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Thatcher's Legacy

Tyler Durden's picture




 

As 'The Iron Lady' is laid to rest today, we thought a look back at 'economic' legacy was worthwhile. As Bloomberg's Niraj Shah notes, average U.K. public spending was lower under Margaret Thatcher than under David Cameron while the average quarterly economic growth rate was 0.6 percent compared with 0.1 percent today. However, unemployment averaged 9.5 percent under Thatcher, the highest rate seen during the stewardship of any post-war U.K. leader, despite her stalling of the 1970s downward economic spiral. From the Poll Tax riots to mining-union busting to surviving bombings, commitment to brokering peace with the IRA, and winning the Falklands' War, there were many sides to this lady, and perhaps in death she has some lessons for investors today, "To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects." The longest serving prime minister in 150 years is receiving a ceremonial funeral with full military honors today as her legacy continues to divide the country.

Via Bloomberg Briefs (Niraj Shah @economistniraj),

How she stacked up...

 

Today’s U.K. unemployment data may highlight part of Margaret Thatcher’s legacy. Her labor-market reforms and curbs on trade union rights of two decades ago, which enabled companies to hire and fire more easily in response to economic developments, helped limit the increase in unemployment after the severest recession since the 1920s to 8.4 percent in 2011, compared with 11.9 percent in 1984.

 

Strikes

The number of working days lost through industrial action dropped to 249,000 in 2012 from 29.5 million in 1979 and 1.9 million in 1990. Union membership has almost halved since 1979 to 6.7 million in 2011, according to the Department for Business Innovation & Skills. The drop in strikes may have contributed to an increase in inward foreign investment. FDI inflows tripled to $30.5 billion in 1990 from $10.1 billion in 1980, according to UNCTAD.

Deindustrialization

About 173,000 coal miners lost their jobs under Thatcher, compared with a total workforce reduction of about 300,000 in the 1960s and 1970s. The Department of Energy & Climate Change estimates fewer than 6,000 coal miners remain. The World Bank calculates the contribution from industry, including manufacturing, to U.K. GDP fell to 34 percent in 1990 from 40 percent in 1979. That figure has since dropped to 22 percent. The U.K. remains the sixth-largest manufacturer by output.

Housing

Home-ownership levels are lower than when Thatcher left office in 1990. In the 1980s, the level of home ownership rose to 66 percent from 56.6 percent, peaking at 70.9 percent in 2003. That dropped to 65.3 percent in 2012 as the rising cost of property and a reduction in the availability of credit priced out buyers. House prices tripled between 1979 and 1990 and quadrupled in the next 20 years to an average 251,634 pounds, according to the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Inequality

Institute for Fiscal Studies research shows all income groups grew richer under Thatcher, even as inequality increased. A family in the bottom 10 percent of earners had a 4.6 percent increase in weekly income between 1979 and 1990 after adjusting for inflation. That compares with a 47 percent increase for the top 10 percent. Inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient, which ranges from 0 to 1, increased to 0.34 in 1990, the same as in 2011, from 0.24 in 1979.

 

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Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:26 | 3460392 HedgeAccordingly
Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:27 | 3460397 GetZeeGold
GetZeeGold's picture

 

 

We finally ran out of everyone else's money.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:37 | 3460434 hedgeless_horseman
hedgeless_horseman's picture

 

 

commitment to brokering peace with the IRA

Are you fucking high? 

Commitment to empire and tyranny? Yes. 

Peace?  Not so much.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:38 | 3460452 Passage
Passage's picture

She is just as good as a computer; she do what she deemed is right, without caring for the human consequences.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:50 | 3460473 hedgeless_horseman
hedgeless_horseman's picture

 

 

...is receiving a ceremonial funeral with full military honors today as her legacy continues to divide the country.

Indeed, Ireland remains divided, for now.

On a long enough timeline
the survival rate for
every occupying force drops to zero.

 

The problem with Emperialism is eventually you run out of other people's land.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:53 | 3460537 otto skorzeny
otto skorzeny's picture

like the US w/ Panama and Grenada- Thatcher was adept at bullying "military powerhouses" like Argentina

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:59 | 3460554 Passage
Passage's picture

A true breeder of poverty in the working class; if you are not there, you will never be there.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 13:35 | 3461899 zerozulu
zerozulu's picture

RIP.

 

Legacy!!

Thatcher milk snatcher.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:36 | 3461087 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

hedgeless, last time I was in Ireland I really did not sense any urge for reunification - on both sides

without malice towards you personally: you know what's another problem with imperialism?

citizens of the empire's core having strong opinions on how people on the empire's periphery should run their own business - even without personal experience on the matter

Baroness Tatcher had the same malady: she seriously tried (you could say: conspired) to keep both sides of Germany from re-uniting

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:51 | 3460767 Freddie
Freddie's picture

The Labour Party who came in after her opened the borders and turned the UK into a third world islmo shithole.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:37 | 3461093 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

funny, I remember lots and lots of Pakistani (muslims, of course) in England even before Maggie was elected. something with them being citizens, I vaguely heard...

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 12:23 | 3461366 The Abstraction...
The Abstraction of Justice's picture

People have short memories.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:41 | 3460477 Bicycle Repairman
Bicycle Repairman's picture

"commitment to brokering peace with the IRA"

I'm not going to hose PM Thatchers legacy, but that is utter BS.  Her use of both the IRA and the Falklands is not to her credit.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:14 | 3460895 spentCartridge
spentCartridge's picture

The Republic of Eire does not recognize the CROWN corporation.

 

And neither should you.

 

Whomever you may be.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:09 | 3460876 EscapeKey
EscapeKey's picture

The IRA were fucking angels, who committed no wrong.

