Gillian Tett on Newsnight on Tuesday

Take a look here ( Link may only be current for 24 hours )- its a conversation that needs to happen more widely on how we organise our politics ( takes a few minutes to get to that point ).

The debt really is they key defining point of our politics these days - and yet all we get is misdirection from the likes of Clegg on the subject ...

I'm starting to wonder if default isn't something that needs to be considered - as I've said before we should question why we stand behind our politicians borrowing ...

The threat to the middle classes (US)

Below is a lecture by Elizabeth Warren, Harvard Law School - and I think a Democrat , in 2008 on the collapse of the middle classes in the US. Its about an hour I'm afraid. However if you have the time its well worth watching.

Note this is before the full impact of the debt crisis has hit. Whilst things may be different in the UK in some respects I suspect there's a similar story here also.

This is going to be a source of not inconsiderable trouble.

Something is going on with Labour's economic truth denial policy

Apparently Ed Balls is almost about to admit that there might have been a tiny little itsy bitsy structural deficit, which could (just technically amongst less generous commentators mind you) have been considered to have happened whilst Labour were in power. ( Apparently its in the New Statesman somewhere ).

So Denial not working for the two Eds so well then ?

My guess is Labour have been stung by the torrent of abuse they have received for supporting the public sector dinosaurs and their rent a thug supporters on #march26.

I bet the private polling is in.

I bet they realise people have seen through their lies and deceit.

So we'll perhaps be getting a new position shortly.

They had better move quickly before Portugal really blows up and the public become even more incredulous of Labour Debt Denial policy.

Ed Miliband's debt denying luddites are getting a bad press

Labour's flat-earthers demand the cuts go away - Bagehot, the Economist
Miliband faces protest backlash: Unease as Labour leader ranks marchers alongside suffragettes James Chapman Daily Mail
(both HT Conservative Home - Tim Montgomerie ).

And that's before we get onto the thuggery a general leftwing hypocrisy and crime wave that we all knew would accompany such a childish demonstration.

No doubt there's more ...

And there is


HT Guido

Less Tax + no cuts = more debt

Announcements from Labour so far:

• Cuts are evil - kitten murdering Tories and making too many and too soon.
• Unpopular taxes are evil - like VAT ( even though they planned to raise it also )

How are they planning on funding this fools paradise ?

Debt

And of course the plan to get elected is to deny this fact.

Labour's new debt and history denial strategy

At last Red Ed has woken up the idea that Labour's selling our children and us into debt slavery has been a little unpopular.

So like Red Len on the radio earlier in the week he has a new re-write of history that will let Labour say it will do something, but their only mistake was to trust the evil capitalist banks who murder kittens round the clock in the docklands. ( Even though the banks in trouble where all Labour heartland banks with close political connections to Labour. )

So perhaps they didn't 'rebalance the economy' enough. Perhaps there wasn't enough blaming of the banks. But let nobody remember the structural deficit that Labour started as soon as Brown shock of the Tory spending plans two years in. Let no one remember the failure to reform or the deceit of rising educational standards when we now know that was a very cruel deceit at the expense of our youth.

Yes Labour can't bring themselves to admit what wen't wrong, but they are rather worried the general public are going to understand. So a new lie is required from Gordon Brown's closest of allies who has been imposed on the Labour party by the Trade Unions ( which means public sector trade unions - they who ensure our public services can't imp[rove and will drag us to the depths of economic destruction socialists dream about drowning us all in so much. )

Read the Guardian article on the new lies Ed Miliband has approved and weep....

The new Opium wars

Whilst some good things came of it, specifically the crown colony of Hong Kong - which has massively influence the welcome emergence of China, the Opium Wars were a moral low point for the British Empire. ( A much maligned Empire that we should in many ways be proud of - but its not an unblemished record ).

In short the Chinese were forced to take opium sold by British merchants. When they refused, due to the effects we are all to familiar with today of drugs on your society, we sent in the gun boats and changed their minds.

Well now something of a reverse of this is beginning to emerge. The West, and especially the left wing politicians of the West - though not exclusively, have become addicted to reward today and to hell with tomorrow. This is perhaps a result of the short term rewards our electoral system provides, combined with the mainlining of focus groups and market research - which lets the feckless demand the moon on a stick now. So the West has a debt habit.

Now the East has encouraged that habit, indeed it needs it for the current model of business it employs ( whilst quietly arranging for more and more raw resources to redirected to those businesses ). SO we have representatives of the Chinese govt promising Spain and encouraging Portugal with promises of support for their debt. Alls fine as long as you stay as a customer ....

This continued habit is undermining the long term future of our societies in the west. Like an opium addict we just lack the will power to refuse our next fix, and it looks like the supplies of new credit won't dry up from the East - so no chance of cold turkey sobering us up.

Of course the Chinese run a single party state, with central planning and mostly ex-Engineers at the top. They take a long term view, and as the Chinese showed with Hong Kong they have the patience to allow their strategy to bare fruit. Given their history its hard to blame them.

We just have a habit, and a growing problem and no easy way top break the dependence even though it is going to lead to our ruin.

You could argue this is economic warfare on a par with that Regan and the West used to defeat the Soviet Union, only this time its the West that's heading for defeat and unfortunately with debt enslavement.

Its time the right of centre started to raise this problem more forcefully.

See also Analysis -
China's support for euro a necessity, not a virtue Reuters.
Europe fears motives of Chinese super-creditor Daily Telegraph.

A slightly different analysis reported by Dan Hannan
China's purchase of euro bonds might not be a sign of confidence in Europe, but a prelude to a sell-off

Dead beat Ed tries to shift the blame by denial

#RedEd is repeating his theme (behind the Times paywall) that the massive national debt built up by Labour never happened. Yes despite the fact that we have reported examples of how Labour ran a structural deficit during the good times ( created by the good management of the previous Conservative govt I might add ) just for the tactical electoral advantage of being able to campaign on what the evil kitten murdering Tories would cut.

We would be in crisis without the bank problems - in fact in many ways the unsustainable debt bubble people like Brown used to fuel their own selfish personal ambition helped cause the banking crisis ( assisted by some of Bill Clinton's Democrats legacy in the US on mortgage lending policy ).

Labour is out to rewrite history and just straight lie to people faces - just as they did during the Brown and Blair years.

They, and in particular Red Ed, are debt deniers and liars.

For more details see here.