Sajid Javid, the man who trivialised the WWI centenary, shames himself on the economy

Sajid Javid? No - this is The Collector, from the Doctor Who serial The Sun Makers, but it's an easy mistake to make. This charmer's game was extorting taxes from human refugees who had fled the death of the sun to live under artificial heat sources on Pluto(!) - but revolution triggers a recession in which he literally shrinks down to nothing, disappearing into the commode he appears to be sitting on. If only Mr Javid would do the same!

Sajid Javid? No – this is The Collector, from the Doctor Who serial The Sun Makers, but it’s an easy mistake to make. This charmer’s game was extorting taxes from human refugees who had fled the death of the sun to live under artificial heat sources on Pluto(!) – but revolution triggers a recession in which he literally shrinks down to nothing, disappearing into the commode he appears to be sitting on. If only Mr Javid would do the same!

They say the secret of great comedy is timing, and Sajid Javid’s speech lambasting Labour’s ability with the economy could not come at a better time – to make a fool of him.

Javid heads up the Department of Culture, Media and Sport – you know, the government organisation that offended everybody earlier this week by denying everybody but the Prime Minister a chance to write a personal message on the wreaths laid at a First World War centenary commemoration in Glasgow.

Having made one faux pas already this week, Javid was set to ram his foot even further down his own gullet with his speech knocking Labour.

According to the Telegraph, he was planning to say that Labour’s “basic instinct” is to spend money, the party’s economic policies will leave Britain £500 billion worse-off, and this will be the equivalent of two-thirds of national income in 2035, while the Conservative approach would make it the equivalent of one-third of GDP.

The speech met with scorn before it was even made, over on alittleecon. In an article headlined Tory Minister Sajid Javid plucks some numbers out of his arse, author Alex Little pointed out:

  • Sajid Javid does not understand economics; national debt is merely an indicator of how much a government wants the economy to be funded by the private sector or the public. As government debt is issued in the form of bonds, all of it represents somebody else’s savings and more government debt means more private savings, while the economy is funded by the public sector.
  • Whether a low debt-to-GDP ratio is better than a higher one depends entirely on how it has been achieved. A fast-growing, dynamic economy can have a high level of government debt, while a slow-growing economy could have a very low debt-to-GDP ratio.
  • His timescale covers the next 20 years, making his claim a nonsense from the start. The electoral cycle is only five years so, for Labour to win in 2015 and continue winning until the date Mr Javid uses, they’d have to be doing something right!
  • Of course, Labour has not produced any spending plans yet and, when they arrive, the totals are unlikely to be hugely different from the Tories’ (although the way the money is used may differ greatly). So Mr Javid has (as Mr Little rather indelicately puts it) plucked some numbers out of his arse.

Mr Javid’s week is going very well – he has ruined a major ceremony with the behaviour of a schoolboy, then followed it up by showing that his understanding of economics – wasn’t he Financial Secretary to the Treasury before moving to the DCMS? Coupled with George Osborne as Chancellor, this could explain much – is worse than that of a schoolboy. And it’s only Wednesday.

Let’s all hope he goes for the hat trick.

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6 Comments

  1. Abdul Aziz August 6, 2014 at 6:52 pm - Reply

    I have emailed this to Sajid Javed, this will show where his loyalties are, mine would be fully behind my Muslim brothers and sisters but then I am not a conservative Secretary of State.

    Sent from my iPad

    Begin forwarded message:

    From:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Date: 5 August 2014 20:23:59 BST
    To: “[email protected]
    Subject: Israeli Murder of Palestinian Children

    In the light of Sayeeda Warsi’s resignation over the unacceptable carnage taking place in Gaza and the Prime Ministers reluctance to categorically condemn Israel for their overwhelming use of force resulting in the death and injury to thousands of Palestinian women, children and men and their blatant disregard for international law I call on you as a Muslim to resign your cabinet seat with immediate effect.
    I have messaged the Council For British Muslims asking them to support this request. You cannot in all consciousness remain in a government that are supporters of the Friends of Israel and some are even Zionist sympathisers.
    You are a Muslim there cannot be any question that you remain part of this disgusting government that supplies the arms to kill Muslims.
    I look forward to hearing from you, I will copy this email to various active Muslim organisations so that collectively we can monitor your response.

    Sent from my iPad

    • Mike Sivier August 6, 2014 at 7:01 pm - Reply

      Good luck with that! He has said that although his family has Muslim heritage, he does not practise any religion – and if he could not live in the UK then he would want to live in Israel because it offers him “the warm embrace of freedom and liberty”!
      Hmm. I mentioned in the article that I wanted him to make a third mistake this week. This could be the opportunity he needs, to make it.

    • Neil Godwin August 6, 2014 at 7:11 pm - Reply

      Last time I saw Sajid Javid (I live in his constituency), he was coming out of the Parish Church on Remembrance Sunday! When I commented on this, someone said he was, in fact, a Christian.

      • Mrs Grimble August 7, 2014 at 9:09 am - Reply

        A genuinely religious man wouldn’t have shown such disrespect during the cathedral service. My guess is that he appears in church only because he thinks it will get him brownie points. If he lived in Pakistan, he’d be at the mosque every Friday; in Israel, he’d make sure to show his face at Shabbat services.

  2. AM-FM August 6, 2014 at 8:24 pm - Reply

    His explanation of how a fiat money system works(or is supposed to) would be a good read!

    Telegraph link is broken.

    • Mike Sivier August 6, 2014 at 9:21 pm - Reply

      Fixed the link. Thanks for the heads-up.

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