OH WAIT A MI

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents_in_London

 

1970–1979
  • 8 March 1973: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) conducted its first operation in England, planting four car bombs in London. Two bombs exploded, one near the Old Bailey and the other at Scotland Yard,killing one person and injuring 180 others. Ten members of the IRA unit, including Gerry KellyDolours Price and Marian Price, were arrested at Heathrow Airporttrying to leave the country.[5] A car bomb left outside the post office in Broadway, Westminster outside New Scotland Yard was spotted and defused.
  • 24 December 1973: The Provisional IRA left two packages which exploded almost simultaneously in the late evening on Christmas Eve. One was in the doorway of the North Star public house South Hampstead, which exploded injuring six people, and the other exploded on the upstairs verandah of the nearby Swiss Cottage Tavern where an unspecified number of people were injured.[6][7]
  • 17 June 1974: A bomb exploded at the Houses of Parliament in London, causing extensive damage and injuring 11 people.[8]
  • 17 July 1974 An explosion in the Tower of London left one person dead and 41 injured. This was the second bomb in London on this day. At 0430 BST there was an explosion at government buildings in Balham, South London. Nobody was injured in the morning blast but there was substantial damage to surrounding buildings.[9]
  • 7 November 1974: An off-duty soldier and a civilian were killed when a bomb was thrown through the window of the Kings Arms pub in Woolwich, and 28 people were injured.[10]
  • 21 December 1974: A bomb was defused in Harrods department store in Knightsbridge, London. A second bomb was defused in the King's Arms public house in WarminsterWiltshire.[10]
  • 28 August 1975: Seven people were injured when a bomb exploded in Oxford Street, London, outside the south-east corner of Selfridges store. A telephone warning was issued to The Sunnewspaper five minutes before the explosion.[11]
  • 5 September 1975: Two people were killed and 63 injured when an IRA bomb exploded in the lobby of the Hilton hotel in London.[12]
  • 3 November 1975: Several people injured by a car bomb in Connaught Square, London W2.[13]
  • 6–12 December 1975: Four IRA members held two people hostage in the Balcombe Street Siege.[14]
  • 27 March 1976: A bomb placed by the Provisional IRA exploded in a litter bin at the top of an escalator in a crowded exhibition hall, Earl's Court. 20,000 people were attending the Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition at the time. 70 were injured, 4 people lost limbs.[15]
  • 30 March 1979, Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Airey Neave was killed as he left the House of Commons car park by a car bomb planted by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) in 1979.[16][17]
[edit] 1980–1989 [edit]1990–1999
  • 16 May 1990: Wembley IRA detonate a bomb underneath a minibus killing Sgt Charles Chapman (The Queen's Regiment) and injuring another soldier. No one was ever convicted of Sgt Chapman's murder.
  • 20 July 1990: London Stock Exchange, the IRA detonated a large bomb at the London Stock Exchange causing massive damage.
  • 7 February 1991: Mortar attack on 10 Downing Street[18]
  • 18 February 1991: A bomb explodes in Paddington Station, damaging the building's roof but causing no casualties. Three hours later another bomb explodes at Victoria Station. One man is killed and 38 people injured.
  • 10 January 1992: Small device exploded. No injuries, Whitehall Place, London SW1.
  • 28 February 1992: A bomb explodes at London Bridge station injuring 29 people.
  • 10 April 1992: Baltic Exchange bombing: A large bomb explodes outside 30 St Mary Axe in the City of London. The bomb was contained in a large white truck and consisted of a fertiliser device wrapped with a detonation cord made from Semtex. It killed three people: Paul Butt, aged 29, Baltic Exchange employee Thomas Casey, aged 49, and 15-year old Danielle Carter. Several people were critically or severely injured. The bomb also caused damage to surrounding buildings (many of which were further damaged by a second bomb the following year). The bomb caused £800 million worth of damage—£200 million more than the total damage costs resulting from all 10,000 previous explosions that had occurred relating to the Troubles inNorthern Ireland. A new skyscraper was built on the site of the previous historic building.[19]
  • 11 April 1992: A large bomb explodes underneath the A406 flyover at Staples Corner, causing serious damage to roads and nearby buildings including a B&Q DIY store and causing the closure of the junction. The blast was large enough to be felt many miles away.
  • 12 October 1992: A device exploded in the gentlemen's toilet of the Sussex Arms public house in Covent Garden, killing one person and injuring four others.
  • 16 November 1992: the IRA planted a bomb at Canary Wharf in the Docklands. The device was spotted by security guards and was deactivated safely.
  • 17 December 1992: A bomb hidden in a litter bin in a third-floor men's lavatory of the John Lewis department storeOxford Street, London, was detonated by the IRA just after 11 am. A second bomb exploded 15 minutes later at the rear of the store, in Cavendish Square, while shoppers and staff were still being evacuated. Four people were injured.[20]
  • 28 January 1993: a bomb exploded in a litter bin outside Harrods, injuring four people.[21]
  • 27 February 1993: a bomb exploded in a litter bin outside a McDonalds restaurant in Camden Town, injuring several people.[22]
  • 24 April: 1993 Bishopsgate bombing: the IRA detonated a huge truck bomb in the City of London at Bishopsgate, It killed journalist Ed Henty, injured over 40 people, and causing approximately £1 billion worth of damage,[23] including the near destruction of St Ethelburga's Bishopsgate church, and serious damage to Liverpool Street station. Police had received a coded warning, but were still evacuating the area at the time of the explosion. The insurance payments required were so large that Lloyd's of London almost went bankrupt under the strain, and there was a crisis in the London insurance market. The area had already suffered damage from the Baltic Exchange bombing the year before.
  • October 1993: Over eight days, a series of IRA bombs were left in various London locations. On 1 October, four bombs were left on Finchley Road, three of which exploded, causing damage to buildings and several injuries caused by falling glass. On 4 October, pairs of bombs were left in Highgate (where one failed to explode), Hornsey, and Archway, causing significant damage but no injuries. On 8 October, bombs exploded in Staples Corner and West Hampstead, again causing damage but no injuries.
  • March 1994: Heathrow Airport, The IRA launched a series of mortar attacks on the airport, partially paralysing the capital's main air route.
  • 9 February: 1996 Docklands bombing: the IRA bombed the South Quay area of London, killing two people.
  • 15 February 1996: A 5-pound (2.3 kg) bomb placed in a telephone box is disarmed by Police on the Charing Cross Road.
  • 18 February 1996: An IRA bomb detonates prematurely on a bus travelling along Aldwych in central London, killing Edward O'Brien, the IRA terrorist transporting the device and injuring eight others.[24]
  • 29 April 1997: Britain's transport industry claimed minimum losses of £30 million after a series of IRA bomb alerts in southern England brought traffic to a standstill. In the London area, theHeathrow airport and the M25 motorway were closed.[25]

 

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:40 | 3460446 Passage
Passage's picture

RIP, let bygones be bygones.

