The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    The UK Tory victory has been greeted

    By Flavius on Sat, 05/09/2015 - 10:42pm |

    here by a very old and very wrong assessment of  Labour's  economic performance. Krugman-of course- and a few others rebut it but it's become the accepted story.

     

    A short hand way to portray what was actually the truth is to look at the deficits- and occasional surpluses- of the two main UK parties.

    They're essentially the same.

    For example

    Labour            Average Deficit          Tories   Average Deficit       

    1975-78          (6)Billion    

                                                                1979-87       (9)

                                                                  88-89          +4

                                                                  90-96          (32)

    1997                   (16)

    98-01                  +9

    02- 07                (32)

    If you look at the numbers up to this point, on the eve of the financial crisis, what's clear is how similar they are.Now read on

    2008                    (69)

    2009                   (156)

                                                                      2010         (148)

                                                                      2011         (120)

                                                                      2012         ( 99)

    I  make no allegations about the Tories @360 Billion Pounds  of deficit in those 3 years . But I'm sort of fascinated that some/most of the commentariat consider that sort of economic performance better than  Labour's. It wasn't..   

     

     

                                                                                                             

    Comments

    What is so fascinating is the Scotts are making themselves heard. They see themselves as a voting block.  I wonder how big of a thorn they will be?

    The other question will the UE hold together?  Maybe the world will finally bury the idea of austerity. 

    Thanks for the charts and following the election.  I am always late to the party. 


    by trkingmomoe on Sun, 05/10/2015 - 4:38pm

    I know this sort of subject is  a MEGO .. 

    But it annoys me that the fable of UK Labour Party economic incompetence  gets a free ride .

    These  numbers are potentially available from  many sources. Ironically  mine was the deeply conservative UK Telegraph.

    I plead guilty to organizing  the data so as to  reinforce my argument. But not to presenting false data. Those are the facts..       


    by Flavius on Mon, 05/11/2015 - 8:33am

    GOP gets a free ride in this country.  They have been pretty stupid since Nixon. I didn't realize the Labor Party was inept in England. I don't know much about their politics. 


    by trkingmomoe on Mon, 05/11/2015 - 12:24pm