Was Thatcher good for the UK economy?

[horusd]

Her "no such thing as a society" formula left Britian a legacy of division and endemic social problems almost unheard of in the Western world. Having said that, I agree she did some good in terms of developing a liberal market economy. Problem is, she went too far. I dont doubt her personal courage either, the IRA bombing and her handling of her resignation were both done with great courage. Again the problem was she lost the plot, remember the "We" are a grandmother... I'm sure Lizzie up in Buckingham Palace was not best pleased with the grocer's daughter turned Queen!

 

[Chris]

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.

The economy is the most central part of western society. It is "free" market based economics that separated modern wealthy countries from those that fell behind. Arguing that you can simply differentiate society and economy does not make sense.
I would agree though that a lot of what Thatcher said and did should have been sold to the public better without aggravating a divide.

 

[RoyRover]

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.

+1

These are exactly the choices facing the Irish government now, but they lack the spine to take the hard decisions and so are storing up more and more trouble for the future.

The longer we have a union ridden bloated government sector, and an overgenerous welfare state, the longer we will stay in the mess we are in.

Our current government has no appetite to address this overspending or the supply side elements like dramatically reducting the minimum wage and removing factors stopping businesses hiring staff, such as parental leave regulations or the 48 hour working time directive.

The parallels between Ireland now and Britain in the 70s are frightening:

• Huge public debt
• Rising taxes
• The IMF being called in
• Unions driving government policy
• Overgenerous welfare state

We can continue to ignore this (which I fear we will) and we will slide back to the poverty of Ireland in the 70s and 80s, or we can implement the Thatcher style reforms that are needed to get Ireland back to work.

Sadly, with Labour holding the balance of power in the country, we are likely to slide a lot further into the mire before things change.

 

[SarahMc]

It was thatcherism and reaganomics kneeling at the feet of the Chicago school of economics, i.e. the market regulates itself that has us in the state we are in!

 

[Purple]

It was thatcherism and reaganomics kneeling at the feet of the Chicago school of economics, i.e. the market regulates itself that has us in the state we are in!

If that is true then how do you explain the bubble here and how does it explain the origin of the credit crisis; the federal government in the USA underwriting every mortgage in the country and the push by Clinton to force lenders to lend to people with bad credit ratings?
If the market regulated itself then businesses would be let go bust, be they brothels or banks.

 

[csirl]

It was thatcherism and reaganomics kneeling at the feet of the Chicago school of economics, i.e. the market regulates itself that has us in the state we are in!

Disagree - we're in the state we are precisely because the market was NOT allowed to regulate itself - the State stepped in and bailed out banks that would otherwise have failed.

 

[Chris]

If that is true then how do you explain the bubble here and how does it explain the origin of the credit crisis; the federal government in the USA underwriting every mortgage in the country and the push by Clinton to force lenders to lend to people with bad credit ratings?

Don't forget the big "free-marketeer" Bush. Bush pushed more for loose monetary policy then Clinton, increased mortgage underwriting to a level never before seen and bailed out banks. One of the most expensive regulations ever introduced, Sarbanes-Oxley, especially to smaller businesses, came in under Bush. Fact is that between 1980 and 2009, for every deregulatory policy in the US there were 4 regulatory policies. The whole idea of blaming deregulation simply does not stand up to fact, but it is an easy target to sell to the public.
Which part of this is meant to be deregulated free markets I do not know.

 

[RoyRover]

What we need in Ireland is more State control, collectivism, and a general slide back to the mid-1980s when Ireland was pinned to the wall by the unions and run by an ineffective FG/Lab government that doubled the debt and presided over a huge rise in unemployment.

Look how well pandering to Socialism has benefitted us in the past Comrades