She was never a happy woman.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:37 | 3460448 TheFourthStooge-ing
TheFourthStooge-ing's picture

The fact that Dick "Moloch" Cheney attended the funeral tells me all I need to know.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:54 | 3460475 otto skorzeny
otto skorzeny's picture

he probably tried to crawl into the casket to fuck her corpse while howling "Deficits don't matter"

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:09 | 3460872 Alpha Monkey
Alpha Monkey's picture

I almost couldn't contain my laughter in class when I read this.  Thank you for the horrifically hilarious visual.  I wonder if the down voters love cheney, thatcher, or are just hate that they had to visualize a disgusting form of necrophilia... 

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:46 | 3460491 aka Gil
aka Gil's picture

I wonder if Declan MacManus will be there?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy3-R97wDKs

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:05 | 3460584 Ignatius
Ignatius's picture

One of the few countries that won't arrest him on the spot for the torture policy.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:05 | 3460848 whatsinaname
whatsinaname's picture

Saw a comment somewhere on her legacy - the conversion of London as a financial center began in her era. Now I dont know if it was a good thing or not or would England still be better off having the shipping / coal miner jobs ?

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:29 | 3460405 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

She was their Bush I. The beginning of the end for the working class.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:36 | 3460445 Bearwagon
Bearwagon's picture

You are dead on! And obviously she still has got some fans around here ...

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:39 | 3460460 otto skorzeny
otto skorzeny's picture

there's alot of weird free-market fascism on ZH.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:41 | 3460731 Melin
Melin's picture

free-market fascism? 

There's a lot of definition-free commentary on ZH.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:16 | 3460921 Real Estate Geek
Real Estate Geek's picture

BRILLIANT!

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:39 | 3460459 Sudden Debt
Sudden Debt's picture

She kicked off the deregulation for the banks that got us into this mess in the first place.

And now they're even putting he into the ground with even more taxmoney....

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:31 | 3460693 falak pema
falak pema's picture

hey sudden debt have you changed your gospel book?

Lol, its funny how the herd moves. 

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:12 | 3460894 EscapeKey
EscapeKey's picture

Oh right, and she also made everyone rush out and indebt themselves up to their eyeballs during the Blair/Brown years.

Oh wait a minute, no that was Blair/Brown, and the continuous downwards manipulation of interest rates.

During the Thatcher years, interest rates were actually *gasp* raised when it semt prudent to do so.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 13:52 | 3462032 Sandmann
Sandmann's picture

Crap. they were raised as part of a madcap Money Experiment using Price rather than Quantity because they dare not use Monetary Base Control and they had stupidly abolished SDs and SSDs and the Corset. So they drove Merlin and Cable out of whack with the fundamentals and de-industrialised yet facilitated massive imports through reducing tax levels in 1986.

The huge imbalances blew the Balance of Payments to pieces

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:34 | 3460707 prains
prains's picture

47% increase in income for the top 10% says it all _crony capitalism was her mantra

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:48 | 3461152 venturen
venturen's picture

SO you think unions with no restraint are the way to go? Please let me know where that utopia works? What is your model USSR, China, Frnace? Please share.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 18:13 | 3463646 prains
prains's picture

love your either/or philosophy hard cronyism either way

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:31 | 3460407 youngman
youngman's picture

we need more people like that with consertative conviction..but with todays press..they would be eaten alive....we can not get Politicians like that anymore...to bad...

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:37 | 3460437 otto skorzeny
otto skorzeny's picture

she was a glorified pinkerton detective. GB industry had been on borrowed time since WWI. the 80s saw the rise of asia as a producing powerhouse.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:38 | 3460454 Bearwagon
Bearwagon's picture

I just got onto my knees, to thank the lord for the blessing that we can not get politicians like that anymore  ;-)

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:29 | 3460681 falak pema
falak pema's picture

it could get worse... human nature knows no limits especially in times of return to rampant neo colonialism and great divide between riiiiiich and pooooooooor. 

Grand canyon stuffffff.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:30 | 3460410 FieldingMellish
FieldingMellish's picture

Timing is everything... North Sea oil.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:46 | 3460488 Bicycle Repairman
Bicycle Repairman's picture

Was it merely fortuitous?

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:55 | 3460540 Bicycle Repairman
Bicycle Repairman's picture

Was it merely fortuitous?

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 13:05 | 3461677 knukles
knukles's picture

North Sea oil happened in the '60s ....

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 13:49 | 3461993 Sandmann
Sandmann's picture

It probably happened millions of years ago....but exploration and extraction began in 1975 coming fully onstream in 1979 peaking in 1984 and falling off after 1993

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/04/thatcher-and-north-sea-oil-...

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:31 | 3460412 Sudden Debt
Sudden Debt's picture

and still there's morons from the lower and middle class paying hommage to that bitch...

and the rich don't even bother going to her funaral because she was only the message bitch they paid for...

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:33 | 3460430 otto skorzeny
otto skorzeny's picture

the hollywood hebes even made a movie to make sure the serfs will forever remember her as a great leader and not the beginning of their end- like Reagan

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 16:04 | 3462927 Straw Dog
Straw Dog's picture

Have you seen the movie, it's more like a documentary on Alzheimers/Dementia than a portrait of a leader. Meant to belittle Thatcher not praise her, almost total BS.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:39 | 3460468 Bearwagon
Bearwagon's picture

Thank you so much , for bringing a smile to the face of an old man, by rightfully calling her a bitch!

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:47 | 3460754 Mercury
Mercury's picture

I don't hear much complaining about her very controversial and hard fought decision to keep GB out of the Euro.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:13 | 3460900 Sudden Debt
Sudden Debt's picture

That was a good call but it doesn't do shit about the fact that Britain is in a bigger mess than Europe as a hole!

