Economist explains why Truss’s early choices have all been bad
Liz Truss: bad choices already mean we have another rotten prime minister.
This Site has a lot of time for Richard Murphy. As an economist, he seems to be on the side of the people, rather than selfish commercial interests, and he also seems to know the right way to run an economy.
That’s why I was very interested to read his thoughts on the early decisions of Liz Truss as Tory leader and prime minister.
He’s horrified:
The portent of things to come came when Truss’s senior adviser team was announced. Her economics advisers come from the Taxpayer’s Alliance and the Institute of Economic Affairs. Both are secretive far-right think tanks.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) September 7, 2022
Another adviser also comes from the IEA. Truss has made clear her course. She will use her time in office to seek to dismantle the state. As a result she sets herself on a collision course with the civil service and the people of this country.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) September 7, 2022
That’s a prediction, right there: Truss will seek to dismantle the state.
She managed to beat it, however, by appointing Jacob Rees Mogg to be Business Secretary, with responsibility for the environment. The man is a climate change denier. It is almost impossible to imagine a worse appointment.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) September 7, 2022
So: Truss intends to bring in more pollution as part of a policy of climate change denial.
Her sackings were also significant. She has reduced her support base to Johnson loyalists who sided with her against Sunak. It is an incredibly narrow base inside a Tory party that is already deeply divided, and more than able to sack those Prime Ministers they do not like.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) September 7, 2022
The Bank will read this as inflationary. They will be increasing interest rates as a result. An increase to 3% is now forecast by Christmas. The knock-on effect will be a bigger household budget crisis for some than that caused by energy. Mortgage costs will skyrocket.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) September 7, 2022
So: Truss is determined to worsen your money woes, not ease them.
Outside parliament, it is hard to see how any of this is going to sell well. An energy price cap at £2,500 will not look like a lot of help for many struggling households.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) September 7, 2022
The green agenda is in tatters and matters enormously to young people, unsurprisingly.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) September 7, 2022
And in all this there is no hint of support for any businesses, except banks and energy companies who are exploiting the current situation for all it is worth. The supposed march of the entrepreneurs that Truss and her cohort believe in is not going to happen.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) September 7, 2022
And this will not be by chance. The IEA is a particular exponent of the idea of the zombie company, as they describe them, which they say only survives because of low interest rates and the implicit state aid that provides.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) September 7, 2022
They call the process they are set upon ‘creative destruction’. By creating conflict and collision courses it seems that Truss is intent on this destruction. But there will be nothing creative about it. That was never possible, anyway. There will just be victims.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) September 7, 2022
They believe that out there in the economy are new businesses who have only been waiting for the destruction of government for them to emerge into the marketplace so that they can replace the services the government supplies now.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) September 7, 2022
This is fascism, by the way.
Truss is, therefore, setting out to fail. Her appointments and priorities prove it. The collision course she is set upon is dangerous. The cost to us all of her choices will be enormous.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) September 7, 2022
The time to create the agenda for a post-neoliberal world, where economic and social justice and a belief in the virtues of accountable democracy has arrived. That’s where I will be going with my thinking now. We can do better than this. To survive, we have to.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) September 7, 2022
To survive, we have to do better than this. He’s saying that if Truss sees through her agenda, we won’t.
Mr Murphy also had this to say about Truss’s immediate spending plans with regard to the current cost of living crisis:
Unless Truss spends £150 billion this winter then we’re deep in it. £45bn is required to keep households going. Public services need £80bn, including for pay rises, and business needs at least £25bn of support. The odds Truss will do this? Zero. Get ready for a nightmare.
— Richard Murphy (@RichardJMurphy) September 5, 2022
So now you know.
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It is blatantly obvious that Truss is in place to put the final nail in Britain’s coffin…unless every worker goes on strike until the tory criminal Cartel have been booted out of office, There will be a lot more suffering, and a lot more deaths.There will be no social housing, there will be no NHS, no social safety nets to help those suffering, workers will be just serfs with all rights removed….That will be just the start!
Thank you for re-posting this! One of the many banned from twitter now so never would have known otherwise…