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Britain is Becoming the World’s Newest Failed StateDumb and dumber!The story goes like this. After the financial crisis in 2007, Britain had just elected a conservative government. They sold the population the foolish myth that they were “broke” — and now belts needed to be tightened. Never mind the fact that the correct way to respond to a financial crisis is to stimulate the economy. Instead, Britain began a savage course of austerity. All those famous public services — the NHS, the BBC, and so on — were slashed. And then slashed again. And then eviscerated.The bottom fell out of the economy. Public sectors are an economy’s biggest employer, or one of them. Unemployment and poverty soared. The government responded, amazingly, with even more austerity. By now, the population believed
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Britain is Becoming the World’s Newest Failed StateDumb and dumber!The story goes like this. After the financial crisis in 2007, Britain had just elected a conservative government. They sold the population the foolish myth that they were “broke” — and now belts needed to be tightened. Never mind the fact that the correct way to respond to a financial crisis is to stimulate the economy. Instead, Britain began a savage course of austerity. All those famous public services — the NHS, the BBC, and so on — were slashed. And then slashed again. And then eviscerated.The bottom fell out of the economy. Public sectors are an economy’s biggest employer, or one of them. Unemployment and poverty soared. The government responded, amazingly, with even more austerity. By now, the population believed
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Mike Norman considers the following as important:
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Britain is Becoming the World’s Newest Failed State
Dumb and dumber!
The story goes like this. After the financial crisis in 2007, Britain had just elected a conservative government. They sold the population the foolish myth that they were “broke” — and now belts needed to be tightened. Never mind the fact that the correct way to respond to a financial crisis is to stimulate the economy. Instead, Britain began a savage course of austerity. All those famous public services — the NHS, the BBC, and so on — were slashed. And then slashed again. And then eviscerated.
The bottom fell out of the economy. Public sectors are an economy’s biggest employer, or one of them. Unemployment and poverty soared. The government responded, amazingly, with even more austerity. By now, the population believed this most foolish myth of American economics: when times are tough, cut spending. Wrong. When times are tough, invest more than ever. But Britain did just the opposite.
And so soon enough, what was eminently predictable came to pass. One of the few trustworthy and useful findings in economics is that after financial crises, countries tend to swing hard, hard right: nationalism erupts. Why? Because governments usually respond the wrong way, choosing austerity over investment. People grow poorer. Their social contracts wither. They begin to live in anxiety, fear, and despair.
And before you know it, demagogues are blaming their woes on foreigners, immigrants, minorites — anyone remotely alien or other. “America First!” “Britain for the British!” Nationalism happens by way of financial crisis become economic ruin, via the invisible fist of austerity. And as people grow poorer, they grow more ignorant, violence, brutal, selfish, and careless.