But the English aren't really known for their brainpower :)

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 12:20 | 3461350 Ghordius
Ghordius's picture

at that time it was controversial - nowadays it's around 80% vs 14% - and I still suspect that the 14% of Britons that would like to join the eurozone are nearly all... Scots

meanwhile if Britons behave (i.e. reelect Cameron) than perhaps he might grant them a referendum about the EU

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 16:33 | 3463054 smacker
smacker's picture

"...he [Cameron] might grant them a referendum about the EU"

Yes, he may indeed. But be assured it will NOT be an In/Out referendum.

Sun, 04/21/2013 - 17:58 | 3481427 Enectus
Enectus's picture

It's still weird that the actual last domino as dubbed by Zerohedge, is the one that bashes the euro... Unlimited repo anyone ? More than half of all derivative debt was created in London. That's the UK for you.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:31 | 3460414 otto skorzeny
otto skorzeny's picture

GB is like the US- 1/2 the country works for the police state govt and the other 1/2 is on the govt teat-so 100% are dependent on a broke-assed govt.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:38 | 3460457 aka Gil
aka Gil's picture

So that's why I don't have a job...or get a check in the mail.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:48 | 3460506 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

I was thinking about that today as I have been watching Venzuela. It seems to be a world wid phenomenon right now where the countries are divided in two by the government dependent class and what's left of the private sector.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:59 | 3460556 otto skorzeny
otto skorzeny's picture

everyone is an enabler or co-dependent. I mean-how much of private industry is now propped up by direct govt spending here in the US(medicare/aid,food stamps,MIC,etc.). remove even a small amount of that $ and the Ponzi is over

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:08 | 3460578 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

Agreed. There is very little left that isn't dependent on the government in some manner. Even those who think they aren't dependent are in at some level, it is just a matter of to what degree.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 13:25 | 3461823 Jumbotron
Jumbotron's picture

"Agreed. There is very little left that isn't dependent on the government in some manner. Even those who think they aren't dependent are in at some level, it is just a matter of to what degree."

 

Truer words have rarely been spoken.  +1000

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:10 | 3460603 tip e. canoe
tip e. canoe's picture

very true, however the situation in Venuzuela, et al is a bit more complex, as the FSA there has a common enemy with many a private citizens on the home turf...USAInc. (and its shadow).

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 12:17 | 3461340 11b40
11b40's picture

Welcome to the world of "free trade", where multi-national corps are "free" to plunder every possible resource and market....including labor.  Or, maybe better said, ESPECIALLY labor.

But I guess we can't do much about it.  After all, corporations are people, too.  Wink, wink....nod, nod

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 13:26 | 3461837 Jumbotron
Jumbotron's picture

"Welcome to the world of "free trade", where multi-national corps are "free" to plunder every possible resource and market....including labor.  Or, maybe better said, ESPECIALLY labor.

But I guess we can't do much about it.  After all, corporations are people, too.  Wink, wink....nod, nod"

 

Only on Zero Hedge can rarely spoken truth become less rare.  +1001

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:20 | 3460642 Optimusprime
Optimusprime's picture

Also alike in being destroyed by immigration policy designed to overwhelm the original population, ruled indirectly by Jews, and having a currency controlled ultimately by the Rothschild syndicate.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:49 | 3461160 venturen
venturen's picture

What is wrong with teats?

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 16:25 | 3463020 smacker
smacker's picture

 

Your numbers are a tad wonky, but you're on the right track.

As I've said a thousand times: that is how socialism works. When everybody's sucking on the State's teat, who are they gonna vote for?

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:33 | 3460421 stinkhammer
stinkhammer's picture

death is part of life Forest

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:34 | 3460422 I am more equal...
I am more equal than others's picture

The protesters have no understanding of what she accomplished and live in the mass delusional land of  Neurotic Mediocrity.  

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:41 | 3460474 Bearwagon
Bearwagon's picture

You vastly underestimate how deep an understanding of her crimes these protesters have.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:49 | 3460513 hooligan2009
hooligan2009's picture

and you have no understanding of how much a minority the protesters are.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:09 | 3460599 Bearwagon
Bearwagon's picture

What are you trying to tell me? That a majority always and automatically gets it right? Sorry, can't agree with such stupid shit ...

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:56 | 3460801 krypplephite
krypplephite's picture

Stupid shit like a board of directors, trial by jury and democracy?

Yeah - that's crazy man...

 

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 13:29 | 3461854 Jumbotron
Jumbotron's picture

"Stupid shit like a board of directors, trial by jury and democracy?

Yeah - that's crazy man..."

 

Crazy to believe any of that shit works anymore.  There....fixed it for ya.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:49 | 3460758 krypplephite
krypplephite's picture

"Crimes"

<-----Huffington Post is that way

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 17:03 | 3463180 Bearwagon
Bearwagon's picture

Thank you, but I've lived in those days, to see it with my own lying eyes. Don't need a sleezy tabloid to know ...

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 16:20 | 3463000 smacker
smacker's picture

 

 

The overwhelming probability is that only a tiny few of them have a clue what day of the week it is.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:33 | 3460423 PeaBird
PeaBird's picture

However, unemployment averaged 9.5 percent under Thatcher

How much is UK unemployment today if one used the same methods of unemployment calculation, that one used back in the 1970's? I would hazard a guess that it would be much higher than 9.5%. No such thing as "discouraged" workers, or labelling someone as employed, when they worked 1-10 hrs per week back then.

 

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:43 | 3460738 krypplephite
krypplephite's picture

In 2013, killing one full time manufacturing job and creating two part time baristas is called "job creation

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:34 | 3460433 Cheater5
Cheater5's picture

R.I.P. Maggie.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:42 | 3460480 Bearwagon
Bearwagon's picture

Just rest, that's the main thing.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:35 | 3460440 Shevva
Shevva's picture

Why link to the Guardian? they hate her and probably want her corpse put on display so they can spit in her face.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:48 | 3460508 hooligan2009
hooligan2009's picture

exactly, i find it sickening how the press are picking at her corpse.

just goes to show how left wing the MSM is in the UK, from the BBC, to the grudniag, the independent, the economist..what a joke they are with the vision of earthworms and the fortitude of ghetto dwellers.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:38 | 3460458 Shizzmoney
Shizzmoney's picture

#fail

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:40 | 3460464 Oldballplayer
Oldballplayer's picture

I was a young adult when Thatcher was in office.  I was too busy with my career, my wedding, and starting a family to pay much attention to what was going on across the seas.

