O/T When did the right wingers....

[WanChaiMiller]

KerrAvon. Not got time for an epic reply - and where I am I cant always get on line. Also on my phone so not easy. But anyway.

Very interesting that you dont see the role the Heath gov played as contributing to our need for an IMF loan. It was the recession started it 73 that brought us to the brink of bankruptcy.

During this recession started under Heath that lasted 14 quarters there was double digit inflation (peaking at 20%), huge trade deficite, national debt rising and the 3 day week. All forgotten in your snapshot of 70s economics.

[rolymiller]

The politician I have hated most in my life time that is for sure followed by Blair who let down the working classes badly when he had a big majority. May looks like Thatcher but is the slightly softer version but then again the last election result stopped her becoming thatcheresque so perhaps we will never know how bad she could have been.

[animallittle3]

The politician I have hated most in my life time that is for sure followed by Blair who let down the working classes badly when he had a big majority. May looks like Thatcher but is the slightly softer version but then again the last election result stopped her becoming thatcheresque so perhaps we will never know how bad she could have been.

The only good thing about Theresa May is that she isn't Margaret Thatcher .

[WanChaiMiller]

The 70s was a tough period in economic terms with inflation running in double figures. You cant heap the full blame on unions and workers for pay demand as their wage packet shrunk daily.

Thatcher set about tackling inflation with tough monetarist policy. The money supply squeeze had the effect of reducing inflation but economic consequence was quite devastating. The resulting recession of the early 80s saw 3m unemployed by 82 (upwards of 5m if you include youth unemployment). It saw our industrial base shrink killing off many factories, steel, coal and shipyards - from which the UK never recovered.

There are many that blame the EU for loss of our industrial base. Totally wrong in my opinion. I see it as a combination of early Thatcher monetarist policy and later the introduction of neo liberal policy.

[WanChaiMiller]

Pensions (copy paste)

Mrs Thatcher wanted self-reliance, not reliance on the state. That was the thinking behind the launch of personal pensions in 1988.

The new plans provided a route to save for those who did not have a company scheme. But, sadly, they backfired.

The promotions and publicity got out of hand. Advisers went to town, encouraging savers to switch out of solid traditional schemes into riskier personal pensions.

Compensating the victims cost the pensions industry £11bn.

[WanChaiMiller]

Article from the Express - Pensions.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/89...-saving-enough

[animallittle3]

Pensions (copy paste)

Mrs Thatcher wanted self-reliance, not reliance on the state. That was the thinking behind the launch of personal pensions in 1988.

The new plans provided a route to save for those who did not have a company scheme. But, sadly, they backfired.

The promotions and publicity got out of hand. Advisers went to town, encouraging savers to switch out of solid traditional schemes into riskier personal pensions.

Compensating the victims cost the pensions industry £11bn.

Of which I was a victim and received a substantial amount in compensation and far more than I could have ever afforded to put in myself , a mind boggling figure in fact .

[WanChaiMiller]

Quote Kerr 'Nobody was promised untold wealth if they bought BT shares (although many understood that they were priced such that there was likely to be a profit to be made) and it was a euphemism for nothing'

Oh yes they did - see the speech by Thatcher.

'Popular capitalism is nothing less than a crusade to enfranchise the many in the economic life of the nation. We Conservatives are returning power to the people.'

https://youtu.be/Z7Qq01tC0lU

[KerrAvon]

Stamp down the dirt



https://www.josharcher.uk/blog/why-m...cher-is-hated/

That’s actually quite a good read.

I note that the author of the blog states Finding a definitive resolution on the question of Britain’s manufacturing, Thatcher’s role in it’s demise and the extent to which it was about to implode under the weight of the Unions is virtually impossible, but I don’t think it’s impossible at all. The unions destroyed the competitiveness of British industry. Without that, much more of it could have survived the measures that Thatcher had to take to reign inflation in.

Another thing that I would draw from the blog is that the author should have been less ambitious and selected fewer reasons why Thatcher is ‘hated’. For example, ‘She voted against the relaxation of divorce laws’. Seriously? Do people hate her for that? They need to get a life if they do. I had no idea that she had done so and even less interest, particularly given that the Act was enacted without her help.

‘She supported the retention of Capital Punishment’ is a good one too. If opinion polls are to be believed, a significant proportion of the public do too. I’m vehemently opposed to it, but I’m not going to ‘hate’ anyone for disagreeing with me. I would have thought that most people who are opposed to capital punishment are not the kind of people who are prome to 'hating' others, but what do I know?

[KerrAvon]

KerrAvon. Not got time for an epic reply - and where I am I cant always get on line. Also on my phone so not easy. But anyway.

Very interesting that you dont see the role the Heath gov played as contributing to our need for an IMF loan. It was the recession started it 73 that brought us to the brink of bankruptcy.

During this recession started under Heath that lasted 14 quarters there was double digit inflation (peaking at 20%), huge trade deficite, national debt rising and the 3 day week. All forgotten in your snapshot of 70s economics.

Events under the time of the Heath government certainly didn’t help the UK economy, but I’m not sure that they can be attributed to that government to any significant degree. The two major events were the 1973/74 oil crisis, which caused a shock to the world economy, rather than specifically to the UK and the industrial action by the NUM that started in 1973 and which led to the imposition of a three day week. That industrial action was a direct consequence of the Heath government seeking to curb inflation by bearing down on wage increases. Unfortunately, Heath didn’t have the will power that Thatcher did and had not prepared the ground for the conflict. The rest is history; Labour took power in 1974 and immediately gave the miners the 35% they were demanding only to repeat the exercise a year later.

How could anyone forget the three day week – the consequences of unfettered union power set in stark relief?

The 1973- 75 recession affected the whole world, but it was only the UK that needed what was the biggest ever bail out from the IMF. That is, in my opinion, attributable to the unwillingness or inability of the Wilson government to curb the actions of its union paymasters and, in consequence, to control wage rises such as to bring inflation under control and to control public spending. We were not known as the sick man of Europe without reason.