Blind Hatred
Gordon Brown... Blind in one eye and cannot see out the other.
He is the most short-sighted, idiotic chancellor we have ever had.
His modus operandi is quite simple. Shackled by the New Labour "Tory Lite(tm)" Third Way, he will not/cannot raise direct taxation.
Instead he is forced to fiddle. Indirect taxation, obfuscation and complication are all part of his repertoire. The estimate of the Tax/GDP ratio for 2006 is 37.3%. This is 2.5% higher than it was in 1997. To put that into context you need to understand that 2.5% is the equivalent of a 10p rise in that basic rate of taxation. The predicted ratio for 2008 is 38.5%. The only way is up... baby.
He hides behind the thin veneer of prudence, but when all is said and done he is no better than all his Old Labour "Tax and Spend" predecessors. In point of fact he is worse because he is so bloody sneaky. He uses word like "stability" and "affordable", and all the while his borrowing is getting out of control.
I could be charitable and say that he has invested a lot of money in public services, education and health. The trouble is I am all out of charitable thoughts where this waste of space is concerned. Any perceived improvements in these services are not commensurate with the input. "Tax and Waste" is a more appropriate moniker.
None of this makes him short sighted and idiotic. To explain that particular charge, we have to turn to his most heinous crime. In 1997, Gordon inherited an economy that was in pretty good shape. If he had sat in his office for 4 years doing nothing but drinking tea and reading Viz, chances are it would have burgeoned. But Gordon had a plan... a plan that needed lots of our money. Operation "Stealth-Tax" swung into effect.
One of the first casualties was our pensions. Pound signs flashed across Gordon's eyes when he realised that he could raise an extra £5 billion a year at the stroke of a pen. It was a simple ruse. Those pesky pension funds were receiving dividend payments from share holdings. Pure cash profit, straight in the bank, increasing the cash value of the fund, allowing the fund managers to invest more, and so the cycle continues. These dividend profits were untaxed. After all, why should they be taxed? The government will get their cut when you draw your pension. But Gordon couldn't wait that long. He wanted his cut now.
Fast forward 8 years and £40 Billion, and "shock horror!" we find ourselves in the grip of a pension crisis.
We cannot rewind time. Even if Gordon gave us back our £40 Billion we have lost 8 years of investment time and gained 8 years of inflation. So what choices do we have? Gordon is unlikely to reverse his pension thieving policy because of the First Rule of Socialist Economics: tax-cuts=(hospital closures+school closures).
Enter Adair Turner of The Pensions Commission. Before he can even get his report published, Gordon has torn it up and used it as bog paper. Brown steals £40 billion pounds from our pensions then has the temerity to suggest that Lord Turner's proposals are not affordable. It makes you wonder why New Labour bothered to set up The Pensions Commission in the first place.
Gordon Brown is mostly, if not entirely to blame for our pension crisis. That is what makes him a short-sighted idiot.
Remember that when you are huddled around your one bar electric fire, soothing your arthritis after a hard day's work collecting trolleys down at the local supermarket. With any luck you will get to draw your pension before you die.
Filed under: Politics, New Labour Spin
He is the most short-sighted, idiotic chancellor we have ever had.
His modus operandi is quite simple. Shackled by the New Labour "Tory Lite(tm)" Third Way, he will not/cannot raise direct taxation.
Instead he is forced to fiddle. Indirect taxation, obfuscation and complication are all part of his repertoire. The estimate of the Tax/GDP ratio for 2006 is 37.3%. This is 2.5% higher than it was in 1997. To put that into context you need to understand that 2.5% is the equivalent of a 10p rise in that basic rate of taxation. The predicted ratio for 2008 is 38.5%. The only way is up... baby.
He hides behind the thin veneer of prudence, but when all is said and done he is no better than all his Old Labour "Tax and Spend" predecessors. In point of fact he is worse because he is so bloody sneaky. He uses word like "stability" and "affordable", and all the while his borrowing is getting out of control.
I could be charitable and say that he has invested a lot of money in public services, education and health. The trouble is I am all out of charitable thoughts where this waste of space is concerned. Any perceived improvements in these services are not commensurate with the input. "Tax and Waste" is a more appropriate moniker.
None of this makes him short sighted and idiotic. To explain that particular charge, we have to turn to his most heinous crime. In 1997, Gordon inherited an economy that was in pretty good shape. If he had sat in his office for 4 years doing nothing but drinking tea and reading Viz, chances are it would have burgeoned. But Gordon had a plan... a plan that needed lots of our money. Operation "Stealth-Tax" swung into effect.
One of the first casualties was our pensions. Pound signs flashed across Gordon's eyes when he realised that he could raise an extra £5 billion a year at the stroke of a pen. It was a simple ruse. Those pesky pension funds were receiving dividend payments from share holdings. Pure cash profit, straight in the bank, increasing the cash value of the fund, allowing the fund managers to invest more, and so the cycle continues. These dividend profits were untaxed. After all, why should they be taxed? The government will get their cut when you draw your pension. But Gordon couldn't wait that long. He wanted his cut now.
Fast forward 8 years and £40 Billion, and "shock horror!" we find ourselves in the grip of a pension crisis.
We cannot rewind time. Even if Gordon gave us back our £40 Billion we have lost 8 years of investment time and gained 8 years of inflation. So what choices do we have? Gordon is unlikely to reverse his pension thieving policy because of the First Rule of Socialist Economics: tax-cuts=(hospital closures+school closures).
Enter Adair Turner of The Pensions Commission. Before he can even get his report published, Gordon has torn it up and used it as bog paper. Brown steals £40 billion pounds from our pensions then has the temerity to suggest that Lord Turner's proposals are not affordable. It makes you wonder why New Labour bothered to set up The Pensions Commission in the first place.
Gordon Brown is mostly, if not entirely to blame for our pension crisis. That is what makes him a short-sighted idiot.
Remember that when you are huddled around your one bar electric fire, soothing your arthritis after a hard day's work collecting trolleys down at the local supermarket. With any luck you will get to draw your pension before you die.
Filed under: Politics, New Labour Spin
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