A Little Bit of Politics.

[f4f3]

So, how long have I given our new ConDem government before passing judgement? Well, about 90 seconds, to be honest, but I haven't commented on them till now. Partly because I was waiting for them to do something, partly because I didn't want to be the one to wipe the spawn off the faces of my Lib Dem friends who'd gone to bed as noble princes, and woken up as frogs.

The theory, as far as I can remember, was that the conscience of the Liberals would rein in the Tories tendency to reward the rich and punish the poor. That the Tories, perhaps, had changed - that they weren't the Thatcherites of old, that they might even had developed a social conscience of their own. I quite wanted to believe that.

However it doesn't seem to have worked out that way. The Liberals have become the nodding dogs of the austerity apocalypse. They agreed with the rise in VAT, arguing that a rise in personal income tax allowance would take the pinch off that extra tax. Despite knowing that VAT is universal, and that income tax is only paid by those working. So, a swift kick at the unemployed with a lie thrown in. (Oh, and a total lack of embarrassment at having campaigned against the Tory VAT bombshell. 

The week after that, Ian Duncan Smith revealed that the age at which a state pension is paid will go up from 65 to 66. His justification for this is that life expectancy is now 84 for men and 89 for women. He didn't say that was for people being born today, not those reaching retirement age today. He didn't say that life expectancy is significantly lower for poor people than rich. How significant is significant? Well it's 63 for men in Shettleston, a couple of miles to the east of me, and in Kensington and Chelsea it's 83.7.

I heard another two things today. One, that the government aims to take a third of people off invalidity benefit. How? Are they going to increase standards of care, introduce new treatments, licence new drugs? Nah, they're going to change the rules so that you have to pass new tests to qualify for the benefit (I nearly said "make you jump through hoops", but I don't want to give them any ideas).

The other was that Theresa May announced a cap on non-EU immigration to the UK, the first time this has ever been done. I feel slightly ashamed, and slightly dirty.

And I'm not even keeping them in power.

Comments

[anthrokeight.livejournal.com]

In an attempt to get the US government out of their boardrooms, Citibank miraculously found the funds to give the lent US taxpayer money back, back, back. Or buy out the shares, or whatever. Like, in May or something.

They don't want federal interference in their finances if it means they have to be honest and make less money and have someone actually looking at their books.

I expect no British bank will opt to retain the government-as-taxpayer as shareholder a minute longer than they have to.

Which is only one of a tiny number of issues, but there is my prediction.

[psychochicken.livejournal.com]

Yes but that's because in return for the US taxpayers' dollars, they got a degree of control which it was in the banks' best interests to get rid of.

Ours? Ours got told to play nice in future...

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

My favourites were Barclays, who borrowed billions from the Saudis rather than take government money...

[psychochicken.livejournal.com]

The Saudis were probably in a better position to afford it.