How's the UK doing?

Quote: El Barbudo "I don't disagree, the enrichment of his class is the aim and he knows (if he paid attention in the economics lectures) that unemployment, underemployment and inequality are necessary to that task. and he must also know that the widening gap of inequality leads to a stagnant economy.
His party is not called Conservative for nothing, they regard the money in the economy as theirs by right and they are going to damn well conserve it.

The very fact that he (apparently deliberately) is not growing the economy tells us what?

IMHO it tells us that he is more concerned about "his" economy (i.e. the economy that benefits his own small section of society) than he is about the National economy and the well-being of the Nation as a whole.'"

No. It tells us he does not control our economy. Or at least not in the same way the Disraeli government controlled the economy a century or so ago.

Britain is a client state. Not like Nigeria or Jamaica but our relationship to the United States bears a striking resemblance to the one which existed between the Greek territories and the Roman Empire.

Yes, we have a certain degree of freedom to allocate funding. But we DO NOT have the freedom to deviate in any substantial way from the neo-liberal economic framework, nationalise or subsidize industries, plough huge sums into public spending, raise trade tarriffs etc. without attracting the ire of Washington.

The last European nation which attempted to exercise such freedom was Yugoslavia. This government, like every government within the EU (and beyond), is only too aware of this fact. Which is why, in countries like Greece and Cyprus, they have steadfastly refused to bow to public pressure (to the point where they have rendered themselves unelectable for a century) and kick out the IMF. Crippling debt is one thing. Being crippled by the mob boss and his squadron of B2 stealth bombers is something else entirely.

I should clarify the above by saying whilst the US currently sets the global economic agenda (and punishes transgressors) - it increasingly does so in the service of big business. Which means all but the top 1% of Americans are being squeezed much in the same way we are. Of course, Obama isn't in the same position as Cameron. But he takes his orders nontheless - and the power of his office diminishes as each new incumbent arrives.

The truth is we are now in the penultimate stages of a radical overhaul of the global economy (created in response to the threat of democratic reform at the end of the sixties) which will render the traditional concepts of nation state, sovereign rights etc., redundant in all but name. Whilst the Guardianistas and such congratulated themselves on their perspicacity big business pulled off a strategic blitzkrieg - effectively neutering the entire democratic process - on a global scale. From now on public policy will increasingly be a function of trans-national capital. If, by chance, we do stir ourselves to protest - what actions can our elected representatives take when exceeding their margin for free action attracts greater retribution? And should we "protest" in those very ways which clawed from the cold dead hand of business an end to slavery, child labour, the creation of state benefits etc. - "our" government will be only too quick to make use of the millions we are currently investing in "counter-terror", "urban pacification" - not to mention the very same forms of electronic surveillance we are constantly assured are in our best interests.

The "End of History" indeed.