The Race To Lose The UK Election
The UK has an election coming up. It's exciting times as politicians left, right, centre, off field, and completely wacky take pot shots at each other.
But something is different this time around.
As reported by this week's Time Magazine, 'Great' Britain has a budget deficit of £178 billion (€198bn, $267bn) — the largest as a proportion of GDP amongst the G-7 nations.
Unemployment stands at 7.8%, of which over half are long-term unemployed (in UK, benefits to support the unemployed continue after an initial six-month period at the same rate; people get increasingly out of touch with the workplace and find it difficult to get a job — at the same time apathy sets in). There is almost no manufacturing sector.
So who's lining up to lead the country?
Conservatives under David Cameron got off to a flying start before Christmas (Nov and Dec 2009) with a promise for every man, woman, and child:
• More money for the elderly and the dispossessed,
• Support for education and health and defence, and
• Lower taxes for the rich and poor.
But during February and so far during March they've been at pains to reveal just how poorly thought out these policies are in that you can't expect to balance the books by spending more and getting in less.
And if this message isn't getting through, the Conservatives have gone to town saying that they would cut public spending immediately, which is a deeply unpopular position as so many people recognise the only thing keeping Britain from the edge of ruin is government circulating the money. It's such a kamikaze move, anyone would think the Conservatives don't want to win the next election.
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