Check out how much your local school will be losing because of Tory policy.

[Link]

Here is how Bromley will be affected. Look at the numbers of teachers that will be lost as a result.

Edited by nickgusset (20 Apr 2017 8.38pm)

All I hope is that Twitter and Facebook don't reflect the intelligence levels of my fellow human beings.

The last time we focused largescale investment in to a debt-heavy economy was under Labour post-war. It saw two decades of economic prosperity follow. A similar stimulation is needed now, because with productivity so low but employment levels relatively high, it's tough to see how else the economy will start to grow.

You do realise that 'estimated' doesn't mean 'fact'...don't you?

I'm undecided. I like my local MP who is a Labour MP and she's not a Corbyn supporter. I think Corbyn is a liability. But in terms of why you shouldn't vote Tory that's easy. I've given lots of evidence already in this thread, most of which has come directly from OECD or ONS so is reliable. Their record on the economy and delivery of public services is appalling. Positive GDP growth and low official unemployment are such misleading indicators when considered in isolation. Productivity is low and inequality high. Public debt has increased massively, but more concerning is that private debt is getting back towards pre-GFC levels. The positive GDP numbers are driven by consumer spending and consumer debt, not investment or increases in productivity. The balance of payments is also a drain on the economy and selling off swathes of assets to foreign interest will only make this worse, something which started under New Labour but has increased apace since 2010 and increased massively since 23 June due to the falling value of the pound.

In my opinion one of the biggest structural issues for the economy is inequality, and the tax policies of this government have been so iniquitous that this is getting worse. If you want an interesting and compelling argument as to the problems associated with the kind of inequality prevalent in the UK today (which are predicted to get worse) read this: [Link]

Stiglitz is a world expert on this subject and has a Nobel Prize in economics and explains it far better than I could.

Austerity has been a disaster. If you want to understand why austerity is both theoretically and empirically the wrong thing to do, especially in a downturn then read "End this depression now" by Paul Krugman, another Nobel Laureate.

QE is another massive Elephant in the room. It's been totally misused by the Tories and they will not countenance using it properly as it would be against their "austerity at all costs" ideology. Richard Murphy has written more words about tax theory and policy than anyone else so I'd recommend just sticking his name and QE into google to read about his thoughts, however a couple of quotes here:

"QE will pump money into the economy, but the reality is that the vast majority that will go into speculative activity, will support financial trading, will boost bankers’ bonuses, and will preserve the integrity of bank balance sheets, which is, however, an objective that could be much better achieved by the government taking direct stakes in their share capital instead using the same money. To put it another way, QE is an extremely blunt instrument to achieve a goal that has very little direct benefit to most in the UK."

Labour have a policy to launch a national investment bank. Here was Richard Murphy back in July last year: "In this alternative form of QE the money created by the Bank of England is provided to a National Investment Bank to inject into the real economy. In other words, it funds new investment. In the short term that could be infrastructure repairs. It could also be investment support to businesses. That investment in business can either be in equity capital or by way of loans. In this way the risk that the money will be used to fund speculation and not to promote real economic activities is avoided: the banks as middlemen are cut out.

This is precisely what our economy needs now. In the aftermath of the referendum vote, with all the uncertainty that is faced, the British economy needs a direct injection of cash to ensure that it has the capital it needs to continue to create the jobs that the people of this country deserve to make the goods and services that we require and which we must export to continue to provide a solid foundation for our future. At this time only the government can provide this, and QE provides the mechanism to do so."

I could go on.

But surely building more homes...dilutes the market...thereby reducing the value and as such meaning that investing in property wouldn't be a good idea?

A property price crash is essential so that the younger generation will be able to buy homes and have a future.

Realignment maybe but a crash? that in itself would be a nightmare for a whole host of reasons and wouldn't free up property as no one could move

2 schools have been on strike in Greenwich this week over teacher and support staff cuts. It is a reality.