IntenseDebate - OccamsBadger

5 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Welby's next stop shou... · 0 replies · +1 points

Funny way of going about including everyone in a loving way.

First do no harm. How does he know he's right?

I'd be curious whether he thinks Keynes was short on economic understanding or short of compassion when he said that the books should be balanced over a business cycle. Then if he thinks the money is out there, it's all just greedy businesses and rich people paying enough tax, I'd like to know how he knows this. Because it's a much more complicated picture than than, involving trade-offs and unintended consequences (and the poor are at the bottom so the most vulnerable to politicians getting it wrong).

Then when it comes at advocating the state takes on a bigger role, I'd like to know what ways he could foresee that going wrong and why he's sure it won't. (Has he read Road to Serfdom?).

If it was as easy as getting people with the moral character (lol) of Corbyn and McDonnell in charge, why isn't the world a better place already? If it was just a case of the state spending loads of money, why aren't some countries like Greece far better off than they are?

Anyway, I think the proper answers to these issues must surely start with some quality moral leadership. That will inform the politics. He's got it backwards.

5 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Welby's next stop shou... · 0 replies · +1 points

Please elaborate on what evil there is in capitalism. I had it down as amoral. What's important is the laws we set and what we do with the taxes.

5 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Welby's next stop shou... · 2 replies · +1 points

That sounds too much like an invitation to them. They don't pay much corporation tax because they don't make much profit here. It's all based in America and Luxembourg, which is fair enough. They do pay a ton of all the other taxes though. If a government taxed them more, they'd only be harming UK consumers.

5 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Welby's next stop shou... · 0 replies · +1 points

Since anyone who is on a zero hours contract is a ragged trousered philanthropist who is stuffed without the left standing up for them, where do the self-employed fit into their canon of wisdom?

5 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Welby's next stop shou... · 2 replies · +1 points

“To put the world in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order; we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right.” ― Confucius

Unfortunately Welby is too busy being a pound shop Chomsky to pay any attention to the hard stuff.

6 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Nola Leach: Hammond sh... · 0 replies · +1 points

Yes we're already taxed quite enough - round about the highest tax take as a proportion of GDP since the 60s. And there's still not enough for all the public services people seem to want / feel they're entitled to. So I think the only way we could make everything work is getting the cost of living down. Maybe we're just making things worse until we bite the bullet and sort the housing crisis out.

6 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Nola Leach: Hammond sh... · 2 replies · +1 points

Could be a good vote winner couldn't it?

IIRC a single earner household nudging into the 40% tax rate is still in the lower half of household incomes. Yet they're paying marginal tax rates quite a bit more than 40% (due to NI, possible student loan etc).

When 40% was introduced it hit 1 in 20, now it's 1 in 6. So it's a double whammy of fiscal drag and not being able to transfer allowances.

Yet on the other hand, aren't benefits considered as a household? Apply for most of them and they want to know all about your partner and what they earn! Government having cake and eating it.

6 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Nola Leach: Hammond sh... · 2 replies · +1 points

Mostly completely agree with this, but the statement that increasing the personal tax allowance disproportionately benefit those in the top half of the income distribution. I don't see how this can be unless one counts that it doesn't help those who don't earn at least £11K or those without jobs. It's right to increase personal tax allowances anyway due to years of ignoring fiscal drag.

6 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Carys Roberts: To win ... · 0 replies · +1 points

Forcing wages up for the low skilled jobs means automation and hence unemployment. I don't see any workable implementations for a universal basic income yet, so unemployment is something to avoid. I think making the cost of living as low as possible, so lower skilled work can still support a family, is the best option there. Benefits should make up the short fall.

That's got to be cheaper than the doll, there's the benefit of some economic activity that otherwise wouldn't be had, and people get the benefit of the jobs. The only downside is the productivity figures take a hit.

Forcing wages up for the higher skilled probably means less risk taking, it makes new businesses more risky (higher costs before you can hope to see a return on your big idea).

Making it harder for people to get jobs is not a good thing at all either. Companies being too risk averse when it comes to hiring leads to dumb myopic company cultures, which can't be good for productivity. And then you get huge companies having an advantage, because they are big enough to have their own flexible internal labour markets.

6 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Carys Roberts: To win ... · 0 replies · +1 points

I don't think we're in a massive mess (compared to other countries and in history), we just require a few tweaks, and the longer we delay the harder it is to be convincing about that.

The big problem though is the Tories don't have a clue and are weak and rudderless at the moment. That isn't enough to beat Corbyn, who is copying the Trump playbook, and understands the terrifying implications of social media.

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