But, I can attest to the fact that I felt more protected when I had Reagan, Thatcher, and a ballsy Pope running things against a Soviet Union that was aggressive and near collapse.

While I never really trusted "government."  I DID sleep better at night knowing someone knew where the button was, just in case.

Today we have metrosexual assholes running things.  I sleep well enough...but now I have a gun in the room with me.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:48 | 3460503 otto skorzeny
otto skorzeny's picture

how do you feel more protected-you have a much higher chance of death from a trigger-happy LE officer than ever being in a "terrorist attack"

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:07 | 3460595 Oldballplayer
Oldballplayer's picture

Who said I feel portected?

The LEO's in my town are some of my friends.  Off duty, I love these guys.  On duty...I am glad they are my friends, because I have seen them bust balls for almost nothing.

No, I do not feel protected at all.  I expect the government to do the wrong thing. 

I live near what used to be a SAC base.  Nuke drills were commonplace when I was a kid.  You could taste the stress in the parents in the early to mid sixties.

What I feel among my peers now is helplessness, not fear.

I am not helpless.  BUt I count on no one.

 

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 13:41 | 3461937 Jumbotron
Jumbotron's picture

"Who said I feel portected?

The LEO's in my town are some of my friends.  Off duty, I love these guys.  On duty...I am glad they are my friends, because I have seen them bust balls for almost nothing.

No, I do not feel protected at all.  I expect the government to do the wrong thing. 

I live near what used to be a SAC base.  Nuke drills were commonplace when I was a kid.  You could taste the stress in the parents in the early to mid sixties.

What I feel among my peers now is helplessness, not fear.

I am not helpless.  BUt I count on no one."

Then don't count on your LEO's to enforce gun confiscation when it comes.....and it will come.

Better make them and the head of that LE agency in your town or county sign a statement proclaiming their protection and enforcement of the 2nd Admendment when the shit hits the fan and post a video on Youtube of them doing it....so when the shit hits the fan and the Feds come to call to enforce that law through the arm of your Local LE....at least you become justified on what you have to do because it's documented personally that they are in violation of the 2nd amendment.

 

Otherwise....look to most LEO's to vote to continue to get the security a paycheck by enforcing gun confiscation in your area.  After all....if it comes down to them eating and continuing their right to own a firearm by taking away your right to own and bear arms....particularly when they have to finance a car, a boat, a house, a kid's education, the wife and have a pension and health care....etc.....well....you just think about that.

The desire for security and doing the right thing....are often at odds with one another.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 15:46 | 3462814 e-recep
e-recep's picture

side-effects of a unipolar world. if the state runs out of real enemies then you become the enemy.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:40 | 3460467 viator
viator's picture

"liberals would prefer the poor be poorer provided the rich were less rich rather than create more wealth for everyone."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnOGaQX04Cs

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:46 | 3460498 hooligan2009
hooligan2009's picture

from her farewell speech to parliament..

she answered, on level terms, all the critics from both sides on poverty, handicapped benefits, the reskilling of the labour force etc etc..and she was not shouted down, even the opposition knew where she stood and her belief in her principles; always supporting and allowing the westminster democratic process.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:33 | 3460702 1eyedman
1eyedman's picture

it sounds like you believe 'conservative' politician create wealth.   wealth is created by people engaging in free commerce protected equally by the rule of law and enforcement of contracts.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:20 | 3460957 csmith
csmith's picture

Politicians, liberal or conservative, generally don't create anything except problems.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 13:45 | 3461982 Jumbotron
Jumbotron's picture

"Politicians, liberal or conservative, generally don't create anything except problems."

 

Yeah...well...who puts them there......and who fails to remove them?  Who gives birth to them, who raises them, who educates them, who houses them, who gives them jobs, who empowers them, who doesn't hold their feet to the fire?

We the Sheeple.

STFU and deal with it.  You're on Prision Planet where the ONLY freedom is contained in your mind....and even that is under constant threat every day.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:44 | 3460483 hooligan2009
hooligan2009's picture

were it not for this great lady, the UK would be further into decline than it is today..

there is a saying that people are born socialists and die conservatives, thatcher was born a conservative and had socialism imposed upon her by the "wets" in her party.

the decline into socialism resumed when she left office..so did the levels of government spending, fiscal deficits and debt/gdp.

a few tens of protesters out of tens of thousands of those paying their respects along the funral procession rout bears witness to the esteem that her common sense views were held.

she is an icon of history amongst the fetid pool of detritus that passes for leadership in today's world.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 18:44 | 3463762 Plumplechook
Plumplechook's picture

Hooligan2009 - fuck off with your bullshit you fucking necrophiliac fuck.  Far from saving Britain, Thatcher's government delivered rampant inequality, social breakdown, disastrous financial deregulation, pulverising deindustrialisation and mass unemployment. A North Sea oil bonanza was frittered away on tax cuts for the wealthy and a swollen benefits bill as public services were run down, child poverty escalated and social mobility ground to a halt.

But for all that, apologists like you insist, Thatcher did what was necessary to turn Britain's economy round. But fuck-off she did. Growth during the 1980s, at 2.4%, was exactly the same as during the 'socialist' 1970s and lower again in the post-Thatcher 1990s, at 2.2% — while in the corporatist 1960s it averaged over 3%.

