This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/oct/07/we-need-regime-change-to-turn-back-austerity
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| We need regime change to turn back austerity | We need regime change to turn back austerity |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| Reading Jim O’Neill’s piece (I’m an ex-Tory minister: only Labour grasps the public mood, 5 October), one might initially wonder what he was doing in the Tory party. He notes that austerity has “become an end in itself” without “some broader purpose”, apparently failing to grasp that ongoing cuts lead to the Tory nirvana of a smaller state. But what still reveals his Conservatism is his veiled attack, at odds with the facts, on Labour’s fiscal and monetary credibility. Larry Elliott recently exploded the myth that overspending governments were to blame for the crash: public sector debt played no causal role. And after the 2008 banking crisis, Labour’s stimulus initiatives gave Britain four successive quarters of growth, a success still not achieved by any Tory-led government since 2010.David MurrayWallington, Surrey | Reading Jim O’Neill’s piece (I’m an ex-Tory minister: only Labour grasps the public mood, 5 October), one might initially wonder what he was doing in the Tory party. He notes that austerity has “become an end in itself” without “some broader purpose”, apparently failing to grasp that ongoing cuts lead to the Tory nirvana of a smaller state. But what still reveals his Conservatism is his veiled attack, at odds with the facts, on Labour’s fiscal and monetary credibility. Larry Elliott recently exploded the myth that overspending governments were to blame for the crash: public sector debt played no causal role. And after the 2008 banking crisis, Labour’s stimulus initiatives gave Britain four successive quarters of growth, a success still not achieved by any Tory-led government since 2010.David MurrayWallington, Surrey |
| • Jim O’Neill provides a balanced commentary on the financial policies of both Labour and the Tories. One thing worth remembering is that, in a modern trading economy, all wealth derives from the consumer. When the consumer has too little money to spend, an economy, national or international, will decay. Austerity, Brexit, changes in taxation, budget deficits – all will create a dependence that is difficult to reverse in a democracy. The greater a nation’s inequality, the greater the pain of any reversal.Martin LondonHenllan, Denbighshire | • Jim O’Neill provides a balanced commentary on the financial policies of both Labour and the Tories. One thing worth remembering is that, in a modern trading economy, all wealth derives from the consumer. When the consumer has too little money to spend, an economy, national or international, will decay. Austerity, Brexit, changes in taxation, budget deficits – all will create a dependence that is difficult to reverse in a democracy. The greater a nation’s inequality, the greater the pain of any reversal.Martin LondonHenllan, Denbighshire |
| • Jim O’Neill suggests that “Theresa May needs to follow through on her claim that austerity is nearly over”. He would do well to ask the question, as would we all: “Just how have you been affected by austerity, Theresa?” The same could be asked of any of those rightwing commentators smugly telling us that austerity was necessary.Brian WoollandSalisbury, Wiltshire | • Jim O’Neill suggests that “Theresa May needs to follow through on her claim that austerity is nearly over”. He would do well to ask the question, as would we all: “Just how have you been affected by austerity, Theresa?” The same could be asked of any of those rightwing commentators smugly telling us that austerity was necessary.Brian WoollandSalisbury, Wiltshire |
| • Nicholas Shaxson’s piece (The finance curse, 5 October) is a warning to the country as a whole against nurturing a finance industry which is sucking the lifeblood out of our economy. But reading it where I live, Thanet in east Kent, it feels like a piece of sickening surrealism. We are just 80 miles from the City of London, the so-called financial powerhouse of Britain, the key to our national prosperity – but we are one of the poorest communities in the country. Over a third of our children live below the poverty line; in one ward it is over half. Our services are being run down. Despite being an area of breathtaking coastal beauty and plentiful human creative talent, the majority of our people face spiralling decline. Our only hope is regime change in the shape of Corbyn and co – but will it come soon enough?Norman ThomasSave Our NHS In Kent | • Nicholas Shaxson’s piece (The finance curse, 5 October) is a warning to the country as a whole against nurturing a finance industry which is sucking the lifeblood out of our economy. But reading it where I live, Thanet in east Kent, it feels like a piece of sickening surrealism. We are just 80 miles from the City of London, the so-called financial powerhouse of Britain, the key to our national prosperity – but we are one of the poorest communities in the country. Over a third of our children live below the poverty line; in one ward it is over half. Our services are being run down. Despite being an area of breathtaking coastal beauty and plentiful human creative talent, the majority of our people face spiralling decline. Our only hope is regime change in the shape of Corbyn and co – but will it come soon enough?Norman ThomasSave Our NHS In Kent |
| • Nicholas Shaxson’s case that the City of London is harmful to the UK’s economy can be summarised briefly by going back to first principles. Money has no value in itself. Its primary function is to facilitate trade, exchange of goods and services to mutual benefit. But the vast majority of the money that flows around the world today has no such purpose. Buying and selling money for its own sake is parasitic on the real economy. Thatcher’s abolition of controls on capital led directly to the present situation.Frank JacksonHarlow, Essex | • Nicholas Shaxson’s case that the City of London is harmful to the UK’s economy can be summarised briefly by going back to first principles. Money has no value in itself. Its primary function is to facilitate trade, exchange of goods and services to mutual benefit. But the vast majority of the money that flows around the world today has no such purpose. Buying and selling money for its own sake is parasitic on the real economy. Thatcher’s abolition of controls on capital led directly to the present situation.Frank JacksonHarlow, Essex |
| • Has James Walsh, Liberal Democrat group leader of West Sussex county council, attacking the Tories for “the savage cuts of the past few years” (Letter, 5 October), forgotten that between 2010 and 2015 his party was in coalition with the Tories and happily pushing through the cuts? We haven’t.Dr Harry HarmerShrewsbury, Shropshire | • Has James Walsh, Liberal Democrat group leader of West Sussex county council, attacking the Tories for “the savage cuts of the past few years” (Letter, 5 October), forgotten that between 2010 and 2015 his party was in coalition with the Tories and happily pushing through the cuts? We haven’t.Dr Harry HarmerShrewsbury, Shropshire |
| • “Back me on Brexit and I will end decade of austerity, pledges May” (4 October)? So if you don’t back her she is going to give you more austerity? Didn’t that used to be referred to as blackmail?John JohnsonSidcup, Kent | • “Back me on Brexit and I will end decade of austerity, pledges May” (4 October)? So if you don’t back her she is going to give you more austerity? Didn’t that used to be referred to as blackmail?John JohnsonSidcup, Kent |
| • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com | • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com |
| • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters | • Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters |
| • Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition | • Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition |
| Austerity | Austerity |
| Conservatives | Conservatives |
| Economic growth (GDP) | Economic growth (GDP) |
| Economic policy | Economic policy |
| Theresa May | Theresa May |
| Banking | Banking |
| Recession | |
| letters | letters |
| Share on Facebook | Share on Facebook |
| Share on Twitter | Share on Twitter |
| Share via Email | Share via Email |
| Share on LinkedIn | Share on LinkedIn |
| Share on Pinterest | Share on Pinterest |
| Share on Google+ | Share on Google+ |
| Share on WhatsApp | Share on WhatsApp |
| Share on Messenger | Share on Messenger |
| Reuse this content | Reuse this content |