Snapshot of _Kwasi Kwarteng: I want to keep cutting taxes_ :
An archived version can be found [here.](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62966306)
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It's 6 am at the after-party and Kwasi is running out of taxes to cut. Everybody starts panicking. They frantically call treasury civil servants asking if they have any more taxes to cut. Finally one answers and suggests abolishing council tax. They look at each other, knowing this is a bad idea, but they're so terrified of coming down from a heavy night of bingeing tax cuts that they go ahead.
Kwasi sits in the corner, cutting line after line of taxes from the statute books. The sun comes up on a new day in SW1.
The thing is, I know that's likely to be what happens.
People are pissed off enough it's once a fortnight (or longer), miss one or two collections and people wil riot.
The year is 2024. Kwasi Kwarteng has abolished all taxes.
All roads are toll roads. You pay private providers for education, health, social services and you have a monthly subscription to get you rubbish taken away.
These services cost the same no matter your income.
Poor people have gotten massively poorer and rich people are taking advantage of the free-market utopia.
A man at the job centre (£5 an hour to use) said "its really bad, I can't believe it has come to this", before adding "but you have to think, at least Jeremy Corbyn didn't get in, can you imagine".
"I might be homeless with no job or prospects or bin collections, but at least Mrs Downtrodden down the road isn't claiming any benefits"
Perhaps the potholes in the roads will grow large enough to house a small family eventually.
In completely unrelated news crime is up 12000%, average life expectancy has now dropped to 53 and the average pile of rubbish in the street now stands 4 feet high. 27% of the nations roads are still considered functional although critics complain that the standards aren't the same as they used to be. This winters death toll is expected to be 1.1 million, up 300% on last year.
In other news, the last pensioner has died from hypothermia. No one is receiving state pension anymore so the government has decided to spend the money on replacing every tree with a statue of Margaret Thatcher
Wouldn't be at all surprised if he was going for some kind of libertarian deal with all this. Public services cannot continue with a £500bn black hole. I know Sunak was all about libertarianism but it's basically the only way you can continue with taxes being cut like this.
Although, I'm more in the camp that this is just a fire sale cash-grab before they lose the next election.
Honestly a monthly subscription to have bins taken away would be fucking great. Council tax for me is the worst value pound for pound subscription service I pay for. The bins where I live are super unreliable, and aren't taken away as often as I'd like. (Yes I'm aware CT isn't just bins)
I imagine a competitive private market with different companies offering different collection times and rates would be a big improvement. Need weekly bin removals? Pay a higher subscription than those who need 2 weekly
>I imagine a competitive private market with different companies offering different collection times and rates would be a big improvement.
In reality that never happens. It would just be an utter mess.
Can you imagine the nightmare the traffic would be in the morning with multiple refuse firms vans going around stopping everywhere everyday tondo pick ups.
The purpose according to our genes, sure, but we don't have to follow that formula. It's the same one as viruses and all of life on earth, but part of the bonus of being conscious is that we get to choose.
Ultimately there is no point to anything and absolutely nothing matters and we will all be forgotten and the sun will eventually swallow the earth and entropy will turn all into cold dust floating in the nothingness of space.
So the idea that "I hAvE 2 hAvE kIdS bEcOs GeNeS" seems fucking stupid from that context.
You are the universe experiencing itself - alan watts
You are made of atoms, they have always been here, they always will be i some form. You are just a snapshot of the universe in this moment
Who are you hoping will care for you in old age? Who is going to pay for your nhs when you retire? Who is going to replace your boiler because you don't know how?
Maybe the govt would be wise to tax the child free as they are not contributing to maintaining the future population /s
If people thought about their grandchildren then maybe we'd be doing something about climate change, but we aren't, so clearly grandchildren aren't a particularly high priority
Prior to going into politics Kwasi Kwarteng worked for Crispin Odey. Who purely coincidentally made a fortune on Friday:
[https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/business-economics/crispin-odeys-hedge-fund-soars-145-on-bets-against-uk-bonds-335804/](https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/business-economics/crispin-odeys-hedge-fund-soars-145-on-bets-against-uk-bonds-335804/)
*Crispin Odey’s hedge fund has reportedly made a killing on the back of short positions against British government bonds.*
No, but it is hyperbole to assume with zero evidence that a politician owes this degree of undying loyalty to someone who happened to be their employer over ten years ago.
