7 ms·

She didn't save the economy for the long term. She sold the family silver, squandered the resulting cash on tax cuts at the top, and left the same or worse stru

She didn't save the economy for the long term. She sold the family silver, squandered the resulting cash on tax cuts at the top, and left the same or worse structural problems in place.

MisterBastahrd 14y ago
Same thing is happening in Louisiana currently. Bobby Jindal is an extremely intelligent man, but he has sold his soul to the Republican Party because he wants to be president. He is selling everything that isn't nailed down to the floor in an effort to balance budgets, has been hellbent on destroying the state pension system, has turned down federal money which would help to fund social programs, and is now trying to implement a ridiculously regressive taxation system.
- rhizome 14y ago
  You do your argument a disservice in saying he sold his soul to the Republicans. I think it's more likely that his goal is using his "extreme intelligence" for the things he wants to do, and it just so happens the Republicans decided to fund his "startup" (so to speak).
- twoodfin 14y ago
  How does refusing to govern like a Democrat imply a sale of his soul? Just to take one example: Where do you think that Federal money comes from?
  - MisterBastahrd 14y ago
    Who said anything about Democrats? It'd be nice if he simply didn't govern like a complete imbecile. He's raided the state's emergency funds and sold off state assets in order to prove that he can balance a budget, and has in effect put the state in a worse position than it was under the previous administration, and THAT'S saying something.
- penny500 14y ago
  So basically Republican economic policies are all evil, now? There is virtually zero empirical proof that any of their policies work economically? I'm afraid HN is slowly progressing into Reddit.
  - burntsushi 14y ago
    Your account is 20 days old. From the HN Guidelines: [1] > If your account is less than a year old, please don't submit comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. (It's a common semi-noob illusion.) [1] - http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    - penny500 14y ago
      Oh, please. I've been here for years. I'd rather stay anonymous.
      - burntsushi 14y ago
        > Oh, please. Sorry, but there is no way for me or anyone else but you to know that. Anonymity comes with a price (in this case, credibility).
- jacoblyles 14y ago
  If you'd like a bankrupt pension system to weigh down your state's economy, there are plenty of Blue States that would like to trade: http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-best-life/2012/11/08/5-trillion-price-tag-for-public-pensions http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-best-life/2012/11/08...
vixen99 14y ago
Do you mean coal mines and industries that had to be propped up by the taxpayer and were master-minded by the unions?
- richardjordan 14y ago
  She didn't sell coal mines. Her administration did however sell off as much oil as possible as fast as possible which cratered the market for oil so low it helped bankrupt the USSR at our expense. Now the UK is a net importer of oil ten times as expensive. Just one example of short term policies that allowed tax cuts to make us feel good while screwing the UK in the long term.
  - run4yourlives 14y ago
    This is an overly simplistic understanding of modern global trade that is unfortunately common with many on the left of the spectrum. No country is an island - the idea that you should produce everything, even when it makes little to no economic sense, is a product of a bygone era. Countries become richer overall by focusing on that which they are most efficient. For a country like the UK, that's knowledge and finance.
    - richardjordan 14y ago
      That's an overly simplistic understanding of the energy industry and upcoming resource crunches that is unfortunately common with people who have never worked in the energy industry. Knowledge and finance doesn't replace the UK's need for energy which costs ten times what we sold off our reserves for in the 1980s. On Hacker News of all places you must be aware of that key idiom "you cannee change the laws of Physics, Jim".
      - penny500 14y ago
        You're seriously going to have to cite your sources (objective, peer-reviewed only, please) instead of relying on anecdotal data presumably from your experience working in the sector.
run4yourlives 14y ago
She is essentially the reason the UK still uses Pound sterling and not the Euro. I'd argue that that one move alone has done more to benefit the UK than any other decision since WWII, period. And that's a call she lost her job on.
- richardjordan 14y ago
  She's certainly a big part of the reason for that. I think it's quite sad that the criticisms of Southern European countries like Greece, Spain, Italy, by Northern European countries about the state of their economics and politics were seen as nothing but xenophobia. Now that Germany is forced to bail them all out I think some of those critiques seem prescient. Of course no-one will ever know if the added weight of the UK in the currency block would have strengthened the whole project, but right now it's looking like it's on the verge of collapse. Not sure Britain will steer clear of any fallout though. That being said she lost her job for a lot more than that. Poll tax was a much bigger social issue at the time. Her rough style had left her isolated in her own party and then she mishandled the challenges to her leadership at a crucial moment. The EU element was merely the trigger, the gun was already long in place.
- iuguy 14y ago
  > She is essentially the reason the UK still uses Pound sterling and not the Euro. How so? She was out before Maastricht was signed. Germany wasn't even unified when she was around. She lost her job because frankly she presided over 3 terms in which she completely lost her mind part-way through the second and into the third and had to be removed by her own party who saw the writing on the wall. We don't have a term limit in the UK (and perhaps we should), but I still remember the "We have become a grandmother" moment which may sound trivial but was a shining example of how mental she became towards the end. I would say if anything the thing leading to her being stabbed in the back was the way the poll tax was handled. The conservatives knew that if pushed through it gave Labour a credible chance of re-election, and that her reactions to it rendered her completely uncontrollable. They needed someone that senior tories could manage, which is why we had John Major (who for my money was one of the best PM's we had in a long time).

