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Well, the UK is currently testing the opposite ridiculous notion - that by laying off lots of government workers (when there already lots of people looking for

Well, the UK is currently testing the opposite ridiculous notion - that by laying off lots of government workers (when there already lots of people looking for jobs), reducing benefits to everyone (which hits the poor far harder, of course), and cutting funding to education and research, you'll somehow help the country recover from a recession faster and better.

rwmj 16y ago
Laying off people who weren't and aren't contributing anything productive, because the country has run up gigantic debts. There's not any easy answer to this problem (except not to have run up the debts in the first place).
- arethuza 16y ago
  Public sector spending and working practices had been out of control for years - it was clear to anyone with any knowledge of how the public sector worked that it couldn't go on for ever and when it stopped things would be ugly. There is no doubt that there are a lot of people in the public sector who deliver a lot of value. However, there are also a lot of organisations and people who clearly aren't - a tidy out was long overdue.
  - bruceboughton 16y ago
    You assume that this tidy out will get rid of more of the latter (the unproductive ones) than the former (the value-producing ones).
    - arethuza 16y ago
      Indeed, a politically astute friend point out that the first reaction of managers would be to cut productive first line services first. The so called "Washington Monument Syndrome": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Monument_Syndrome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Monument_Syndrome Of course, managers who act this way should be the first ones kicked out...
- WorkerBee 16y ago
  Laying off people who weren't and aren't contributing anything productive Saying that UK public services are inefficient is one thing, probably true. Saying that the layoffs can be confined to people who "aren't contributing anything productive" and be extension health, policing, education, research etc will not get worse at all is an entirely different thing, and I don't think it's true.
notahacker 16y ago
In fairness to the current administration, this was because the previous one had tested the equally ridiculous notion that if you stimulated the economy when things were going extremely well then debt would never become a problem Edit: you can downvote me all you like, but that won't change the fact that the previous government ran up public sector borrowing deficits throughout the decade even whilst trumpeting their proud record of uninterrupted economic growth, and the only real disagreement in the political mainstream is over the _speed_ with which it needs to be returned to balance.
- WorkerBee 16y ago
  I totally agree with your analysis of how the UK got into the current mess. That doesn't really say anything about the best way out of it.
  - borism 16y ago
    2 wrongs don't make a right

rwmj 16y ago

Laying off people who weren't and aren't contributing anything productive, because the country has run up gigantic debts. There's not any easy answer to this problem (except not to have run up the debts in the first place).

arethuza 16y ago
Public sector spending and working practices had been out of control for years - it was clear to anyone with any knowledge of how the public sector worked that it couldn't go on for ever and when it stopped things would be ugly. There is no doubt that there are a lot of people in the public sector who deliver a lot of value. However, there are also a lot of organisations and people who clearly aren't - a tidy out was long overdue.
- bruceboughton 16y ago
  You assume that this tidy out will get rid of more of the latter (the unproductive ones) than the former (the value-producing ones).
  - arethuza 16y ago
    Indeed, a politically astute friend point out that the first reaction of managers would be to cut productive first line services first. The so called "Washington Monument Syndrome": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Monument_Syndrome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Monument_Syndrome Of course, managers who act this way should be the first ones kicked out...
WorkerBee 16y ago
Laying off people who weren't and aren't contributing anything productive Saying that UK public services are inefficient is one thing, probably true. Saying that the layoffs can be confined to people who "aren't contributing anything productive" and be extension health, policing, education, research etc will not get worse at all is an entirely different thing, and I don't think it's true.

notahacker 16y ago

In fairness to the current administration, this was because the previous one had tested the equally ridiculous notion that if you stimulated the economy when things were going extremely well then debt would never become a problem Edit: you can downvote me all you like, but that won't change the fact that the previous government ran up public sector borrowing deficits throughout the decade even whilst trumpeting their proud record of uninterrupted economic growth, and the only real disagreement in the political mainstream is over the _speed_ with which it needs to be returned to balance.

WorkerBee 16y ago
I totally agree with your analysis of how the UK got into the current mess. That doesn't really say anything about the best way out of it.
- borism 16y ago
  2 wrongs don't make a right