And despite claims of a Thatcher "productivity miracle", productivity growth was also higher in the 60s (and it's gone into reverse under Cameron). What her government did do was redistribute growth from the poor to the rich, driving up profits and slashing employees' share of national income through her assault on trade unions. That's why it felt like a boom in better-off Britain, as the top rate of tax was more than halved, while real incomes fell for the poorest 40% in her first decade in power.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 19:11 | 3463887 hooligan2009
hooligan2009's picture

well done for stringing such a paragraph together..not many pinkos can do that..

i lived through the heath years, the callaghan years and the years when michael foot turned up in a shabby anorak for rememberance day..

i saw strikes at britsh leyland, the docks, the mines, the teachers, i saw three day working weeks, imf bailouts, and the stench of socialism that built council estates in tory heartlands to rig the votes for labour, that turned into sinkhole estates..

i crossed picket lines and got called scab..and honoured picket lines where management spouted the same fucktard rhetoric that you have surely learned from crying in your beer too many times..the source of the rhetoric doesn't matter,.what matters is ignoring facts..you have a knack for that.

the deindustrialization you refer to was for sick unionized industries that had been bailed out year in year out by tax payers. were it not for thatcher you might have achieved your wish of living pre-berlin wall soviet living standards a few decades earlier than would otherwise be the case.

this does not make the "performance" of subsequent politicians and less reprehensible as they return us to the path of communism through odious debt and deficits. 

thatcher delayed the inevitable impoverishment through debt acccumulation..i think she would have fixed that far better than the likes of gordon brown or george osbourne..small wonder people like farage cite her speeches about europe.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 19:24 | 3463937 Plumplechook
Plumplechook's picture

More myth-peddling Holligan2009. 

The reality was, Britain had slightly more strikes than Germany and France during the 1970s and about the same per capita as the USA.

1979 saw 29 million days lost in strikes, while 1926 saw 160 million days lost in strikes and the 1979 population was almost 20 million larger.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 19:54 | 3464086 hooligan2009
hooligan2009's picture

back to school..though of course, this is going to be propaganda..breaking the corrupt unions resulted in harmonious industrail relations.

http://tutor2u.net/economics/content/topics/labourmarket/strikes.htm

this is the backdrop that thatcher inherited from labour, pre the 1979 general election 

http://libcom.org/history/1978-1979-winter-of-discontent

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_general_election,_1979

mind you the blue rinse brigade are saying that more work is lost because of stress these days..sign of the times

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1195115/Stress-costs-working-days-lost-1970s-strikes.html

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:44 | 3460485 Spastica Rex
Spastica Rex's picture

Too much weird stuff in the 60s and 70s - Thatcher and Reagan put an end to it. Imagine a world designed by hippies. John Lennon wrote a song about it.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:47 | 3460504 Bearwagon
Bearwagon's picture

It was over when Robert Kennedy was shot ...

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:49 | 3460514 Spastica Rex
Spastica Rex's picture

Long strange trip.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:49 | 3460511 otto skorzeny
otto skorzeny's picture

no-the boomers grew up and decided they wanted 2 cars and a house in the burbs.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:10 | 3460604 Oldballplayer
Oldballplayer's picture

Yes!  But you left out....they did not want to pay for any of it.

Thu, 04/18/2013 - 02:47 | 3465282 Kobe Beef
Kobe Beef's picture

We're living in it now, in case you didn't notice. "Cultural Revolution" is now mainstream. The Decline of Western Civilization continues...

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:48 | 3460505 azzhatter
azzhatter's picture

 "To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects."

 

 

Love that line. Fuck You Obama

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:02 | 3460570 Acet
Acet's picture

And yet the Western countries that weathering the current storm the best, like Germany, Switzerland and the Nordics, are in fact very heavilly into consensus ...

Maybe things work better when being a greedy, selfish asshole is not actually celebrated in society as a good thing!?

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:51 | 3460524 Everybodys All ...
Everybodys All American's picture

The UK has become a nation of misfits and most will admit they do not recognize their country any longer. The tearing down of Thatcher is just emblematic of it all.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 12:04 | 3461272 The Abstraction...
The Abstraction of Justice's picture

The 'fake working man fraternity' who think they have a priviliged perspective on Thatcher, forget that their parents saw mines as a place where they would turn up 5 days a week to go on strike. When some people objected, and actually started mining for ore, in the vain hope of keeping the mines open they were shouted down as 'scabs', ostracized and even faced murder. (by high velocity paving slabs). The 'scabs' did more to help their communities than any of the unions, who are generally just there to take their six figure salary.

 

'Ask why our mam died, cos' pap went on strike, and lied.'

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 09:59 | 3460558 youngman
youngman's picture

GB with all their immigrants now..is NOT what it used to be....they need another Thatcher right now...but it will never happen....

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:12 | 3460611 Bearwagon
Bearwagon's picture

Of course the City of London has absolutely nothing to do with the UK not being what it used to be ... yeah, for sure ...

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:59 | 3461242 The Abstraction...
The Abstraction of Justice's picture

Powell was okayish, but he didn't really speak of the real evil, which was Zionism. He did recognize that India was a threat, which is something missed by so many people who think they understand Middle East politics. Never forget that India sided with the Soviet Union during the cold war. Who now has the kill switch for the Western banking system? India.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 21:39 | 3464394 Bunders
Bunders's picture
I thought the point of Monsanto was to give America preferred customer status for Indian Agri output if not to co-opt it completely, so as to hold a kill switch in the states.
"MIL’s Dekalb® is the most trusted brand of high-yielding hybrid maize seeds for the Indian farmer." - http://www.monsantoindia.com/
"China's Reliance On Food Imports Raising Global Prices" - The Grudnia, 2004 - http://rense.com/general56/ais.htm
I assumed that's why there is a smear campaign against Monsanto by Al Jazeera - http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/does-biopiracy-endanger-world-food-sup...
Propaganda Today - http://www.rt.com/business/russia-monsanto-corn-ban-005/
Some hippy propaganda outlet reporting on China - http://naturalsociety.com/china-rejects-genetically-modified-rice-gmo-cr...
and that that's why Monsanto are so cosy with the US Government, because they are a commercial weapon, like JP Morgan.
Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:26 | 3460663 Optimusprime
Optimusprime's picture

They should have listened to Enoch Powell--something about statesmanship consisting in the vision and the activity required to avoid foreseeable disasters.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:28 | 3460672 ross81
ross81's picture

they have another Thatcher ya donk......he's called David Cameron.

