Tony Blair addresses the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) on the 5th of Novermber and says his policies of ‘restraint’ and ‘prudence’ are going to continue. Yet we are in the middle of an explosion of non-military public profligacy. Government spending is increasing at a much faster rate than the economy is growing and surely every member of the CBI knows that.
Now I realise Blair is a statist politician and thus dissembles by profession, yet the ‘great and good’ of British capitalism just sit there and listen politely. Was it something about the acoustics that nobody except the TV microphones actually heard what he said? Why were there not hoots of derision and gasps of disbelief from the bovine CBI members, given that it is their companies that in large measure will actually have to stump up the money for this spending binge?
And now I hear that our political ‘masters’ are maybe/maybe not planning to ‘raise taxes’ but will most likely be increasing National Insurance ‘contributions’ (i.e. a tax on employment). So let me get this right… the LABOUR Party wants to make it more expensive to employ people’s labour just as the economy is starting to go into recession.
On that day of all days, Guy Fawkes Night, the 5th of November, the people listening to him should have been making a bonfire of their conference programmes and telling Tony Blair the best thing he can do for the economy is to go fight his war in Afghanistan and leave the business of creating wealth to the people who actually create it.
Please, someone. Wake me up!
