Forgive my use of an old army expression but here is a perfect example of it. As Mark Bathgate points out at The Coffee House, on Thursday 'Mili the Moocher' was moaning about 'Scrooge' Osborne cutting viciously into government spending and thereby ruining us all but a quick glance at this chart proves that he was, as usual, gobbling nonsense like a Xmas turkey:
As Bathgate makes clear:
The European Commission estimates that the UK is likely to have the second largest growth in government spending of any of the EU’s 27 members this year, clocking in at a robust 1.5 per cent increase for the year.
And as everyone and his uncle knows, all this extra government spending has achieved nothing, zilch, a big fat zero! Do 'Mili' and 'Blinky' really believe that even more government spending will make things better?
And amidst all the shrieking and wailing over those 'very naughty boys' round the Mediterranean who have built up enormous deficits, no-one in the UK seems to have looked in a mirror recently. Guess who has the second biggest deficit in Europe:
How long will it be before those roughnecks in the dealing rooms decide to give us a slap? Not too long, I hope, because I am depending on those red-bracered ruffians to keep these inept public schoolboys who 'run' our country today at least partly honest.
Well, a man can hope, can't he?
I'm not surprised by these figures at all. I work in the public sector, and it is still replete with useless spouters of bullshit, who make money from other people's taxes by the brilliant trick of merely talking up their own importance. The anxiety caused by all the talk of cuts is demotivating and paralysing ("Why bother to work hard if I'm not going to be here next year?") but massively outweighs any actual hardship. The government is a bit like a parent who threatens to send the kids to bed without their sweeties, but always caves in when the crying starts.
Please excuse the rancorous tone. Some nice people in HM Revenue and Customs have just told me that I owe them some £1700 that I thought was mine. Far better in my view to sack a few parasites and let me keep it....
Posted by: Whyaxye | Saturday, 19 November 2011 at 15:21
"as everyone and his uncle knows"
That's the nub of it, isn't it? They seem to follow a narrative dreamed up by the girls and boys in the back office without a thought as to how unconvincing it might be. They seem genuinely unaware of how silly they sound.
Posted by: A K Haart | Saturday, 19 November 2011 at 18:10
'W', you have my profound sympathies. I still have nightmares over my last run in with HMRC. Fight the good fight!
AK, and also they are completely out of touch as Charles Moore points out here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8899265/Britains-leaders-are-out-of-touch-with-the-wealth-creators-who-can-save-us.html
Posted by: David Duff | Saturday, 19 November 2011 at 19:40