 

No wonder the UK is f**ked

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:34 | 3460698 Bearwagon
Bearwagon's picture

+1 for simply being right

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:03 | 3460574 Ignatius
Ignatius's picture

I would like to see her 'legacy' overlaid with the flow of North Sea oil. 

 

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:12 | 3460609 Everybodys All ...
Everybodys All American's picture

The same could be said of any dear leader. Fortunate or not it is sometimes out of their immediate control. You could argue for instance Bill Clinton prospered because of the dot com era in the states. It is what it is. With Thatcher the fact that she decided to keep the UK out of the Euro when many many others wanted it speaks volumes in my opinion of her economic common sense.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:58 | 3461223 The Abstraction...
The Abstraction of Justice's picture

There were many others telling us to stay out of Europe, and they would have done a better job, keeping Europe and the rest of the third world out of England. Example, J Enoch Powell, who was beloved of the working classes. Not the fake-proles socialist classes.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:09 | 3460597 stiler
stiler's picture

Thatcher had a commitment to the east-west balance of power, upholding our side of it, like RR. It's a fact of life, allies vs axis, to this day. The countries change, dynamic remains, until it doesn't. "Trust, but verify", a mantra. Britain entered socialism after WWII and is fully entrenched. Trash the Christians.  She fought the good fight.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:27 | 3460667 1eyedman
1eyedman's picture

why are leaders and politcians always credited (and discredited) for economic cycles???    they do nothing but happen to be at the desk when thngs happen.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:33 | 3460700 tawse57
tawse57's picture

She wrecked millions of lives in Scotland, Wales and the North of England to enrich a bunch of spivs and 'I am alright Jacks; in London and the Home Counties.

Terrible woman - truly terrible and still despised by tens of millions of British people.

The damage she has done still lives on.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:56 | 3461210 The Abstraction...
The Abstraction of Justice's picture

Scotland has been shitting on England since the Act of Treason 1707. Brown with his English taxpayer fuelled bailout of Scottish banks, to the tune of a trillion sterling, dwarfs any revenues from North Sea oil. So you can take your Celtic bigotry and go fuck yourself.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:34 | 3460706 falak pema
falak pema's picture

next we know by the sounds of this Thatcher bashing thread, ZH will be labelled socialist forum!

Where have all the neo con and libertarian cousins gone?

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:36 | 3460714 Spastica Rex
Spastica Rex's picture

This is the new and improved Hippie Hedge.

Peace, man. 

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:46 | 3460742 kralizec
kralizec's picture

Too bad she has to be laid to rest in a nation that will soon be filled with nothing but 7th Century Savages.

Oh well, fuckitall anyway.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 17:07 | 3463194 Bearwagon
Bearwagon's picture

Yo, brother! Peace! And don't bogart that joint, my friend ...

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 12:24 | 3461192 The Abstraction...
The Abstraction of Justice's picture

Libertarianism without some sort of Christian mission to educate the poor and needy is feudalism by another name. Thatcher helped destroy the Grammar school system, in which gifted children, of any social status could get exceptional education. Now we have a public/private divide, in which the only criterion that matters is how rich your parents are.

 

When we protect the 'rights of parents to privately educate their children', this is interpreted by politicians as one shit dumbed down politically correct poison for the proles, and an elite alternative for the elite.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 16:10 | 3462956 smacker
smacker's picture

 

It doesn't need to be a Christian mission or any other religious mission. Thatcher had no problem with providing support to the genuine poor and needy. No true Conservative does.

The problem she encountered when she came into office was facing down the workshy, a ballooning Welfare system and unelected communist/fascist Trade Unions run by scary nutters like Arthur Scargill, trying to subvert govt and take it over by destroying industry with strikes etc. All covertly encouraged by the socialist Labour Party and its leaders and followers, eg the Welsh Windbag, Neil Kinnock.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 16:54 | 3463146 The Abstraction...
The Abstraction of Justice's picture

Replacing on set of nutters with another set of socialist nutters and giving them power over the education system. It was she who created Channel 4. She, who in the name of increasing home ownership, permitted a housing bubble that took houses from the nation and gave it to the banksters. Home ownership is not home ownership while banks have title to the homes.

 

'Thatcher had no problem with providing support to the genuine poor and needy'

 

How many grammar schools did she open?

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:40 | 3460725 macroeconomist
macroeconomist's picture

Why not mention that "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" made number 2 in U.K charts last week, as well as hundreds of parties being held in the U.K since her death?...Two-thirds of this country hates her to bits and celebrates her death. What fucking legacy? This is what a cunt she actually was in the eyes of British people. Only a few tory sluts and their neo-con U.S counterparts are sorry..

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:49 | 3461169 The Abstraction...
The Abstraction of Justice's picture

Consider that her worst legacy, the dumbing down on education, and her death celebrated by the trotskyist teachers, who were the major workhorses of the duming down front, and something stinks. Add to that, the tradition of her excesses that  were projected even further by Blair, Brown, Major and Cameron, and the question is not whether the music is appropriate, but whether the entire politcal class should hang.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:52 | 3460773 Inthemix96
Inthemix96's picture

Thatchers legacy?

Aye, some legacy it is as well folks, take this though, you can google it and check multiple sources including your very own CNN.  This woman had christmas lunch with Britains most prolific vile fucking nonce, who didnt just like kids but also liked dead bodies, a necrophiliac peadophile called jimmy saville, for thirteen consecutive years.

And I get people tell me she was some type of British hero?

Fuck you thatcher you vile peadophile protecting cunt.  The worlds a little bit brighter today now this inhuman fuck is gone for good.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:48 | 3461150 The Abstraction...
The Abstraction of Justice's picture

Guess what race Saville was.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 12:07 | 3461285 Inthemix96
Inthemix96's picture

You being serious?

'Cos if you are, and what I'm thinking?  Seriously?

