Thatcher is back?!

[tangobob]

I'd be surprised if people didn't react but what does the country do? To maintain spending at current levels we would have to continue borrowing and we're already up to our eyeballs in debt. The cuts haven't taken affect yet, I think it's scarey what might happen when people get really upset.



I think Labour must accept responsibility for the state we are in. They governed the country for 13 years. Didn't anyone in the government at any time consider that public and private debt was getting a bit out of hand?

While accepting this as true, the biggest cause of the present problems is the over reliance on The services and Banking sectors to hold up an economy that has always in the past been maintained by manufacturing.
The sub prime mortgage fiasco and decline of manufacturing have effected the UK as a direct result of thatcherite policies.
If Britain does not start making things again, I am afraid we are all doomed.

 

[elhombresinnombre]

...If Britain does not start making things again, I am afraid we are all doomed.

It's not always clear, literally or metaphorically, where you are writing from but I'm pretty certain that if Britain does not start making things again, Argentina is far from doomed

 

[citymike]

The sub prime mortgage fiasco and decline of manufacturing have effected the UK as a direct result of thatcherite policies.
If Britain does not start making things again, I am afraid we are all doomed.

What would we manufacture and how would we keep labour costs down low enough that we could compete in the global marketplace? And isn't every other indebted country planning to increase their manufacturing output?

The last time we had a problem like this with the Chinese we made them buy our opium. It just so happens that we're in Afghanistan at the moment........

 

[tangobob]

It's not always clear, literally or metaphorically, where you are writing from but I'm pretty certain that if Britain does not start making things again, Argentina is far from doomed

I am back in the UK at the moment. As this was a thread intended for the British, the "we" was the brits.
You can always tell where I am literally, if not metaphoriaclly, by checking my blog. I have no secrets (as my wife keeps telling me) all my life, sad as it is, is there.

 

[tangobob]

What would we manufacture and how would we keep labour costs down low enough that we could compete in the global marketplace? And isn't every other indebted country planning to increase their manufacturing output?

The last time we had a problem like this with the Chinese we made them buy our opium. It just so happens that we're in Afghanistan at the moment........

So because we do not have cheap labour, we should just give up?

We still have the best engineers and designers, hey and the best shit man!

 

[citymike]

So because we do not have cheap labour, we should just give up?

We still have the best engineers and designers, hey and the best shit man!

It's not about giving up, it's about whether it's worth even starting after considering what options there are. Services include things like the implemetation of computer applications, which is something of value so I wouldn't dismiss servicesout of hand. The banking system is going to survive in some form, how much of a market will be left and why shouldn't we continue to dominate in it. What else have we got.

I hear that we have the best engineers and designers and I have heard about new products that are being developed which will probably be bought and then brought to market by the Americans. So I agree, manufacturing is part of the answer but it's not the large scale 70s style factories that were deserted under Thatcherism.