The Budget came and went and nothing much happened.
It was in practice so unfunny that there were few if any jokes on the social media.
Heard the one about the banker using his bonus to buy a seaside villa with his mortgage guarantee?
The beer I ordered at the bar on Saturday did not appear to be any cheaper but my pension statement suggested that I will be able to afford at least half a pint a week more taking into account the increase for inflation.
The Labour Party is declaring the next ten years to be a lost decade, unless?
But the narrative of both parties seems to point to the same thing, more Keynesian economics, more growth, and increasing personal indebtedness funded by rising house prices.
Britain's very own Beppi Grillo appeared on television at his party conference outlining his own view and that of his party that somehow we can extricate ourselves from Europe, raise the drawbridge, seal the channel tunnel and then by a miracle of legerdemain and sleight of hand, lower taxes, increase benefits (NB These are not the same thing as Welfare Benefits) and have more of everything we want.
But in truth as the parties slogged it out over whether the wealthy can use the money, made available to underwrite mortgages, can be used to purchase second homes one thing became very clear.
The poor will always be with us.
After the introduction of Annually Managed Expenditure they will be even poorer and there will be more of them, because the more there are people claiming benefits as a result of job losses, unemployment and ill health, the cake will be consistently shared in smaller and smaller slices because the annually managed cake will not be allowed to get any bigger.
We are in a mess.
Europe is in a mess.
The Global Economy is in a mess.
But those responsible for the mess expect to be allowed to keep digging no matter how deep the hole they have got us into.
Ground Zero disappeared so long ago that it seems we cannot as it were draw a line, back to basics has been consistently rejected ever since John Major coined the phrase.
But the predicament in which we find ourselves needs a radical response.
Getting to the roots of the problems facing us is made more difficult because of the confrontational nature of politics.
I once lost an election and said well the electorate has spoken, to which a friend responded we need a new electorate.
Maybe.
But what we do need is a new way of looking at things so that the true impact of the policies we pursue can be clearly seen and not just felt by those most adversely affected.
The mess that we are in is not a Laurel and Hardy kind of mess, much of what we consume is funded by personal indebtedness which is actively encouraged and promoted because an indebted nation is a compliant nation.
So a new way of doing politics, a new way of doing business, an alternative to capitalism.
The report prosperity without growth has a twelve step plan it asks more from those who aspire to high office and offers real challenges to society but if we are to break free from our addiction to growth we must set out a new way forward and as Lao Tzu would have it, the longest journey starts with the first step, and a fudget budget hasn't helped.
It was in practice so unfunny that there were few if any jokes on the social media.
Heard the one about the banker using his bonus to buy a seaside villa with his mortgage guarantee?
The beer I ordered at the bar on Saturday did not appear to be any cheaper but my pension statement suggested that I will be able to afford at least half a pint a week more taking into account the increase for inflation.
The Labour Party is declaring the next ten years to be a lost decade, unless?
But the narrative of both parties seems to point to the same thing, more Keynesian economics, more growth, and increasing personal indebtedness funded by rising house prices.
Britain's very own Beppi Grillo appeared on television at his party conference outlining his own view and that of his party that somehow we can extricate ourselves from Europe, raise the drawbridge, seal the channel tunnel and then by a miracle of legerdemain and sleight of hand, lower taxes, increase benefits (NB These are not the same thing as Welfare Benefits) and have more of everything we want.
But in truth as the parties slogged it out over whether the wealthy can use the money, made available to underwrite mortgages, can be used to purchase second homes one thing became very clear.
The poor will always be with us.
After the introduction of Annually Managed Expenditure they will be even poorer and there will be more of them, because the more there are people claiming benefits as a result of job losses, unemployment and ill health, the cake will be consistently shared in smaller and smaller slices because the annually managed cake will not be allowed to get any bigger.
We are in a mess.
Europe is in a mess.
The Global Economy is in a mess.
But those responsible for the mess expect to be allowed to keep digging no matter how deep the hole they have got us into.
Ground Zero disappeared so long ago that it seems we cannot as it were draw a line, back to basics has been consistently rejected ever since John Major coined the phrase.
But the predicament in which we find ourselves needs a radical response.
Getting to the roots of the problems facing us is made more difficult because of the confrontational nature of politics.
I once lost an election and said well the electorate has spoken, to which a friend responded we need a new electorate.
Maybe.
But what we do need is a new way of looking at things so that the true impact of the policies we pursue can be clearly seen and not just felt by those most adversely affected.
The mess that we are in is not a Laurel and Hardy kind of mess, much of what we consume is funded by personal indebtedness which is actively encouraged and promoted because an indebted nation is a compliant nation.
So a new way of doing politics, a new way of doing business, an alternative to capitalism.
The report prosperity without growth has a twelve step plan it asks more from those who aspire to high office and offers real challenges to society but if we are to break free from our addiction to growth we must set out a new way forward and as Lao Tzu would have it, the longest journey starts with the first step, and a fudget budget hasn't helped.
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