Among Mandy’s many amusing statements at the Labour Party conference was that the cash for scrappage scheme would continue with money being provided for another 100,000 cars and vans. Cue applause. Excuse me? Did any of those attending have any grasp of the economic consequences of this policy? I doubt it… all it does is bring forward purchases from the future. People who buy now using government money will not be buying in the future using their own. Subsidised sales now mean there won’t be any then. This effectively bankrupts the future to bankroll the present – how is economic growth supposed to arise from this? Keeping the car industry alive now by robbing it of any future serves one purpose, not economic but political. When the future rolls inexorably around and lack of cash means stimulus has to stop, Labour is well aware that chances are it’ll be after the election and they won’t be in power by then anyway. It’ll be someone else’s problem. This is an appalling and cynical management of our finances which if better understood would make their losing at the next election a certainty. Instead they can rely on there being a general lack of understanding as it’s they who determine what level of economic education we receive. No wonder Balls fears homeschooling so much, any independently and properly educated kid is going to see straight through political chicanery like this.
BB