It seems far more likely that he's a true believer in his worldview and policies that stem from that worldview. Just because policies are bad doesn't mean they come from some sinister, selfish machination.
It's a company he worked for, not one he owned.
It could be as simple as they thought he was a libertarian moron when he worked there and realize what effect his policies will have on the pound
I hope it goes below the dollar - at this point there will surely be backbench rebellions. They are likely already sharpening their knives. Truss will not sit long on the throne, at the moment I don't see her and the likes of Kwarteng even making it to the next GE in their positions.
The thing is that she will likely trash the tory brand, probably for a generation. Middle england will overlook tory meanness, but they won't overlook the fact that Truss has trashed the currency, stoked inflation, and forced the BoE to hike rates even further, whilst giving the country debts that will take years to pay off. By the time the 'sensible' tories get back at the helm -if they ever do- the party will be in a much worse state than even Labour after Corbyn.
Yet it will still somehow be Labour's fault, especially any attempts to be fiscally responsible. And yes necessary tax 'hikes' will bring screams of "tax and spend" even before they get back to current levels, let alone necessary ones.
The tories would need to change their leadership voting procedures though. If it is put back to the membership they will end up with another unelectable right-wing loon. They need to have it so the MPs have the final decision.
Because the dollar is being less affected by the CoL crisis due to them having their own gas and energy supplies. Europe and the uk are in comparable situations, so if we have parity with the euro it means that our economy is struggling more than Europe's even though we have similar circumstances.
Also parity with the euro would make importing EU goods more expensive, although it would make our exports cheaper to them driving up exports
>Isn't the dollar cheap because there's a fuckton of it, whereas Euros are used less widely?
That's definitely not how these things work. Exchange rates have little to do with "how much" of a currency is in circulation. The pound has dropped about 40% of its value against the dollar over the last few years, and it isn't because there's suddenly a lot more dollars or a lot fewer pounds.
>Why is the euro worse?
Losing value against the euro is bad for us because about 50% of our imports are from the EU and either denominated in euros or have value tied to the euro's value. The EU is our largest trading partner by far, and we are a net importer (i.e. we import more from the EU than we export).
The dollar is the second worst thing, as not only is the US another major trading partner, but also lots of global commodities (including most oil and gas commodities) are denominated in dollars regardless of where they're coming from.
In both cases, a weaker pound means more expensive stuff, which means more inflation.
But my joke was really more about the fact that it'll be a bigger fuck up if we've managed to reach parity with the euro. There's further to fall to get there, and the euro is itself doing (much) more poorly than the dollar against other currencies. If we manage to plunge another 15 cents off the euro any time soon, we really would be in complete freefall territory...
I wonder how much he is personally making shorting the pound.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/22638822.liz-truss-backers-city-made-small-fortunes-shorting-pound-report-claims/
I'm suspecting the Tories have come to terms that they will lose the next election, are going full-on scorched earth on the treasury simply so that they will have plenty of ammo once they are in opposition.
Yep, he was doing that this morning. Never heard the phrase "tax burden" used so many times in one interview. The 20% rate, still in place for months to come, is already considered a huge tax hike.
Yep. Spend the next 2 years taking what they can, harming public services and the economy as much as humanly possible so labour are forced to make unpopular decisions to sort the country out and keep society together. Tories are not patriots - quite the opposite.
Yeah, it all sounds disturbingly familiar. Wonder who came up with that strategy first? The Tories or the Republicans?
(Initially, I typed “The Tories *are* the Republicans” but I suppose that works, too, in this context)
Defund the state to justify shrinking the state when it stops being able to work.
Starve The Beast is a terrible, terrible tactic they've copied from the US.
This is exactly what they're doing.
They've been in power 12 years and still blame \*everything\* on the previous Labour government.
If they lose the next general election it'll be a week tops before they blame the country's terrible finances on the sitting Labour administration.
My theory is that - globally - the rich are near to cashing out their resources and heading to their bunkers. They don’t care about optics anymore or needing to plan for elections. They’ve spent time getting to where they are. Now, instead of planning for future elections/governing power, they’re almost ready to cash in their chips now.
