I don't know whether I should be posting about politics and economics on a blog largely centered around poetry and foppish pursuits, but perhaps the superior quality of the bitter prose which follows will impel your heart to political activism. Or not. But anyway, perhaps don't read if you're offended by politicians' perennial ideological vicissitudes.
I just read this http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22785282 with, perhaps not horror, but surprise at how Ed Miliband has made the inadvertent admission that his party has no unique view on anything.
This article describes how 'Ed Miliband is to promise to cap spending on social security so that a future Labour government can "turn the economy around".' Well this to me is tripe of the most gaudy fashion. He should have stood up, bashfully announced that we should just listen to the Conservatives because they have the exact same view with a more competent bunch of administrators, and then sat down (preferably on a piece of dog superfluity).
The article also notes that 'Mr Miliband will say only people who pay in to the system for more than two years should get jobseeker's allowance.' Fantastic. We have a huge youth unemployment problem and now it's going to be even more difficult for them to ever escape the tyranny of their querulous parents. Presumably the people with no filial benefice are going to be left to wither on the pavement like old bananas (it's 4:50 am, please don't judge the failings of my metaphor.)
The thing that irks me about this article is that it indicates, as I already was quite aware, that nobody has a clue how to get rid of the deficit, but they can't bring themselves to make a confession. What happened to Labour's 'too far, too fast'? Now it seems they're trying to beat the Conservatives in the austerity race. This is not particularly consonant with a public image as strong-willed and resolute. This article makes it clear that Labour has no real plan on how to improve growth (which should be the real aim, but more on that ahead), and certainly nothing even redolent of a coherent plan on reducing the deficit.
Furthermore, and most disregarding of the value of the people of this country, this statement brings with it the idea that even Labour now sees the elimination of this omnipresent deficit - a mere number - as more important than the welfare of real people. What the hell happened to neoliberalism? Well, that can be explained. Voters see public debt as the same as their own debt - something that must be prioritised before everything else. This should not be true of the government - it can pretty much borrow indefinitely at a very low rate (the Bank of England at the moment buys huge amounts of government bonds (almost wrote 'bongs'). Admittedly it's not allowed to buy them directly from the government but the effect is much the same.)
So should we borrow more to spend more? I have no idea. In 20 years we will probably see Keynesianism as the thing which didn't help us out at all, but this will be largely because it wasn't tried. But really though, nobody can tell whether it is profligacy or frugality that will deliver anything even remotely resembling a recovery. All that we do know is that the Great Depression was banished by a huge boost in public spending due to WW2. I don't think there is any great evidence to support austerity's efficacy in such a case. Keynes famously said that it doesn't matter what the government spends money on - it can spend it on paying people to dig holes and fill them up, this will still bring employment and consumption, a virtuous cycle and all its related boons.
In my opinion, we're going to carry on spending less and less, reducing the size of the economy, and the debt to GDP ratio will grow, and is growing. I'm not sure we can shrink our way out of recession. Politicians are restrained by popular opinion, and this explains why the Milipede is moving towards appeasing a vogue for governmental asperity; the public seems to have developed sadistic tendencies. But I'm not even sure there is no support for a Keynesian plan of action - austerity has conspicuously done, to coin a phrase, shit all, and public disaffection is rising, particularly since the downgrading of the UK's AAA credit rating by two of the big three ratings agencies. The Conservatives must be creaming themselves at Labour's support of austerity - there is no alternative economic plan to which voters can flee. The political parties have become homogenised like milk. All the Conservatives need to do now is prove they can win on competence, which they certainly do. The Labour Party should honour its more Keynesian sympathies if it is to retain even a semblance of consistency.
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