Tory-led government’s Economic Policy

I am making my debut on Daily Waffle (great name for blog site by the way!) by giving you an essence of what has been on my mind today.  A typical, topical, subject which we all know has hit the headlines today. The possible start of the UK’s economy down a double-dip recession path, entirely the making of George Osbourne, Chancellor of the exchequer, in all but name PM Cameron’s deputy (not that official deputy Mr Clegg).  Each day that passes shows up their flawed ideology. Flawed by the standard of majority of the public, but unsurprisingly not flawed in the minds of the out of touch Tory political elite.  I am not going into every detail of policy since it is already well argued between the government and the HM Opposition.  I am firmly on the side of Keynesian economic regeneration and thus a full supporter of the approach that Labour, and more specifically Ed Balls MP (Shadow Chancellor) would take.   I have already said much on my twitter timeline @MaximManchester this morning about what I think of the Tory-led economic policy, and the effects going forward.  One thing which is clear in terms of the overall verdict from outside of my own opinion is the reaction from currency markets to the Osborne effect on UK Economy: sterling has plunged against a wide range of currencies, specifically the crucial trading partners of Eurozone, USA and Far East.  Meanwhile the commodity markets, which directly set the price of our food (eg wheat, grains, coffee, tea etc) and fuel (crude oil and hence petrol for our personal, work and goods transport) are rising giving us a double negative effect on our pockets by compounding inflation which is through no fault of the consumers and everything through failure of Tory economic policy and the exacerbation of the VAT rise and public spending cuts yet to come.

My view as an immediate plan B for the economy, to pull us back from the brink, is

1. Immediately reverse the VAT, back to 17.5%

2. Ensure all corporations pay the taxes they owe (the £billions would avoid various public and essential welfare spending cuts, thus protecting the non rich in the population). Example, Vodafone owes us £7bn

3. Windfall Tax Bank and financial corporation bonus pools.

4. Increase Tax on speculative (casino capitalism) transactions such as futures commodity trading, basically any transaction that bet on prices rather than taking physical delivery of goods.

5. Scrap the now artificial Bank of England inflation target until the economy recovers, thus ensuring that at the very least there can be no political pressure by Tories to raise interest rates for the benefit of the few cash rich (rich pensioners and cash rich bonus recipients) whilst protecting the majority who are at the mercy of interest rates for their homes, and bring back a semblance of access for first time buyers to the housing market

These are the starters. I am sure others have plenty more ideas

Finally, if Osborne refuses to implement a Plan B for economic recovery, then I suggest conscientious Lib Dems start crossing the floor or at the very least start voting en masse against destructive Tory policies to ensure they halt further damage to come (such as NHS reorganisation/privatisation, halt scrapping of EMA, halt the gerrymandering of parliamentary seats, etc)