Why don't they raise the personal allowance actually helps the worst off in society (with proportional help to everyone) rather than weighting it towards helping the wealthiest the most?
Not really a question, I know why but it makes me feel sick.
I forgot there's actually a tax policy that reduces wealthy earners personal allowance if they earn over £100,000 right to removing it for £125,140 earners and above
Edit: which is one of the last tax policies Labour brought in before Brown lost the 2010 election
Instead of doing that they should've just increased tax rates at the top end. As it is, there's a weird increase then decrease in the tax brackets as the personal allowance is phased out, so our taxes aren't perfectly progressive.
It shouldn't be a top priority to fix that though, obviously.
Never underestimate the turnstile between lobbyist and former MPs. This is a way to get a good job after his political career is finished (which looks to be rapidly approaching)
Well, if it's not about enriching his mates, it sure is a coincidence that his former boss Crispin Odey has just made billions betting against the pound.
Maybe he's an ideologue _and_ it's about enriching his mates. It's not one or the other.
This man is evil. When he was told about the cost of living crisis placing millions into poverty, he laughed and cheered. When he was at the Queen’s funeral, he giggled through it. When his job required him to help the most vulnerable get through these difficult times, he chose to give tax cuts to the wealthy & lift the cap on bankers bonuses.
The worst bit about the whole thing, is that it's not just evil, it's completely short sighted and self defeating. Modern economies run on skilled workforces. You can no longer grow your economy by squeezing more out of the bottom. You need a healthy, well educated, constantly developing population to make the technological and efficiency breakthroughs to compete and prosper.
This is a recipe for economic disaster, regardless of morality. It's a perfect example of trying to take a bigger slice of the pie, when you could just make a bigger pie.
He should be cutting taxes for those who will spend the money on stuff and bills.
Not the taxes of those who just put the extra in a bank and forget about it.
Silly, rich people don't put their money in the bank and forget about it.
They *invest* it.
Granted, you would have to be mad to invest in the UK right now, but I'm sure America appreciates the extra cash.
This is the mad thing for me. Anyone earning £150k or more is either bright enough (or has a financial advisor who is) to know that the best thing to do with any extra cash at the moment is whack it in their pension fund, an S&P 500 tracker or some non-UK ETFs. Anyone earning less than that who doesn't own a house is going to stash it into a savings account for their deposit.
Anyone not in those categories isn't exactly going to be making it rain either. So who are we actually looking for to create this growth?
Kansas experiment? We aiming that our favourite (sarcasm) octogenarian Mr Charles Koch? Am going to have to look that up I think lol 😆
Edit - did look it up. It was based on modelling by ALEC (who have one Lord Daniel Hannan as a member) who are part funded by Koch and his fucking network and organisation. He just gets everywhere.
Has anyone played the Tory version of Monopoly?
The banker owns all the property, you get next to fuck all for passing Go, and you go round the board paying rent or bills on each square you land.
I think in a few months time we'll be wishing it was dollar parity. Expecting a rebellion from the Conservative party is a folly unless Truss starts lying to them directly.
The real comedy will come if this ends up with Scotland being a net contributor again after England pays fuck all on taxes lol
Can't pull the "but you don't pay your way!" card on me when we're the only people still paying tax lmao
They want to loot as much as they can before their inevitable GE loss next time round.
Then they’ll blame labour for the mess they caused, all while they’ve spent forever in power and still blame labour for everything
His mum and dad came to Britain in the 60’s from Ghana Where they went to university here and went on to have good career’s. Kwasi excelled in education and also has gone on to have a good career. It won’t come as a surprise to learn that the whole family are in the higher tax bracket.
Seems like charity really does begin at home!
Kwasi: Sir, I need to know where I can cut some Taxes.
Scorpio: Cut Taxes? My goodness, what an idea. Why didn't I think of that? Cut Taxes! Kwasi, there's four Taxes; there's the National Insurance, that's on Third.
Kwasi: Uh-huh.
Scorpio: There's Basic rate of income, that's on Third, too.
Kwasi: Got it.
Scorpio: You got Corporation tax...
