Austerity lies

Despite the clear failure of austerity as an economic as opposed to a neo-liberal ideological strategy, the narrative still has credibility with many. This has much to do with the selling of it in the media. Initially, this meant likening the crisis to the inter-war crash and then blaming it all on the last Labour Government’, writes Paul Donovan in Tribune about the success of the Con Dem big lie political communications strategy since 2010. He calls for ‘a new and alternative vision that can be communicated effectively to counter the austerity narrative’
http://www.tribunemagazine.org/2013/11/the-great-cuts-con-and-selling-the-austerity-story/

The battle for the economic narrative

‘Framing the Economy’ is a great piece of work by the New Economics Foundation providing essential ammunition in the battle to wrestle back the economic narrative from the proponents of austerity. Seven alternative critiques of austerity are identified ranging from a 'casino economy' to austerity as 'a smokescreen' for a neo liberal attack on public services and the welfare state. The authors conclude that for opponents of austerity to win over public opinion, an alternative narrative is not enough in itself, we will need to be 'more coordinated, responsive to public opinion and find more credible messengers’
http://s.bsd.net/nefoundation/default/page/-/publications/_Framing_the_economy_WEB.pdf

10 steps to economic recovery

There's an old political maxim that before you can make economic changes you must win the political arguments. Something well understood by the Tories with their oft repeated big lie that profligate public spending rather than a failure of the banking system and the financial markets caused the 2007/8 economic crisis. PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka sets out some clear and sensible policy antidotes to Con Dem austerity which will revitalise the economy:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/04/10-steps-kickstart-uk-economy?INTCMP=SRCH

Governments are not households - the failure of Con Dem austerity policies

John Lanchester, writing in the London Review of Books, takes a scalpel to the UK's economic performance under the Con Dem's and concludes that austerity policies are failing on their own terms. When creative accounting is reversed and interest from quantitative easing is discounted, the structural deficit stands higher then when the Coalition Government took office in May 2010:
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v35/n01/john-lanchester/lets-call-it-failure

Autumn Statement confirms that Austerity economics doesn't work

John Cassidy, writing for the New Yorker website, analyses the Autumn Statement of Chancellor George Osborne and concludes, without doubt, that austerity policies are not working: 'At every stage of the experiment, critics have warned that Osborne’s austerity policies would prove self-defeating. Any decent economics textbook will tell you that, other things being equal, cutting government spending causes the economy’s overall output to fall, tax revenues to decrease, and spending on benefits to increase. Almost invariably, the end result is slower growth (or a recession) and high budget deficits. Osborne, relying on arguments about restoring the confidence of investors and businessmen that his forebears at the U.K. Treasury used during the early nineteen-thirties against Keynes, insisted (and continues to insist) otherwise, but he has been proven wrong'
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/12/austerity-economics-doesnt-work.html

Calling for a future that works - Sign the e-petition now!

Hard on the heels of Saturday's demonstrations, UNISON's Stockport Branch Secretary Angela Rayner has launched an e-petition called 'Calling for a future that works' and it can be accessed here:
http://epetitions.direct.
gov.uk/petitions/40451

Massive Anti-Austerity protests in Spain and Portugal

Union-led national demonstrations took place yesterday in Madrid and Lisbon as hundreds of thousands of workers protested against austerity measures including pay cuts and increased taxes. "We want to say loud and clear to the government that we do not agree, that its policies cause too much damage, that we will not resign ourselves because there are alternatives," said Ignacio Toxo, leader of Spain’s CCOO union federation. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19611375

Red Paper alternative- independence or people power

As the SNP again launches its independence campaign with no more detail than the last few launches, a new left campaign in Scotland rejects the SNP’s version of independence while also rejecting the policies of those content with the status quo. "The referendum offers an opportunity to ask more far reaching questions about the future of Scotland and what type of society we want to live in", says a  Red Paper Collective pamphlet.
..Redpaper.net is a group of trade union, academic and left activists looking at the national question in Scotland from a class perspective.

Killer arguments against austerity

#Oct20 The TUC has published a useful pamphlet to assist with mobilising for the October 20 national demonstration. 'Austerity is failing. We need a future that works' provides a clear explanation of the deficit, public debt and the economic alternatives to Con Dem austerity measures:
http://afuturethatworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/aftw-booklet.pdf

If Blair Returned..... Shock horror!

Guardian reports today indicate that if Blair (T) were to return as leader then the Labour Party would lose support. Presumably the next headline will be that the Pope is a Catholic or that bears treat the woods as toilet facilities.

Northern TUC Forum for an Alternative to Austerity

In opening this weekend’s 'Rally for the Alternative' Clare Williams said we meet at a time of global economic, social and political crisis which makes the Northern TUC Forum for an Alternative to Austerity well timed. There is a crisis across the Eurozone, where the policies of neo-liberalism are being seen to fail. The response of Government's to impose ever more oppressive austerity measures on ordinary working people is one which must be challenged.

No to Austerity! - TUC promotes an alternative economic vision

Since 2008, £1.27 trillion (thousand billion) of UK public money has been used to bail out the banking system - leading to the so called 'public sector deficit' increasing by 57% in the past three years. This opportunistic conversion of private debt to public debt is being used to justify brutal austerity measures including unprecedented cutbacks in public spending (eg 27% reduction in local government). The UK economy is stagnant and unemployment levels are rising fast, notably for women and young people.

In a lecture at Liverpool University, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber will today set out an alternative economic vision for growth, jobs and quality public services:
http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-20205-f0.cfm

Labour’s 5 point economic plan

Ed Balls writes in Tribune that ‘evidence is now mounting by the day that the Tory austerity plan – spending cuts and tax rises which go too far and too fast – is hurting but not working.’ He advocates five simple measures to generate demand in the economy and boost public finances, including ‘bringing forward long-term investment projects – schools, roads and transport – to get people back to work and strengthen our economy for the future.’ http://www.tribunemagazine.co.uk/2011/10/out-of-touch-government-and-do-nothing-ministers/

The Pump House Manifesto for a Visionary Alternative

The despair at the lack of Labour’s vision for a progressive agenda led (unapologetically) to the pub – the Pump House in fact at Liverpool Albert Docks. Sitting with a couple of good comrades we decided that if Ed the Moribund couldn’t commit to change then we would start the ball rolling. Accepting that this is not about a revolution tomorrow (the nearest we got to that was scribbling this on a copy of the Morning Star) it is an attempt to talk in language voters will get.