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"If you cut that [spending] too much you actually make it worse"

Economist Ha-Joon Chang warns against austerity, saying that Britain has failed to invest in "productive capabilities" over the past 25 years

#Newsnight | https://bbc.in/2Ps915G

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/1591203593335738368

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@mariom Tories like austerity because in hard times, people become more xenophobic. (E.g. post-WWI Germany, post credit crunch Britain)
@richardahunt @mariom They conquered most of the known world to get at their spices, only to decide to eat boiled, unsalted chicken while screaming "Kick out the immigrants!".
@mariom funny I was saying exactly that in 2010. I mostly fill shelves for a living. Tories being the party of fiscal responsibility was ALWAYS a myth.

@mariom There's a problem with training and development in the UK. Training's only offered when it benefits the employer directly and immediately. If a certain skillset is needed then many prefer to recruit externally than developing the skills of existing staff.

Problem is that fewer are getting real training for the jobs and blagging becomes a more common aspect of the recruitment process.

@garyokeefe @mariom
Agree. There's a cultural problem in that training is seen as a cost rather than an investment (and a bigger problem that investment is seen as a cost rather than an improvement in the product). Also a problem that too often training is something you're sent on (with damn all preparation or follow up) rather than something you do.
@garyokeefe @mariom
(The almost routine lack of preparation used to wind me up no end. The number of training sessions I've been on/delivered that included somebody muttering: "Well, this is a waste of time," because their supervisor hadn't bothered to explain why they were going, what was expected as an outcome and how it would be followed up.)
@mariom That approach used to be called Keynesianism
@mariom yes, austerity in a recession is as bonkers as what Liz Truss did and only a few weeks later!

@mariom good point well made. It's what happens when you put entitled, classics grads in charge of an organizational and technical challenge and they put their equally entitled Ill-qualified mates in charge of actioning the right-wing fantasy zealotry.

@labourboes need a credible vision for mould-breaking positive change for all, fire in their belly and to ramp up their charisma.

@mariom surprising that nobody made the point during the Tory leadership contest about austerity failing to cut debt as a proportion of GDP under Osborne’s stewardship at HM Treasury. It rose from 60% to 80% under his and his successors’ time pre-pandemic, up to 2019.
@mariom The EU was the tip-out on UK caravan. Now there's no food no factory no future. #Boris