Supposedly aiming to reassure ‘the City’, Nu-Labour’s re-commitment to cuts has trashed confidence worse than the shortest-lasting PM in history
Keir ‘Starver’ Starmer and Rachel ‘Freeze’ Reeves are said to be pursuing their programme of cuts and austerity to keep poor children hungry and condemn thousands of pensioners to die each winter – and who knows what else in the autumn budget but all sorts of horrors are being trailed – in order to convince ‘the City’ and business that they are tough and credible.
Instead, according to a new poll by the Institute of Directors, they have tanked investor confidence so badly that it has plummeted way below the level achieved by Liz Truss, the shortest-serving PM in history, who lost her job because her and her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s deranged plans had created such a crisis of confidence:
The Starmer-Truss axis’s determination to maintain the two-child benefit cap, cut the Winter Fuel Allowance, heap debt onto students and stick to arbitrary and meaningless ‘spending pledges’ was always pointless, political and counter-productive – keeping the two-child cap, for example, costs around £38bn a year more than scrapping it.
But it is also doing the opposite of what they claim is their rationale for it – as well as dropping public approval of the government down to a mere 18% (presumably those who don’t understand what’s going on) after just three months – and it seems the City bankers and vulture capitalists who crashed the UK economy in 2008 think it’s too deranged even for them.
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All together now………
“YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING! YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING!”
You can see the full results of the above survey here:
https://www.iod.com/news/uk-economy/iod-press-release-business-confidence-falls-further-in-september/
661 responses from across the UK, conducted between 13-27 September 2024. 15% ran large businesses (250+ people), 21% medium (50-249), 26% small (10-49 people), 29% micro (2-9 people) and 10% sole trader and self-employed business entities (0-1 people).
How optimistic are you about both the wider UK economy and also your organisation over the next 12 months?
Wider UK economy
Very optimistic – 0.8%
Quite optimistic – 16.2%
Neither optimistic nor pessimistic – 28.4%
Quite pessimistic – 37.5%
Very pessimistic – 17.1%
Don’t know – 0.0%
Your (primary) organisation
Very optimistic – 3.9%
Quite optimistic – 36.6%
Neither optimistic nor pessimistic – 32.8%
Quite pessimistic – 21.0%
Very pessimistic – 5.0%
Don’t know – 0.6%
Once the Nancy Astor-admirer gives her budget, optimism will surely plummet. Sure as eggs is eggs in a Truss…
qwertboi – We’ll both know more in a couple of weeks when Labour present their first budget.
Until then its nothing more than speculation. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What is that: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ?
qwertboi – I see Billy is on holiday in Egypt.
“What is that: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ?”
In the spirit of the old TV show ‘Call my Bluff’:
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ is a very old example of a specialised form of a particular type of sign language.
Whilst many people are aware that tramps – or ‘men of the road’ – employed their own sign language to help and guide others of their kind, often made of whatever natural materials were at hand, like twigs and stones etc. what not many people know is that just as with spoken language tramp signs had their own local dialects.
Often, such signs told other fellow road travellers what kind of welcome they might receive at a nearby house. Whether or not they might obtain a charitable reception, food, warm clothing and so on.
This particular sign ‘¯\_(ツ)_/¯’ is of the Yorkshire dialect of the tramp sign language form. Its colloquial definition is ‘don’t waste your time, this is a reyt (right) mardy arse.’
Thanks gor explaining . That is,wuite interesting.
If only we were all as clever as you think you are. 🙄
Two repetitions in quick succession. Well done, Billy.
Even Derek Nimmo never managed that.
Have a pat on the head.
Wrong quiz show, Billy.
Repetition is from ‘Just a Minute’.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 🥱 😞💤
Maybe its just me but are we totally banjaxed in this country. As the older folk used to say over here ” we’re all going to hell in a handcart.” A lad or lass leaving uni with over £40k of debt only to end up working in call centre, fast food outlet, coffee shop or night security job must be soul destroying. There’s nothing wrong with those type of jobs by the way.I work with a few in that boat but not with the level debt all at uni 20 years back. None working in what they studied.
Maybe its just me but are we totally banjaxed in this country.
When the only alternative to the mainstream policies over the last 45 uears or so was Corbyn, but has now been reverted (or is that perverted?) to become a (hobson’s) choice between smarmer and one of badenoch/jenrick…..We’re not just banjaxed, we’re bollocksed.
The change will have to come from without, because its most definitely NOT coming from within.
The New Left Review a while back argued that UK big business is sat on £950b won’t invest.
What the economy really needs is Corbyn’s programme including state led public investment which will feed the private sector supply chain and put pounds in peoples pockets which will also boost the economy “Commodities need consumers.”
And Prem Sikkha recently argued state led public investment is cheaper.
Right Wing Lab is boasting about £40b of private sector investment but I think this is over 5 years, £8b a year, so small beer & The Sunday Times today (13/10/24) points out that the last 2 Tory Summits attracted more attendees.
Perhaps what the German economist Wolfgang Streekt said applies to Right Wing Labour: “They haven’t a clue what to do.”
that sums starver-Freeze up brilliantly.