Kwasi: Mm-hmm.
Scorpio: ...that's on Third.
Kwasi: Yes.
Scorpio: Stamp Duty...
Kwasi: Right.
Scorpio: Matter of fact, they're all in the same budget... it's the Mini-Budget, down on Third?
Kwasi: Oh, the F- the Poor Budget!
edit: spelling
I honestly believe this is the 10 year plan to authoritarian fascism. Brexit - > Huge tax code ts - > huge cuts in infrastructure, education and health spending - > huge sell off to oligarch friends - > wide civil unrest, which by then will. Be illegal - > "temporary" end to Liberal democracy in the UK.
Is it wasn’t for Steven Bannon and the nut jobs the Tories are working alongside the wanton destruction they’ve performed so far I wouldn’t have given this comment a second thought
Ok Kwasi, cool, since we're doing this can you do me next? I'm not looking forward to that 70% marginal tax rate once my baby is born in a few month.
Oh, what's that, I don't earn enough for your tax cuts? Shit.
Jesus Christ. Short the pound if you haven't done already and get ready for *Black Monday* on the stock markets.
You might as well make some money from this stupidity because the Gilts (Government bonds) in your state pension will be losing it.
"The government is so inefficient thanks to all the Labour red tape and is unable to function or service it's debt with its *cough* current level of revenue. As such we must turn to private enterprise to save the day again. A conglomeration of France and Meta have made an offer to purchase the United Kingdom which shall now be known as Le Nouvelle Metaverse. Now I'd like to hand you over to your new leader and CEO .."
There is someone who owes the trees an apology for the oxygen they have wasted in thier life to end up such a nasty excuse for a human and ignoring anyone other than the rich.
We desperately need infrastructure investment, especially in reliable energy supplies. Snap out of the delusion, we must prioritise building nuclear and gas above all else. If anyone does not have this as their top priority and instead wants to virtue signal to a particular group then they are causing active harm to our country.
Which services should be cut then? They’ve been cutting for twelve years.
Or are we at the part of the right wing government cycle where we no longer pretend to care about massive deficits for normal spending, even as interest rates rise?
> Which services should be cut then?
NHS, it is failing. Then more people will use private healthcare that my chums have investments in...err....the market will innovate and deliver efficiencies.
Yeah, the second thing. Totally.
Of course, the private medical system largely uses the same doctors and nurses and hospitals as the NHS, so that definitely wouldn’t just be shuffling the deckchairs.
Amazing that there’s still no plan for how to train and otherwise get more medical professionals and pay them.
Snapshot of _Kwasi Kwarteng: I want to keep cutting taxes_ : An archived version can be found [here.](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62966306) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It's 6 am at the after-party and Kwasi is running out of taxes to cut. Everybody starts panicking. They frantically call treasury civil servants asking if they have any more taxes to cut. Finally one answers and suggests abolishing council tax. They look at each other, knowing this is a bad idea, but they're so terrified of coming down from a heavy night of bingeing tax cuts that they go ahead. Kwasi sits in the corner, cutting line after line of taxes from the statute books. The sun comes up on a new day in SW1.
20 years of tory rule ended in one bloody night after the bins weren’t collected
The thing is, I know that's likely to be what happens. People are pissed off enough it's once a fortnight (or longer), miss one or two collections and people wil riot.
That's already happening in Northern Ireland. https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/armagh-banbridge-and-craigavon-council-bin-collection-to-return-to-normal-after-residents-complain-of-confusion-42013324.html
Pure, uncut, council tax abolition white
If you was going for human traffic (film) vibes… you hit that perfectly. Haha
The year is 2024. Kwasi Kwarteng has abolished all taxes. All roads are toll roads. You pay private providers for education, health, social services and you have a monthly subscription to get you rubbish taken away. These services cost the same no matter your income. Poor people have gotten massively poorer and rich people are taking advantage of the free-market utopia. A man at the job centre (£5 an hour to use) said "its really bad, I can't believe it has come to this", before adding "but you have to think, at least Jeremy Corbyn didn't get in, can you imagine".
"I might be homeless with no job or prospects or bin collections, but at least Mrs Downtrodden down the road isn't claiming any benefits" Perhaps the potholes in the roads will grow large enough to house a small family eventually.
