Adventures of a man and his family in modern Scotland. Occasional ninja, pirates and squirrels.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
The Starting Gun
Watching the BBC News this evening for their coverage of the Budget, I heard them twice comment that this was the starting gun for the election campaign. I disagree.
Today was the day that the Labour Party conceded the election.
I think that mostly depends on whether the predictions of growth come off or not.
However, even before the budget was announced, we all knew that it would be impotent.
They can't cut spending considerably, even though they need to; they can't raise spending, even though they want to; they can't raise taxes in any meaningful way, or they would sacrifice too many votes; they can't lower taxes, they need the money.
So what we saw were some little initiatives designed to push certain sectors of the market into growth (that may very well work) and a vote-winning policy of Robin Hood-ism.
2 comments:
I think that mostly depends on whether the predictions of growth come off or not.
However, even before the budget was announced, we all knew that it would be impotent.
They can't cut spending considerably, even though they need to; they can't raise spending, even though they want to; they can't raise taxes in any meaningful way, or they would sacrifice too many votes; they can't lower taxes, they need the money.
So what we saw were some little initiatives designed to push certain sectors of the market into growth (that may very well work) and a vote-winning policy of Robin Hood-ism.
That may be the crux of it: I find his predictions almost absurdly optimistic.
Besides, I don't think either party actually wants to win the next election. The mess that needs cleaned up is massive.
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