"Posh Boys" Determined to "Line the Pockets" of the Ultra-Rich

Believe it or not the "posh boys" are now trying to push the idea of giving businesses the ability to be 'sack people at will' ... and getting their 'spin machines' (e.g. The Taxpayers Alliance) to push the argument for a single rate of tax at the same time too (i.e. spin for getting rid of the top rate of tax altogether)! 

Both ideas are being 'spun' as 'solutions for growth' ... yet you really couldn't make this stuff up!

The truth is one of the following:

1. They have no idea at all about how to create growth ... as their proposals would actually reduce growth, not boost growth!

... Slashing services, cutting jobs and increasing taxes for the least well off in society (e.g. increasing VAT and National Insurance) reduces the spending power of the vast majority and reduces growth. It is well known that people with the least (and with little/no savings too) tend to spend any money they have on additional goods and services (i.e. which makes the wheels of the economy go round), whereas giving yet more money to the rich (via further tax cuts) does not boost growth at all (i.e. 'trickle down economics' is a complete scam), it just allows them to hoard even more (as recently demonstrated by the massive increase in the wealth of those in the latest UK's rich list - despite a supposed recession)! The publication of this list, alongside the recent 50% increases in top executive pay, prove this once and for all, and now only a brain-washed/brain-dead person would fail to see this now.

2. They do know what they are doing (and how to really boost growth), but it serves their interest to keep things very difficult, so they can use this to justify slashing public services still further!

... In reality the "posh boys" actions' have been designed to slash any service provided to 'ordinary people' and put fear amongst 'the peasants' (e.g. a 'sack at will' strategy) to maximise the ability of the ultra-rich to exploit them. According to recent reports these people have not seen a recession at all, with their wealth continuing to rise. These immoral spin doctors previously 'spun' the idea that the introduction of the 50% top rate of tax resulted in massive tax avoidance by the ultra-rich (by them pulling any pay forward - a known, but one-off, opportunity), and used this argument to remove it altogether, yet this action perversely allowed them to do the same sort of thing again (by putting pay back a year this time)! Again you couldn't make this stuff up ... yet the gullible British public accept it, and the culpable/incompetent British press/journalists (e.g. BBC) do not bring them to account either!

In my humble opinion the latter is by far the most likely, with these "Out of Touch Posh Boys", born into wealth and trained only PR, determined to take Britain back to 'feudal times'; where 'peasants' are exploited by the 'landowners/gentry' ... and they will continue to do so until they are either kicked out ... or succumb to another 'peasant's revolt'.

These PR merchants, rather than truly trying to stimulate growth, actively try to blame everyone else for the lack of growth, so they can continue their immoral plan ... and from this point of view Europe's current woes create 'the perfect platform' for the Government - occurring at just the right time for them (nb exports to Europe have been going up, not down, so their arguments that Europe is causing the problem are again mostly spin)!

These PR merchants also tried to put fear into everyone (over petrol) to get everyone to rush to the pumps in the final days of the last quarter (causing a self-generated petrol crisis), to try to avoid the UK being formally classified as entering a double dip recession ... but this did not work. Indeed the revised GDP figures released today suggest that the economic contraction was even worse than initially reported, and pointing to fact that the initial recovery was all but stamped out as soon as the "posh boys" took over! In reality, we are now not only in a double-dip recession, but in a depression much worse than the 30's (the "great depression'), as when you look at the initial contraction, and the subsequent recovery (see diagram below), the recovery in levels of GDP is much worse now ...

NB The PR "posh boys" only ever refer to recovery/growth relative to the last quarter, and not to the recovery of GDP to what it was prior to the recession ... and even when they do this it still doesn't look good! ... but if they were to use the proper measure ... then they would have to admit they are presiding over (and responsible for) the worst depression ever!

Shock, Horror ... the economy is contracting

For all the shock/horror expressed by mainstream economists and pundits, such news comes as no surprise to the online blogger community (or most people in the street)! 

Mainstream economists were predicting GDP was going to RISE by between 0.2-0.6% (due in part to the poor weather in December), but the Office for National Statistics figures show that the economy actually CONTRACTED by 0.5% (and was at best flat, after stripping out the impact of the poor weather)!  Hence their complete shock at seeing the figures!

The economy is clearly 'heading south' and the fiscal tightening has hardly even begun (e.g. public sector cuts, VAT hike)! In fact many bloggers (including myself) have for some time been saying that the real economy has never actually recovered ... as all the measures introduced (e.g. bank bailouts, quantitative easing, near-zero interest rates), combined with excessive amounts of spin, served only to postpone the reality check ... and at great expense unfortunately too (e.g. the creation of a collossal public debt, the significant devaluation of the pound, rising commodity prices and imported inflation).

The Government saw the financial crisis as a green light to bring in swinging public sector cuts, and to introduce massive (and regressive) tax rises (e.g. VAT hike) for the vast majority of people (nb but not for the ultra-rich - who are quietly being given more opportunities to avoid tax altogether).  

The truth is, as in business, in the long run you cannot 'cut your way to success', and one needs to have a robust plan for creating sustainable growth and prosperity for all, by 'leading' in innovation and the adoption of best practice (a point emphasised from the outset in my book - "Lean World: The DNA of Success and the Path to Prosperity"). 'Leaders' have failed to do this in business, and political leaders have failed to do this in Government too ... and we're now suffering as a result (nb future generations will suffer too).

Sir Richard Lambert, outgoing Director General of the CBI, yesterday chose to attack the Coalition Government for its lack of vision, and a lack of a growth strategy to compliment its hardline plan to cut public expenditure.  Whilst this is true, I have to say there is a certain amount of hypocrisy in Sir Richard Lambert saying this (and particularly on leaving office) as whilst in post for 5 years he did very little (i.e. nothing) to help/support business adopt best practice and to put its own house in order, but he did a great deal to lobby Government on behalf of banks during the banking crisis, as the CBI proved itself to be the "Voice of Banks" rather than the "Voice of Business" - which the Government did not seem to realise at the time (NB the CBI is a predominantly a lobby group paid for by business in proportion to their size - and most of the largest UK companies are banks)! 

Smaller businesses are still not getting loans, despite the bailouts given to the banks, and 2 years on the government is still trying to press them hard to do this (and it appears they are failing).  Double dip - here we come - unless we see drastic change from our 'leaders' now ... and not just in the spin that's used!*

* NB The current 'leaders' have pressed home the need for drastic cuts for the last six months, which has not surprisingly raised concern about the security of people's jobs. The current spin (i.e. about the dip being mainly a result of 'the weather', and not the fundamentals in our economy) is IMHO a desperate attempt to stop consumer confidence falling even more ... and to stop the economy going into free-fall ... but will it work, and if it does, how long will it last?  Time is running out to do anything ... and all this does is buy a little more time (with even worse consequences further down the line if nothing is done)!