[lbo-talk] Britain's failed experiment?

[James Heartfield]

Public spending as a share of GDP under M Thatcher was cut back from 44.5 per cent of GDP in 1980 to 34.25 per cent in 1989. Between 2000 and 2011 it grew from 34.6 to 44.7. The Tory-Lib-Dem alliance has threatened widespread cuts, but there is a difference between what government’s say and what they do. http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/downchart_ukgs.php?chart=F0-total&year=1900_2011&units=p&state=UK#copypaste

It’s a mistake, by the way, to equate government spending with socialism, or progress, or human welfare. A great deal of UK spending is on the military, the police, jails, subsidies to businesses, landlords and banks (pfi, ‘quantitive easing’ etc).