With New Labour’s neo-liberal agenda and long record of socialising costs and privatising profits it comes as a surprise to me that Alistair Darling has turned to Keynes in the face of recession. I had assumed until now that they’d use this recession and the recent handout to bankers as an opportunity to cut back on social spending. Maybe we have the absence of Tony Blair to thank?
While I’ve increasingly been hearing news of architects being laid off over the past few weeks, the firm I’m employed by works nearly exclusively in the social housing sector, so it’s certainly good economic news for me:
The chancellor said housing, energy and small businesses would benefit in his new spending plans.
And I couldn’t agree more with Darling on this statement:
This is a time when you have to support the economy. You will see us switching our spending priorities to areas which make a difference.
It’s just a shame he includes in this the entrenchment of the military-industrial complex and the myopic decision to upgrade Britain’s nuclear weapons.
… plans for two aircraft carriers and a new nuclear deterrent would go ahead.
I might add that a decision to upgrade Britain’s nuclear weapons is a direct violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, something the UK and U.S. governments have been falsely accusing Iran of over the past year or so.