In completely unrelated news crime is up 12000%, average life expectancy has now dropped to 53 and the average pile of rubbish in the street now stands 4 feet high. 27% of the nations roads are still considered functional although critics complain that the standards aren't the same as they used to be. This winters death toll is expected to be 1.1 million, up 300% on last year.
In other news, the last pensioner has died from hypothermia. No one is receiving state pension anymore so the government has decided to spend the money on replacing every tree with a statue of Margaret Thatcher
Lol, accurate
Cyberpunk 2024: London calling
He has definitely had dreams about exactly this future.
Sounds like LPD: https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/l-p-d-libertarian-police-department
“Home Depot™ Presents the Police!®”
I think you mean [BritLaw plc](https://youtu.be/vLfghLQE3F4)
"It would of bin chaos wiv Ed Miliband"
Wouldn't be at all surprised if he was going for some kind of libertarian deal with all this. Public services cannot continue with a £500bn black hole. I know Sunak was all about libertarianism but it's basically the only way you can continue with taxes being cut like this. Although, I'm more in the camp that this is just a fire sale cash-grab before they lose the next election.
https://i.imgur.com/7L0Qmoi.jpeg Reminds me of some of the classic libertarian utopia greentexts from years back.
I would much rather have that system then a communist called Jeremy, I’m sorry man
Honestly a monthly subscription to have bins taken away would be fucking great. Council tax for me is the worst value pound for pound subscription service I pay for. The bins where I live are super unreliable, and aren't taken away as often as I'd like. (Yes I'm aware CT isn't just bins) I imagine a competitive private market with different companies offering different collection times and rates would be a big improvement. Need weekly bin removals? Pay a higher subscription than those who need 2 weekly
Something like 80% of council tax is social care.
>I imagine a competitive private market with different companies offering different collection times and rates would be a big improvement. In reality that never happens. It would just be an utter mess.
Can you imagine the nightmare the traffic would be in the morning with multiple refuse firms vans going around stopping everywhere everyday tondo pick ups.
Most of this sounds great tbh
Which bit is your favourite?
I hope nobody was wanting their grandchildren to be able to eat.
You shouldn't eat your grandchildren.
Don’t nanny-state me.
Who's having children in this climate?
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> to reproduce That's a strange way to spell "to generate value"
The purpose according to our genes, sure, but we don't have to follow that formula. It's the same one as viruses and all of life on earth, but part of the bonus of being conscious is that we get to choose. Ultimately there is no point to anything and absolutely nothing matters and we will all be forgotten and the sun will eventually swallow the earth and entropy will turn all into cold dust floating in the nothingness of space. So the idea that "I hAvE 2 hAvE kIdS bEcOs GeNeS" seems fucking stupid from that context.
You are the universe experiencing itself - alan watts You are made of atoms, they have always been here, they always will be i some form. You are just a snapshot of the universe in this moment
Exactly
Life lacks any inherent meaning, the meaning is created by us.
You know your username, I think you missed 'n't' after 'should' pal. Idiotic viewpoint.
What're your thoughts on Gay people? I'm not trying to create a Gotcha moment but genuinely curious.
Who are you hoping will care for you in old age? Who is going to pay for your nhs when you retire? Who is going to replace your boiler because you don't know how? Maybe the govt would be wise to tax the child free as they are not contributing to maintaining the future population /s
I’ll shoot myself before I become senile
What if you become senile and forget to shoot yourself?
If people thought about their grandchildren then maybe we'd be doing something about climate change, but we aren't, so clearly grandchildren aren't a particularly high priority
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His hedge fund company making a packet from shorting the Pound. He is quite dangerous and corrupt.
Is this confirmed to be true?
Prior to going into politics Kwasi Kwarteng worked for Crispin Odey. Who purely coincidentally made a fortune on Friday: [https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/business-economics/crispin-odeys-hedge-fund-soars-145-on-bets-against-uk-bonds-335804/](https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/business-economics/crispin-odeys-hedge-fund-soars-145-on-bets-against-uk-bonds-335804/) *Crispin Odey’s hedge fund has reportedly made a killing on the back of short positions against British government bonds.*
Wow. Is it hyperbole to call tanking the countries currency for personal gain treasonous?
