http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... forms.html


Will he listen and does anyone believe him. I think that it is a process of dismantling the bureacracy to ease future privatisation.

See, all he had to do to be liked was to sort out the economy. The cuts would always be unpopular, but in the end he would be thanked for sorting out Labours mess.
So why on earth did he start making a massive mess of the NHS when he didn't have to. That's double the amount of unpopular policies. He may well not survive that come the next election.

A lot of economists doubt that he will rescue the economy. The reforms will be helpful but the cuts will not. I suspect that they will change economic policy dramatically in two years anyway when it will be clearer that their policies are not working.

As for the NHS if their plans work then he will be showered in glory, but since the NHS is very popular it is like playing with fire.

The way to ensure growth is to invest heavily in public services to create jobs so we can reclaim more tax. Actually making the bankers pay their way is also essential along with getting the tax off avoiders and non payers.

Other large economies like the US and Germany are doing it, why not here? It makes no sense.

It's not a difficult problem.

Apart from the fact that even withe the cust we're still adding tens of billions to our national debt every year and servicing that debt is becoming crippling.

I agree that normally that's what should happen. Goverments borrow more in hard times to stimulate the economy, then pay it back in the good times. Overall the national debt should remain about the same (in real terms). However Blair and Brown continued to borrowed massively during the good times to fund vote winning policies rather than sensible policies. Now when we need to borrow, we really can't afford to. That's why we're we're in the worst downturn for decades.

I was critical of the overspending during the boom years. Though the Tories had committed themselves to the spending programs right up to the crisis, so cannot really criticise the over spending. What has happened during the crisis is a collapse in profits and therefore tax revenues. With the bailouts the banks will probably not pay taxes for years. Also the debts are nowhere near crippling. They are still a fraction of our post war debt. We are facing a decade long stagnation because of the Coalitions austerity program. While people are being critical of the governments debts they are ignoring the huge private debts. It will be the paying down of the private debts that will secure our decade of stagnation. Without the government deficit allowing higher private incomes that can help people pay down their debts quicker people will have to cut back elsewhere, making the recovery worse.

Yup, even with overspend in the 'boom' years the only reason why we're in so much debt is down to the banks. Why are they not paying their way and why aren't the banking practices being clamped down on?

Because they have funded the Tory party to the sum of £27 million this year. Why will any party bite the hand that funds 50% of its funding? Hence expect more bailouts in a few years.