workers.

I'm not sure we really want to see that.

When you say we,I assume you are not including the ruling millionaires in that?

[River Don]

Filo,

No of course not, it's the wealthy elite that benefit from globalisation.

I don't include a lot of highly skilled professionals in that group yet either, though it may not be too long before they are really being affected too.

[IC1967]

And how much higher would the debt and borrowing costs have been had we done that? Construction companies then would've wanted low risk contracts so the costs would have been high.  We're getting there but my main gripe is how out of control the public sector remains. Very disappointing that inefficiencies haven't been driven out still.

Exactly. I totally agree.

The brutal reality is that Britain is still running the highest budget deficit of any major country in Europe at 6.7pc of GDP. That is not Mr Osborne’s fault. Labour let the public sector run amok. It ran a recklessly loose fiscal policy at the top of the pre-Lehman boom. The deficit mushroomed to 11pc when the storm hit, the legacy from Hell.

[Dagenham Rover]

This is a joke, right?       

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26658742

Did that actually happen? Jesus.

There's generalisation and then there's the Tories. Cant wait till they try and help out us Yorkshire folk, i can see the adverts now, VAT paid back on all Whippet and flat cap purchases.

Come on then all you photo shop genius's

[Muttley]

This is a joke, right?       

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26658742

Did that actually happen? Jesus.

There's generalisation and then there's the Tories. Cant wait till they try and help out us Yorkshire folk, i can see the adverts now, VAT paid back on all Whippet and flat cap purchases.

Come on then all you photo shop genius's

You can make them at http://torybingo.com/

[BillyStubbsTears]

And here's the take from one of the country's leading macro-economists about the truly terrifying productivity problem that Osborne didn't even bother to mention yesterday.

http://mainlymacro.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/see-no-evil.html?m=1

In a nutshell, we are employing far more people to create less than we did 6 years ago. This is the whole reason why people are feeling worse off year on year.

[Dagenham Rover]

And here's the take from one of the country's leading macro-economists about the truly terrifying productivity problem that Osborne didn't even bother to mention yesterday.

http://mainlymacro.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/see-no-evil.html?m=1

In a nutshell, we are employing far more people to create less than we did 6 years ago. This is the whole reason why people are feeling worse off year on year.

What a delightful comment

“So let us applaud George Osborne for playing his own game well – a game in which economic logic is an irritation, the national interest is a distraction, and party politics is everything.”

 

[Dagenham Rover]

This is a joke, right?       

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26658742

Did that actually happen? Jesus.

There's generalisation and then there's the Tories. Cant wait till they try and help out us Yorkshire folk, i can see the adverts now, VAT paid back on all Whippet and flat cap purchases.

Come on then all you photo shop genius's

You can make them at http://torybingo.com/

Might have a little play a it later

[Nudga]

What I'd like to know is, will the VAT ever come back down again?

[BillyStubbsTears]

Not for a long time Nudge. That's part of the spirit of the era, that's shifted the burden of taxation from higher paid towards lower paid over the past 30 years. It ain't going to change any time soon.

[bobjimwilly]

This is a joke, right?       

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26658742

I saw it on facebook earlier and thought "that's quite a funny joke"; didn't actually think for 1 second it was bloody real! It's outrageous! Bingo and Beer; that's what hard working people are interested in eh Gideon? Give me strength...

[River Don]

Rumour has it there is going to be a tax cut on Woodbines, flatcaps and chips in the next budget.

[Boomstick]

Not for a long time Nudge. That's part of the spirit of the era, that's shifted the burden of taxation from higher paid towards lower paid over the past 30 years. It ain't going to change any time soon.

u
No, we're still paying for darlings vat cut. When he thought throwing more money at spiralling debt was a good idea. It was one hell of a mess created by labour, and hopefully those idiots won't be running the country again in my lifetime.
The Tories are just getting to grips with the shit storm that happened on labours watch.

[bobjimwilly]

Not for a long time Nudge. That's part of the spirit of the era, that's shifted the burden of taxation from higher paid towards lower paid over the past 30 years. It ain't going to change any time soon.

u
No, we're still paying for darlings vat cut. When he thought throwing more money at spiralling debt was a good idea. It was one hell of a mess created by labour, and hopefully those idiots won't be running the country again in my lifetime.
The Tories are just getting to grips with the shit storm that happened on labours watch.

nothing to do with a world recession then?