David Cameron and George Osborne. There really is something truly unsettling about the hair of these men. Bad hair, evidence indicates, is inextricably linked with bad economic policy... we're now officially in a double dip recession/depression: fine work gentleman! *Two thumbs up*
Sitting in my pants eating Shreddies, I experienced this shock horror news on the BBC home page. Something like, "Chelsea win historic semi final" next to "UK in double dip recession". When I watched Chelsea beat Barcelona the night before, I was genuinely surprised. Yet seeing we're now officially in a double dip recession aroused at best a yawn and a scratch of my arse. I reacted in the same way a British commuter does when a train pulls in the station; you knew it was coming eventually, just not exactly when.
Meanwhile, David Cameron spins the truth so hard he belongs in tornado alley. Once again he fires another volley of excuses to numb our brains and patience. It's Labours fault. It's Europe's fault, blah blah blah. He did his classic 'Dave Three Course Set Menu' routine, known so well in the commons: "I don't want to waive responsibility BUT BUT BUT...." Then he proceeds to list a hundred mitigating circumstances that exonerate him of any responsibility.
The best thing he said however, was the classic line "no serious commentator" believes his government's economic policies over the last 24 months could be held responsible. WOW. "No serious commentator," a staggeringly disingenuous statement - even by his standards. Judging by that egregious lie, it would seem he's the man in need of discipline, say what he may about school children's behaviour.
So naturally, theoretically humbled by the devastating news of his erroneous economic philosophy, Cameron responded that to change policy would be "folly". Thus again toasting his favoured cocktail of uniquely British rich arrogance, complimented with a typically dumb male sense of pride. Let's recall Einstein's definition of insanity: to conduct the same failed theory or policy over and over again.
The failed conservative economic policy amounts to what another apparently (non)"serious commentator", economist and Nobel prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, called "bloodletting". This medieval theory believed bleeding people half to death was the solution to any illness. Funny enough however, turning people's arteries on and off like taps did them no good at all. Humbled by this realization, physicians of the day concluded "the solution is more of the same...bleed the patient further, post haste".
Economically, this is what the Tories are ungraciously doing, bleeding the public sector and killing the economy's purchasing power at its greatest time of need. It weirdly reminds me of a sketch by Russell Brand, where he imagines a male experimenting too far with asphyxiation whilst masturbating to the point of death. He concluded "if whilst having a w*** YOU START TO DIE, maybe stop, don't think to yourself 'NO, I've committed to this w*** now, I'm going to see it through to the end'. Similarly, Osborne and Cameron are showing no indication of stopping their weird penchants for outdated laissez faire economics. Although in this instance, instead of potentially killing themselves, they will kill the country.
Typically, elites such as themselves never 'feel the pinch' as it's patronisingly coined towards the masses, invoking an over-enthusiastic auntie pinching a little boy's cheek. People aren't being pinched; they're being battered. But if a study by the University of Berkeley is anything to go by, Dave and George's reluctance to 'change course' economically, is no surprise. The study found that those from the upper classes consistently struggle to feel compassion for those suffering, namely the working class, principally because they themselves rarely experience hardship and trauma, and thus struggle to identify with it.
Now growth: in the 5 quarters prior to the coalition's election, the economy grew 3.1 percent (I'm no fan of Labour). Yet, after the election, it reached the dizzying heights of 0.1 percent and now consecutive recessions = FAILURE. The government's own puppet agency, The Office for Budget Responsibility, has cut its predicted business investment forecast (in March) by a huge 6.9 percent = FAIL 3. Sadly, the above is merely the complimentary olives before the main course; I could go on and on.
The honorable thing for Dave and George to do would be resign. Their economic policy is so clearly a failed enterprise I can only conclude, as Naomi klein predicted years before (presumably another non"serious commentator"), that this outcome is predictable and deliberate. The conservatives are making a calculated judgment that in order to push through their anti Labour 'unashamedly' pro business 'reforms', they must utilise this uniquely dire economic circumstance as an extraordinary pretext: to hell with the majority.
The only (non)"serious commentators" on the economy it seems, are themselves and their party apostles.