She didn't save the economy for the long term. She sold the family silver, squandered the resulting cash on tax cuts at the top, and left the same or worse structural problems in place.

MisterBastahrd 14y ago

Same thing is happening in Louisiana currently. Bobby Jindal is an extremely intelligent man, but he has sold his soul to the Republican Party because he wants to be president. He is selling everything that isn't nailed down to the floor in an effort to balance budgets, has been hellbent on destroying the state pension system, has turned down federal money which would help to fund social programs, and is now trying to implement a ridiculously regressive taxation system.

rhizome 14y ago
You do your argument a disservice in saying he sold his soul to the Republicans. I think it's more likely that his goal is using his "extreme intelligence" for the things he wants to do, and it just so happens the Republicans decided to fund his "startup" (so to speak).
twoodfin 14y ago
How does refusing to govern like a Democrat imply a sale of his soul? Just to take one example: Where do you think that Federal money comes from?
- MisterBastahrd 14y ago
  Who said anything about Democrats? It'd be nice if he simply didn't govern like a complete imbecile. He's raided the state's emergency funds and sold off state assets in order to prove that he can balance a budget, and has in effect put the state in a worse position than it was under the previous administration, and THAT'S saying something.
penny500 14y ago
So basically Republican economic policies are all evil, now? There is virtually zero empirical proof that any of their policies work economically? I'm afraid HN is slowly progressing into Reddit.
- burntsushi 14y ago
  Your account is 20 days old. From the HN Guidelines: [1] > If your account is less than a year old, please don't submit comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. (It's a common semi-noob illusion.) [1] - http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - penny500 14y ago
    Oh, please. I've been here for years. I'd rather stay anonymous.
    - burntsushi 14y ago
      > Oh, please. Sorry, but there is no way for me or anyone else but you to know that. Anonymity comes with a price (in this case, credibility).
jacoblyles 14y ago
If you'd like a bankrupt pension system to weigh down your state's economy, there are plenty of Blue States that would like to trade: http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-best-life/2012/11/08/5-trillion-price-tag-for-public-pensions http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-best-life/2012/11/08...

vixen99 14y ago

Do you mean coal mines and industries that had to be propped up by the taxpayer and were master-minded by the unions?

richardjordan 14y ago
She didn't sell coal mines. Her administration did however sell off as much oil as possible as fast as possible which cratered the market for oil so low it helped bankrupt the USSR at our expense. Now the UK is a net importer of oil ten times as expensive. Just one example of short term policies that allowed tax cuts to make us feel good while screwing the UK in the long term.
- run4yourlives 14y ago
  This is an overly simplistic understanding of modern global trade that is unfortunately common with many on the left of the spectrum. No country is an island - the idea that you should produce everything, even when it makes little to no economic sense, is a product of a bygone era. Countries become richer overall by focusing on that which they are most efficient. For a country like the UK, that's knowledge and finance.
  - richardjordan 14y ago
    That's an overly simplistic understanding of the energy industry and upcoming resource crunches that is unfortunately common with people who have never worked in the energy industry. Knowledge and finance doesn't replace the UK's need for energy which costs ten times what we sold off our reserves for in the 1980s. On Hacker News of all places you must be aware of that key idiom "you cannee change the laws of Physics, Jim".
    - penny500 14y ago
      You're seriously going to have to cite your sources (objective, peer-reviewed only, please) instead of relying on anecdotal data presumably from your experience working in the sector.

run4yourlives 14y ago

She is essentially the reason the UK still uses Pound sterling and not the Euro. I'd argue that that one move alone has done more to benefit the UK than any other decision since WWII, period. And that's a call she lost her job on.

richardjordan 14y ago
She's certainly a big part of the reason for that. I think it's quite sad that the criticisms of Southern European countries like Greece, Spain, Italy, by Northern European countries about the state of their economics and politics were seen as nothing but xenophobia. Now that Germany is forced to bail them all out I think some of those critiques seem prescient. Of course no-one will ever know if the added weight of the UK in the currency block would have strengthened the whole project, but right now it's looking like it's on the verge of collapse. Not sure Britain will steer clear of any fallout though. That being said she lost her job for a lot more than that. Poll tax was a much bigger social issue at the time. Her rough style had left her isolated in her own party and then she mishandled the challenges to her leadership at a crucial moment. The EU element was merely the trigger, the gun was already long in place.
iuguy 14y ago
> She is essentially the reason the UK still uses Pound sterling and not the Euro. How so? She was out before Maastricht was signed. Germany wasn't even unified when she was around. She lost her job because frankly she presided over 3 terms in which she completely lost her mind part-way through the second and into the third and had to be removed by her own party who saw the writing on the wall. We don't have a term limit in the UK (and perhaps we should), but I still remember the "We have become a grandmother" moment which may sound trivial but was a shining example of how mental she became towards the end. I would say if anything the thing leading to her being stabbed in the back was the way the poll tax was handled. The conservatives knew that if pushed through it gave Labour a credible chance of re-election, and that her reactions to it rendered her completely uncontrollable. They needed someone that senior tories could manage, which is why we had John Major (who for my money was one of the best PM's we had in a long time).