Was Thatcher good for the UK economy?

Firefly

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She basically cut-off any funding to businesses / sectors relying on government aid and a lot went to the wall. A lot of people were displaced and unemployment rose. Fast forward a few years and small businesses in the UK flourished as well as the financial services sector with the Big Bang. We have a few UK based contributers to this site and I was wondering if you thought that Thatcher was good/bad for the UK economy?
 
The Iron Lady

Personaly I think Maggie was ruthless to a point of no return. But her actions spoke words, with the exception of privatisation.
 
More flexible labour market

less trade union power
less generous UI system
less employee protection
easier to hire and fire

Long-run result is lower unemployment


More competitive product markets

More competition
Privatisation
 
As someone who lived under that regime - she was a disaster - more poverty & misery.
Protocol - there is nothing wrong with protecting workers rights, I don't know when that became a bad thing.
We have experienced here what it is like when banks have been able to run-amok - not a good thing I think.
 
She was truely excellent.

She brought the UK back from the brink after Labour's disasterous ruin of the 70s and the IMF bailout.

The UK was a backwater after Labour bankrupted the country in the 70s.

Thatcher came in and standards of living rose significantly across the board.

Privatisation brought share ownership to the masses.
Council house tenants could get on the property ladder.
Broke the back of the wealth destroying unions.
Revolutionised business in the UK for the better and businesses flourished.

The UK's recent wealth is all down to her.

Without doubt the second greatest PM after Churchill.

And then we re-elected Labour once more and they bankrupted the country again...
 
She basically cut-off any funding to businesses / sectors relying on government aid and a lot went to the wall.QUOTE]

Creative destruction working its magic.

Contrary to popular belief amongst the statist governments of today, letting bad businesses fail is good.

Proping up zombie organisations is wealth destroying.

When bad businesses fail the employees, land and capital tied up in the firm can be used to better use in new profitable industries.

Proping up bad businesses is a short term measure that is destructive in the long term.

Letting bad businesses fail is a short term problem that is wealth creative over the longer term.

Everything Western governments are doing today (low interest rates, bailouts, quantitative easing) is short term good for our standards of living at the expense of the long term destruction of our strandards of living.

Every political party wants re-election so they screw our future in order to make the near term slightly better. The system is a mess.
 
As someone who lived under that regime - she was a disaster - more poverty & misery.
Short term pain for long term gain. I have friends and family in Wales that were severely affected in the short term by the closing of mines and other industrial production. They all eventually retooled and found far more productive, better paying and less dangerous work.

Protocol - there is nothing wrong with protecting workers rights, I don't know when that became a bad thing.
It depends on what you mean by protecting workers' rights. In my opinion workers' rights have gone too far, and that employers' rights have been so adversely affected that they create less employment.

We have experienced here what it is like when banks have been able to run-amok - not a good thing I think.
What we experienced here is an industry protected from newly created competition by excessive costs of regulatory compliance. The value at risk of an industry failure is far hire when value of risk is concentrated into a few companies.
 
As someone who lived under that regime - she was a disaster - more poverty & misery.
Protocol - there is nothing wrong with protecting workers rights, I don't know when that became a bad thing.
We have experienced here what it is like when banks have been able to run-amok - not a good thing I think.


Please note that I am not supporting these policies one way or the other.

But evidence suggests that excessive employee protection laws lead to a rigid lab mkt and less jobs in the long-run.
 
Of course excessive laws/regulation isn't the answer, but I would have hoped that by looking back at the history we would have learned something & be able to build a better society, government & commercial template for the future than what has gone before.
I remember the despair of father being unemployed, wanting work but unable to get it after working since he was 15 - some things just stay with you.
 
Thatcher was great for the UK economy - they'd be a 2nd world country at best if she hadnt sorted them out. Bad for vested interests, bad for anyone overseas who acted contrary to British interests, but great for the British people and economy.
 
P.S. wouldnt you love to have someone like Thatcher working for the Irish government in its dealings with the EU/IMF and bondholders?
 
No - we'd end up even worse off. She had no concept of compromise. She ended up being ousted because of her disasterous attitudes to people. The only way to deal with the EU/IMF/bondholders is in a measured & responsible way - that doesn't mean it's a weak response.
 
Good for the Economy? Yes for the most part.

Good for Society? No definitely not, created huge divisions.

We don't live in economies, we live in societies. So I'd rather someone who benefitted society.
 
Sorry, I missed the economic point, she was fantastic for the economy. Took no guff from any sector, but for society it was pathetic. The Poll Tax riots were an example, and since she was ousted the general economy has been running in third gear.
 
Sorry, I missed the economic point, she was fantastic for the economy. Took no guff from any sector, but for society it was pathetic. The Poll Tax riots were an example, and since she was ousted the general economy has been running in third gear.

But surely the Labour approach of tax and overspend is just as damaging to society?

We now have the same rioting and divisions in society as the Labour government and current opposition dangerously sell to the electorate that we can keep spending money we don't have.

At least Thatcher told the truth. Work hard and you will be taxed low. Dont work and there is a little safety net and that's it. Intersting this approach has been proven to reduce unemployment and improve peoples motivation and ultimately their hapiness.

Labour - Get taxed heavily if you work, dont work and you will be rewarded. We will create a massive safety net off borrowed money (to increase our voting electorate) that your children will one day pay for. Dont worry the tories will be in then to blame.

The electorate always want reward without responsibility.

Thatcher set out that long term reward only comes from responsibility. Economically, and I would argue socially, this was fantastic for the UK.

I think in 5 years we will see the huge damage that so called 'socially' nice parties like Labour can cause to both the economy and society over those 'nasty' tories who always like to tell the truth.
 
Get taxed heavily if you work, dont work and you will be rewarded. We will create a massive safety net off borrowed money (to increase our voting electorate) that your children will one day pay for. Dont worry the tories will be in then to blame.

This sounds like a futureistic story for Ireland. Believe me it was fantastic living in the Uk in the late 80s and early 90s. But like the Celtic Tiger, things were done wrong, very badly wrong and Society is now paying for it. But referring to the question of was Thatcher good for the economy, yes but as we have all learned, it takes a brave man or woman to put the foot on the brakes.
 
Lived there in the late eighties and agree with most of your post, with one exception..............she hated the Irish with a passion


She sure did hate Haughey:D

I was no fan of hers but I do think she encouaged people to become more individualised and the downturn of that was people became more selfish. I remember her eyebrow raising quotation when she said "There is no such thing as Society".
 
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