British Workers Are Getting Poorer While Criminals Get Richer.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has announced that wages in Britain have fallen further than at any time since records began. The main reason, they have suggested, is that workers have courageously taken pay freezes and even pay cuts to prevent widespread unemployment. If true that is very laudible - though most workers would probably say that they were never given any choice in the matter. One thing that they have failed to mention, however, is that shrinking wage packets is something that is confined only to certain people - more often than not in the public sector - while others have seen their wages soar. No prizes for guessing who's money has increased over the last few years - its the bankers and fatcat executives heading industries that were once owned publicly but have been stolen by the Tories and given to their already rich mates. While this is certainly grossly unfair given the role that bankers had in causing the latest economic slump and the role that executives have had in robbing ordinary people blind, it is also disastrous as far as recovering from recession is concerned. Lower wages means less demand in the economy and less demand means a continuation of the recession. Its not rocket science, though the Tories would like you to think it is. Nor is it difficult to understand why the Tories have taken the measures they have. There is only so much money to go around and they are determined that they and their rich mates will get more than their fair share at the expense of the rest of us and that we, not them, will pay for the economic disaster that they caused. Essentially the country is being mugged in broad daylight by a bunch of criminals who are actually proud of what they are doing.

British Economic Recovery Destroyed By Osborne.

With the BBC now a "no news zone" for the duration of the Olympics and with their natural aversion to reporting bad news of any kind about the sleazy Tory regime, it has nevertheless emerged that the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) see George Osborne as a disaster for Britain. His policies, the NIESR point out, will cost the country "a total of 16.5% in GDP growth over a decade", and that "the recession in 2012 could have been avoided had fiscal tightening measures been delayed". In other words the present recession was made in Downing Street by two men, David Cameron and George Osborne, who are not fit for the positions they hold. What they have done is completely moronic and is the result of ideological thinking that has no foundation whatsoever in reality. But, as the "News in Shorts" has pointed out before, what they are doing is only tangentially about the economy. Both are millionaires and, by training and education, they are both completely disconnected from the rest of us. What they want is to dismantle the state because they choose to believe, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that the private sector can do a cheaper and better job. Yet, as the debacle over G4S demonstrated, they cannot seriously believe that the private sector is capable of rising to the challenge. It is, therefore, all about the private sector being "cheaper." Not for you and me of course - we will continue to pay through the nose for indifferent service from the private sector and our wages will continue to decline as they desperately cut their costs. It will only be cheaper for the wealthy who will use this deeply flawed economic model as a thin excuse to cut taxes for themselves. This recession is probably the first in history to be entirely manufactured for ideological reasons with one goal and one goal only - to further feather the nests of the very people who caused it all in the first place.

The Time Has Come.

"The time has come," the Tory said, "To talk of much more toil Of wealth and tax and selling shorts Of deficits and oil. And why the Euro's failig fast And whether peasants boil." (No prizes for guessing who the oysters are!)

Eric Pickles - Another Tory With No Answers.

After William Hague and Simon Burns we were all treated to the thoughts of Eric Pickles on the BBC Sunday Politics Show. Having reitereated the empty phrase that "we should all work harder," that lack of demand in the economy is all the fault of too many worker's rights and reducing the deficit is the only priority, he was asked by Andrew Neil where economic growth was going to come from. He immediately disavowed government intervention and investment and said that the government was relying entirely on a non-existant expansion of exports. Pressed on this he then said that we shouldn't rely on business after all, especially in the face of competition from India and China and the economic dowturn in Europe. In short the answer was that he didn't have a clue - something he has in common with the rest of his Tory colleagues. Tories use words like "growth" but have absolutely no idea how that can be achieved and have no policies - none - that might deliver it. Instead they are straining every sinew to use the present recession as an excuse to impliment and entrench a worn out ideology that has delieverd nothing but poverty and inequality. Essentially they have commandered the lifeboats and left the ship of state rudderless while they make off towards the nearest off-shore tax haven.

Banks Discover That Debt Is a Bad Thing.

The Bank of International Settlements has stated today that debt is a really, really bad idea and should be stamped out. Asked why banks have been actively encouraging debt for the last 30 years or so a spokesperson for BIS told this reporter; "Encouraging debt, us? You can hardly blame us for private sector business, national governments and ordinary housholds being in debt. The fact that we used other people's money to gamble, created a world-wide property bubble, made borrowing ridiculously easy and then demanded that taxpayers should bail us out isn't an excuse for people to run up debt. We should have been regulated properly. Of course, it's too late for that now and the only solution is more deregulation so we can make one big score and solve all our problems overnight."