I have long argued with friends of mine that voting for the Conservative Party in Britain (or the Republicans in America) basically means voting to help rig the government to benefit the rich.

The political parties in both countries are two wings of a business party. One side tries to temper the effects of market capitalism by providing a safety net for the poor – the other side does absolutely nothing, and leaves business to control every aspect of our lives. The problem is that conservative political rhetoric often sounds good in theory; individual responsibility, freedom from government, family values etc. The reality however consists of a life dominated by corporations, job instability, growing wealth inequality, declining standards in health and education and fiscal crisis after fiscal crisis.

Market capitalism is a failure, yet it is still packaged by political parties as the only way to run an economy. It isn't, and the evidence just keeps pouring in: From the Independent:

The poor will be penalised and the better-off helped by George Osborne's latest economic measures, according to the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies.

The poor will suffer disproportionately from the Chancellor's failure to increase tax credits, a study by the IFS concludes, and will not benefit to the same extent as the better-off from the council tax freeze (because they pay less council tax) and the delay of the fuel duty increase (because they drive less). The overall effect of the Treasury's new plans will be to reduce the incomes of those in the bottom 30 per cent of earners and to benefit those in the top 60 per cent. The Chancellor's decision will also push more children into poverty, IFS researchers conclude.

This should come as no surprise. The Tories are the business party, and their entire mandate is based on engineering policy to cater to them. The middle classes and poor are there to be lied to and abused – Tory PR and the right wing press do a good job of deflecting the blame for the economic crisis onto unions and excessive government, all the while ripping the guts out of the state and fleecing the poor to pay for the gigantic hole left by a reckless banking industry.

There is only so much PR and spin the public can take. You can't tell people that your policies are working if they can't afford to heat their houses or clothe their children. At some point reality dictates politics and Cameron and his cabinet will find themselves out of a job.

Hopefully sooner rather than later.

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Another nail in the coffin for neo liberalism in Britain (from the Guardian):

An extra £5bn of capital investment, funded by spending cuts elsewhere, will form the centrepiece of an overall £30bn national infrastructure programme due to be announced by George Osborne on Tuesday as part of an attempt to prevent the country from sliding back into recession.

The chancellor will unveil nearly 500 public sector projects, many of them to be funded by commercial pension fund investments.

Some of the £5bn extra capital investment over the next three years will go to a £600m schools programme to fund an extra 40,000 places by 2014.

To anyone with a basic understanding of econmics (and those not indoctrinated with neo liberal ideology) Osborne’s move was entirely predictable. Every serious economist who predicted the economic crisis back in 2008 has argued vociferously not to ram through austerity measures. A prolonged recession, rising inequality and unemployment were all completely foreseeable, yet the Tory government in Britain decided that ideology trumped reality and went ahead with their economic agenda believing rhetoric and spin would disguise their actions.

No more. Faced with the prospect of losing the next election due to their severe mishandling of the economy, the Tories are now getting in to the Keynesian stimulus business. Osborne may still talk about meeting his deficit reduction targets and continuing austerity measures, but as the economy verges on the edge of another recession, his boss has told him to forget the fancy theories and get down to serious economics that actually work.

It’s hard to trust the Tories on issues like this – they have a history of giving with one hand and taking with the other – but on the face of it, any investment in Britain’s infrastructure should be seen as a good thing. It’s just a shame they won’t admit their economic ideology has been proved defunct.

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George Osborne

The British Conservative government has long argued that deregulation and austerity measures are key to Britain's economic health. According to supply siders David Cameron and his chancellor George Osborne, everyone must go through pain in order to rebalance the economy, including the very wealthy. This is in stark contrast to the Keynesian approach that prescribes a huge jolt of government spending in order to stimulate the economy and replace private sector spending in the short term. Britain is in the middle of an economic experiment where the government has implemented one method over the other, and unfortunately we are seeing the direct proof that the supply side theory doesn't work.

According to a new study from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the austerity measures will not only continue to depress the economy, but hit the poorest the hardest making inequality even more extreme than before. From the Guardian:

George Osborne's austerity programme will cut the living standards of Britain's families by more than 10% over the next three years as those on the lowest incomes suffer most from the tax increases and spending cuts designed to reduce the budget deficit.

A study from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the UK's leading experts on the public finances, concludes that the chancellor's strategy will result in greater inequality and rising child poverty, throwing into reverse progress made in the final years of the last Labour government.

This study goes to the root of the deception behind conservative economic policy, uncovering the dirty secret that the Tories have never, and will never be concerned about wealth disparity or structural poverty. Their policies are designed to ensure corporate profits continue to rise regardless (and even at the expense) of the majority of the population. The rhetoric used to soothe the public is as empty as the threats against the banks – token gestures with little intent. 

So now maybe it is time to acknowledge the reality and move on from this grossly unfair economic doctrine that continues to harm millions of people around the world.

How much more proof do we need that helping the rich doesn't help the poor, that cutting government services and jobs doesn't boost the economy, and allowing people to spiral in to poverty is not the best way of promoting economic equality?

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