The spending review had nothing to do with
economics. It was all about short term policy and fishing for votes. The reason
they claim to ring fence Health and Education is because if they didn’t, it would damage
their voter base and increase defections to UKIP.
The welfare reforms are just stunts. More
populist examples of the Tory’s demonising of the poor for political
expediency. It is truly disgusting. Withholding benefits from non English speakers
will increase spending because people will be needed, to check compliance and
administer it. Stopping the Winter Fuel Allowance for ex pats living in warmer
climates is pathetic, bordering on hilarious. I am not sure how they will
differentiate between pensioners living in the mountains of Andalucía and those
living in Marbella, but I don’t mind going there as a Warm Weather Inspector.
Meanwhile, well off pensioners, living in Torbay, because they might vote Tory,
are handed sacks of money that should be earmarked for lifting children out of
poverty. In fact I’m sure, if it gets very cold, Tory’s will probably offer up
their children as kindling. Just as long as the pensioners vote Tory and don’t
defect to UKIP.
The final strand of the welfare reforms is
to make jobseekers sign on weekly instead of fortnightly, therefore doubling
the workload in Jobcentres. I presume new advisors will be employed, thus
increasing the Public Sector wage bill, although as the budget has been cut,
I’m not sure that the funds exist.
If Osborne spent more time trying to
generate growth, which would lead to more jobs, rather than dreaming up
electoral stunts that are motivated by his ideological hatred of the poor and
vulnerable. If he poured more time and resources into gathering unpaid taxes
avoided by corporations, rather than spending his days working out how much
Inheritance Tax he is denying the nation through his trust fund. If he created an economy
where a living wage was paid, so people didn’t have to top up low wages with
benefits and could plan their futures, instead of waiting by the phone, because
all they have is a zero contract job and they are unsure how much they will
earn, if anything, next week, this in turn means they cannot set up standing
orders for gas and electric and take advantage of lower tariffs, because they
can’t guarantee money will be in their account.
If
Jeffrey and Zippy had any idea the struggles people were confronted with, on a
daily basis, they might think that making policy that is in the national
interest would be the right approach, but instead all they can do is spend
their days coming up with half baked, badly thought out, short term policy,
that feeds the Tory hate gene and only benefits their rich friends and
families.
Osborne’s economic policy is failing.
Without growth there are no jobs. Without jobs there is no spending. Without
spending there is no recovery. It really is that simple.
Over the next 24 months the Tory’s will be
producing more of these crude pointless empty electoral stunts, which will
produce no long term benefit for the country. Their election campaign strategy
will be to prove to the public that they are just as racist, just as
misogynistic and that they hate foreigners and welfare claimants, just as much
as UKIP. The economy will not grow. In fact if interest rates start to rise,
which they may, the economy will start to collapse, as mortgage defaults rise,
as unemployment rises, because ‘zombie companies’, those companies that are
only just managing to service their current debt, will go under, and families
will be swamped by debt, as they try to keep their heads above water.
But
as all the major UK political parties are trying to straddle the centre line of
the political motorway and are virtually devoid of any original ideas, after
all the Labour and Liberal Democrats are no different to the Conservatives,
they’ve just had the hatred removed, I think we are all doomed.
So hold tight, it could be a bumpy ride up
to the next election, and after it, I think we are heading for a major motorway
pile up, involving many fatalities.
I
suggest you mirror, signal, and get the hell outta of here, pronto.
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