By refusing to implement a Clean Brexit and instead pursuing a Brexit-in-Name-Only, Prime Minister Theresa May has dramatically reduced support for the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom.
The poll numbers are now so bad that it is conceivable to imagine that Jeremy Corbyn could win the next election.
That would be horrible news. The leader of the Labour Party is an unreconstructed hard-core socialist. A real socialist who would move the country toward government ownership, central planning and price controls.
Theodore Dalrymple aptly summarizes for City Journal what a Labour government would mean for the U.K.
Thanks to the current imbroglio over Brexit, Britain could soon be Venezuela without the oil or the warm weather. The stunning incompetence of the last two Tory prime ministers, David Cameron and Theresa May, might result in a Labour government, one led by Jeremy Corbyn, a man who has long admired Hugo Chavez… Corbyn’s second in command, John McDonnell, would, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, be in charge of the economy. Only five years ago, he said that the historical figures he most admired were Marx, Lenin, and Trotsky… he argued for the nationalization of land. He also favors nationalizing railways and public utilities, which can be done only through rates of taxation so high that they would amount to the nationalization of everything—with a resultant economic collapse—or by outright confiscation… The arrival in power of such men will produce an immediate crisis, which they will blame on capitalism, the world economic system, the Rothschilds, and so forth. They will use the crisis to justify further drastic measures. …None of this is inevitable, but thanks to the bungling of Brexit, it is considerably closer.
This video tells you everything you need to know.
Let’s look at a couple of specific topics.
Writing for CapX, Eamonn Ives explains what’s wrong with the Labour Party’s agenda for more government spending.
…what Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell are arguing for is a long way from Keynesian doctrine. They propose a massive injection of government spending in the economy, despite the UK experiencing unprecedented levels of employment and (admittedly rather anaemic) growth. Keynes, by contrast, argued for counter-cyclical fiscal policy. …Of course, the money would have to be found from somewhere: either in existing budgets, or levying new or higher taxes, or through quantitative easing, or additional borrowing. …this model only makes sense if governments are more strategic in deploying resources than private firms and individuals. And, as failed socialist experiment after failed social experiment has shown, there is no evidence to suggest that is the case. …It’s often remarked that if something’s too good to be true, then it probably is. Labour’s voodoo economics are no exception to this. If they really want to stimulate the economy, they should be celebrating, not denigrating the real way to foster genuine economic growth: tax cuts and other supply-side reforms.
Andrew Lilco opines for CapX on an Elizabeth Warren-type scheme that’s been proposed by John McDonnell, the guy would be Chancellor of the Exchequer (what Americans would call a Treasury Secretary) in a Labour government.
John McDonnell…proposed that businesses should be required to share profits with workers either in the form of bonuses or share distributions. He said he wants to “transform the economy”… Indeed, he says the “overthrow of Capitalism” is now his “job”. …What would be the economic effects? Many firms already pay bonuses to staff if the they make higher-than-expected profits, and other firms offer key staff bonuses in the form of shares. …But problems arise if one mandates that all firms should be run that way or attempts to cap returns at some state-set “fair” level. …The essential definitive feature of capitalism is that it is a system of opportunity for those without money to have their projects funded. …If we…cap their rates of return to a “fair” level, that will…mean that only certain sorts of investment occur. In particular, it means an end to high risk investment, where very high rates of return when a project is successful make up for all the losses in other less successful ventures when projects are not successful. …That would have fairly clear implications for the sort of economy the UK would have. …New technologies and new products would come in gradually, but only from abroad and only later than other countries had them. …That in turn will, over time, drag the state into a wider and wider role in the economy.
Speaking of McDonnell, what sort of politician is willing to be part of an event that celebrates brutal communist dictators? (Editor's Note: The tweet Dan has linked won't appear here, so go to the original to see it. RK)
Thanks to the current imbroglio over Brexit, Britain could soon be Venezuela without the oil or the warm weather. The stunning incompetence of the last two Tory prime ministers, David Cameron and Theresa May, might result in a Labour government, one led by Jeremy Corbyn, a man who has long admired Hugo Chavez… Corbyn’s second in command, John McDonnell, would, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, be in charge of the economy. Only five years ago, he said that the historical figures he most admired were Marx, Lenin, and Trotsky… he argued for the nationalization of land. He also favors nationalizing railways and public utilities, which can be done only through rates of taxation so high that they would amount to the nationalization of everything—with a resultant economic collapse—or by outright confiscation… The arrival in power of such men will produce an immediate crisis, which they will blame on capitalism, the world economic system, the Rothschilds, and so forth. They will use the crisis to justify further drastic measures. …None of this is inevitable, but thanks to the bungling of Brexit, it is considerably closer.
…what Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell are arguing for is a long way from Keynesian doctrine. They propose a massive injection of government spending in the economy, despite the UK experiencing unprecedented levels of employment and (admittedly rather anaemic) growth. Keynes, by contrast, argued for counter-cyclical fiscal policy. …Of course, the money would have to be found from somewhere: either in existing budgets, or levying new or higher taxes, or through quantitative easing, or additional borrowing. …this model only makes sense if governments are more strategic in deploying resources than private firms and individuals. And, as failed socialist experiment after failed social experiment has shown, there is no evidence to suggest that is the case. …It’s often remarked that if something’s too good to be true, then it probably is. Labour’s voodoo economics are no exception to this. If they really want to stimulate the economy, they should be celebrating, not denigrating the real way to foster genuine economic growth: tax cuts and other supply-side reforms.
John McDonnell…proposed that businesses should be required to share profits with workers either in the form of bonuses or share distributions. He said he wants to “transform the economy”… Indeed, he says the “overthrow of Capitalism” is now his “job”. …What would be the economic effects? Many firms already pay bonuses to staff if the they make higher-than-expected profits, and other firms offer key staff bonuses in the form of shares. …But problems arise if one mandates that all firms should be run that way or attempts to cap returns at some state-set “fair” level. …The essential definitive feature of capitalism is that it is a system of opportunity for those without money to have their projects funded. …If we…cap their rates of return to a “fair” level, that will…mean that only certain sorts of investment occur. In particular, it means an end to high risk investment, where very high rates of return when a project is successful make up for all the losses in other less successful ventures when projects are not successful. …That would have fairly clear implications for the sort of economy the UK would have. …New technologies and new products would come in gradually, but only from abroad and only later than other countries had them. …That in turn will, over time, drag the state into a wider and wider role in the economy.
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