Fuck me, this is all fucking insane mate.  I am sickened to what humans are capable of, I really am.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 12:21 | 3461359 The Abstraction...
The Abstraction of Justice's picture

Once you understand the sickness you can begin to join the dots.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 16:35 | 3463067 smacker
smacker's picture

Evidence please.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 10:57 | 3460797 johny2
johny2's picture

I think she was a succesful politician, but is that worth more than a succesful nurse or something like that? The masses will feel like they are involved into politics, and it is maybe the only way for the creatures like us. The spirit of the Roman empire lives on! Like someone said, let the bygones be bygones. RIP.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:12 | 3460884 csmith
csmith's picture

Bottom Line:

Where would Britain be today if she had never come along?

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:18 | 3460945 Iam Yue2
Iam Yue2's picture

Brokering peace with the IRA: that old ten dead men sleight of hand trick.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:45 | 3461144 The Abstraction...
The Abstraction of Justice's picture

Perhaps the conflict in N.I was never England's business and never in England's interest. Sooner we break up from Britain/Europe the better. Too many non-English people in Parliament.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 14:54 | 3462527 Sandmann
Sandmann's picture

Of course it was. The Six Counties did not want to live under the Church of Rome and de Valera. They were ready to fight in 1914, a million strong. The British army mutinied at The Curragh. It is part of the United Kingdom. If the Germans want to give Schleswig to Denmark, and the US wants to give Texas to Mexico, or Belarus wants to return its territory to Poland, or if Ukraine wants to return Lwow to Poland, or the US wants to sell Louisiana to France or Alaska to Russia.......feel free, but Northern Ireland is British territory

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 16:53 | 3463131 The Abstraction...
The Abstraction of Justice's picture

The point is that England has been betrayed by the British empire. We English need to leave it, and thence, the issue of NI belonging to Britain, Ireland or itself, ceases to be our problem. The sooner Parliament is controlled for the benefit of wholly English interests, the sooner we can reclaim our streets. While we are under the thumb of Celtic tyrants, then mass immigration is a weapon that will be used to belittle us, increasingly.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 11:53 | 3461198 smacker
smacker's picture

 

The so-called Poll Tax riots - which played a large part in the eventual downfall of Margaret Thatcher - probably do more to explain the Left leaning electorate in Britain than almost any other issue.

Essentially, prior to her introduction of the Community Charge (as it was correctly called), local government services were funded by taxes levied on property owners. For a wide variety of Welfare reasons, this meant that less than 50% of any community actually contributed to them. In some cases it was much less than 50%. Yet everybody had full use of local services and, as is often the case, those who paid nothing in local taxes often used the public services most. And of course those who don't pay for the services, tend to abuse them. And their kids think nothing of defacing or damaging public property because they don't have to pay for its repair. A classic socialist dreamland.

The downside was that the full cost burden was being shared among fewer and fewer property owners, resulting in ever rising taxes.

This is what lay behind the Thatcher Community Charge principle: that every citizen over the age of 18 should contribute something towards the cost of local services and maintenance of street furniture etc.

The Left-Wing alliance against such fairness (orchestrated by the socialist Labour Party) rose up and went out on the streets. The rest is history.

Twenty odd years later, we now have the Council Tax system which once again produces annual bills which are increasingly astronomical and of course, only paid for by about 40% of local residents. The rest are on Welfare.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 12:17 | 3461342 FrozenOut
FrozenOut's picture

+100 Somebody who knows what they're talking about. 

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 12:38 | 3461485 IQ 101
IQ 101's picture

You could simply change the names in the charts,

Callahan = Carter

Thatcher = Reagan

Major = Bush 1

Blair = Clinton

Brown = Obama

It is hardly a mirror image but it rhymes,the policies implimented on both sides of the Atlantic at similar times indicate that the 'Players',regardless of alleged political bent are merely implimentors of the whimsical desires of a higher power? central banks perhaps?

The Reagan /Thatcher love fest marked a huge kick in the teeth for the average working stiff, I still believe Reagan was a card carrying communist, This leaves me a stray GW Bush in my theory but the faces are not the key, the end results of the policies are, Open floodgate immigration and the alleged 'Welfare reforms' of Blair/Clinton happening almost hand in hand. Bank Reforms and Housing Booms and lots of other stuff. The idea that we are living in seperate sovereign Nations is clearly a myth.

Obama has millions of life-long Democrats scratching their heads,I know a few, and this is because the fearless leader of the week is nothing more than a Bit Actor for a higher power.

When 'our' Gordon Brown,Obama, has sold off the nations Gold/Wealth, for pennies on the dollar he will be thrown out in disgust for a regime change and we will get our Frutti-Tutti Cameron, Romney was set up to play the part but it did not fly just yet,so Obama will just have to read that script.

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 13:42 | 3461947 Sandmann
Sandmann's picture

You forget the most important chart for a small island with a bloated FIRE sector running international lending........TRADE DEFICIT. Look how it ballooned under Thatcher needing N Sea oil to keep the show on the road. Once the Oil Boost fell away the country was left with nothing more than a Credit Boom......and Bust

Wed, 04/17/2013 - 18:36 | 3463746 Plumplechook
Plumplechook's picture

Don't believe the hype and bullshit about this woman's legacy.

Far from saving Britain, Thatcher's government delivered rampant inequality, social breakdown, disastrous financial deregulation, pulverising deindustrialisation and mass unemployment. A North Sea oil bonanza was frittered away on tax cuts for the wealthy and a swollen benefits bill as public services were run down, child poverty escalated and social mobility ground to a halt.

But for all that, her apologists insist, Thatcher did what was necessary to turn Britain's economy round. But she didn't. Growth during the 1980s, at 2.4%, was exactly the same as during the turbulent 1970s and lower again in the post-Thatcher 1990s, at 2.2% — while in the corporatist 1960s it averaged over 3%.

And despite claims of a Thatcher "productivity miracle", productivity growth was also higher in the 60s (and it's gone into reverse under Cameron). What her government did do was redistribute growth from the poor to the rich, driving up profits and slashing employees' share of national income through her assault on trade unions. That's why it felt like a boom in better-off Britain, as the top rate of tax was more than halved, while real incomes fell for the poorest 40% in her first decade in power.

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