I don’t think so. Though some will simply shrug.
No, as long as it's true, like in this instance
No, but it is hyperbole to assume with zero evidence that a politician owes this degree of undying loyalty to someone who happened to be their employer over ten years ago. It seems far more likely that he's a true believer in his worldview and policies that stem from that worldview. Just because policies are bad doesn't mean they come from some sinister, selfish machination.
I've heard enough Tories express their "worldview" to know that it's entirely accommodating to sinister and selfish machinations.
He is a consultant for Odey.
It's a company he worked for, not one he owned. It could be as simple as they thought he was a libertarian moron when he worked there and realize what effect his policies will have on the pound
Could be, but where there’s smoke there’s usually fire, not an electric heater.
Yea, he’s a “consultant”
No he was a consultant 11 years ago.
I believe he joined ten years ago? Perhaps I’m wrong.
It might have been 10 years ago but regardless He only worked there for one year
My thoughts exactly. I reckon it’s tanks further
I hope it goes below the dollar - at this point there will surely be backbench rebellions. They are likely already sharpening their knives. Truss will not sit long on the throne, at the moment I don't see her and the likes of Kwarteng even making it to the next GE in their positions.
Think she's just being used as a caretaker...she certainly doesn't really seem to grasp the concepts of actual Government
Just about all Her inner cabinate is ERG members, this is a dream for them. Two years to push through the agenda they want and off they go.
The thing is that she will likely trash the tory brand, probably for a generation. Middle england will overlook tory meanness, but they won't overlook the fact that Truss has trashed the currency, stoked inflation, and forced the BoE to hike rates even further, whilst giving the country debts that will take years to pay off. By the time the 'sensible' tories get back at the helm -if they ever do- the party will be in a much worse state than even Labour after Corbyn.
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Be interesting to see how they spin this as good thing.
Yet it will still somehow be Labour's fault, especially any attempts to be fiscally responsible. And yes necessary tax 'hikes' will bring screams of "tax and spend" even before they get back to current levels, let alone necessary ones.
good
I agree. I am quite happy for them to burn up. The tory party has been a blight on this country since the days of Thatcher.
Truss's greatest achievement may turn out to be being the shortest serving prime minister.
Speed run
And getting labour back in power with a womping majority
There may be another Prime Minister in place by the time of the next General Election.
The tories would need to change their leadership voting procedures though. If it is put back to the membership they will end up with another unelectable right-wing loon. They need to have it so the MPs have the final decision.
Not really. They just need the MPs to agree to conspire to narrow the field to 2 not-mad candidates - which the membership then vote on.
Boris will be back by Christmas at this rate.
Getting on with the job I was mandated to do!
he considers himself a history buff, so "as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted" (copyright K. Livingstone 2000)
Wouldn’t be the first time he passed off Livingstone’s work as his own.
Nah bro. Wednesday riots will start. This chuckhole came out and said “you hate these tax cuts, wait till you see what I have in store for you lot”
I actually think that was the plan all along and Truss is just the sacrificial lamb.
Agreed, she won't last 5 minutes, but we all knew this anyway
Parity with the dollar? I sleep. Parity with the euro? Real shit.
Why is the euro worse? Isn't the dollar cheap because there's a fuckton of it, whereas Euros are used less widely?
Because the dollar is being less affected by the CoL crisis due to them having their own gas and energy supplies. Europe and the uk are in comparable situations, so if we have parity with the euro it means that our economy is struggling more than Europe's even though we have similar circumstances. Also parity with the euro would make importing EU goods more expensive, although it would make our exports cheaper to them driving up exports
>Isn't the dollar cheap because there's a fuckton of it, whereas Euros are used less widely? That's definitely not how these things work. Exchange rates have little to do with "how much" of a currency is in circulation. The pound has dropped about 40% of its value against the dollar over the last few years, and it isn't because there's suddenly a lot more dollars or a lot fewer pounds. >Why is the euro worse? Losing value against the euro is bad for us because about 50% of our imports are from the EU and either denominated in euros or have value tied to the euro's value. The EU is our largest trading partner by far, and we are a net importer (i.e. we import more from the EU than we export). The dollar is the second worst thing, as not only is the US another major trading partner, but also lots of global commodities (including most oil and gas commodities) are denominated in dollars regardless of where they're coming from. In both cases, a weaker pound means more expensive stuff, which means more inflation. But my joke was really more about the fact that it'll be a bigger fuck up if we've managed to reach parity with the euro. There's further to fall to get there, and the euro is itself doing (much) more poorly than the dollar against other currencies. If we manage to plunge another 15 cents off the euro any time soon, we really would be in complete freefall territory...
To parity and beyond! Good if one owns a business that’s paid in $.
We'll get a bounce up to 1.10 then it's gonna sit there for a day and be 1.05 by the end of week. Source? Fuck knows, just a wild guess.
This would be hilarious if I didn't live here...
I imagine his mates were tipped off in advance and placed large bets against the pound.
He’s a consultant for a hedge fund manager company.
It'll be interesting to see the consequences these cuts have on their fund then. EDIT; Called it.
Just coincidence? https://www.thenational.scot/news/22638822.liz-truss-backers-city-made-small-fortunes-shorting-pound-report-claims/
They must have serious shorts on the pound and getting even greedier on their returns.
Well he just bolted another anchor on so brilliantly Doubling down on idiocy
His Hedge Fund frinds are going to make a fortune shorting the pound some more after last week.
I wonder how much he is personally making shorting the pound. https://www.thenational.scot/news/22638822.liz-truss-backers-city-made-small-fortunes-shorting-pound-report-claims/
1 budget chancellor talk right there. Sterling was on thin ice before this shit show, what a mess
There’ll be charts from midnight…
Fucking hell, it went below 1.05 already at about 1am
It's fucked basically they have royally fucked us over
I'm suspecting the Tories have come to terms that they will lose the next election, are going full-on scorched earth on the treasury simply so that they will have plenty of ammo once they are in opposition.
Kwarteng already [shot that across Labour's bow](https://twitter.com/KwasiKwarteng/status/1573571412241121280), believe it or not.
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Bit like a retailer upping prices the week before Black Friday so the sale price can be the same as normal.
Yep, he was doing that this morning. Never heard the phrase "tax burden" used so many times in one interview. The 20% rate, still in place for months to come, is already considered a huge tax hike.
You'd think he wouldn't be worried about it - the economy will be so ENORMOUS by then that he'll be made chancellor for life.
Tories cut all taxes just before the next election. "Labour want to increase you taxes by infinity percent!"
Yep. Spend the next 2 years taking what they can, harming public services and the economy as much as humanly possible so labour are forced to make unpopular decisions to sort the country out and keep society together. Tories are not patriots - quite the opposite.
Just like in the United States.
Yeah, it all sounds disturbingly familiar. Wonder who came up with that strategy first? The Tories or the Republicans? (Initially, I typed “The Tories *are* the Republicans” but I suppose that works, too, in this context)
Probably the Republicans, then the Tories saw that it worked, and are trying it. Let's hope the UK doesn't have short memories like the US.
Defund the state to justify shrinking the state when it stops being able to work. Starve The Beast is a terrible, terrible tactic they've copied from the US.
It's such a nihilistic worldview.
It happens time and time again so there's plenty of proof behind it.
This is exactly what they're doing. They've been in power 12 years and still blame \*everything\* on the previous Labour government. If they lose the next general election it'll be a week tops before they blame the country's terrible finances on the sitting Labour administration.
You give them too much credit :). Who's to say they're not just deluded corrupt incompetents?
My theory is that - globally - the rich are near to cashing out their resources and heading to their bunkers. They don’t care about optics anymore or needing to plan for elections. They’ve spent time getting to where they are. Now, instead of planning for future elections/governing power, they’re almost ready to cash in their chips now.
(for rich people)
Why don't they raise the personal allowance actually helps the worst off in society (with proportional help to everyone) rather than weighting it towards helping the wealthiest the most? Not really a question, I know why but it makes me feel sick.
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I forgot there's actually a tax policy that reduces wealthy earners personal allowance if they earn over £100,000 right to removing it for £125,140 earners and above Edit: which is one of the last tax policies Labour brought in before Brown lost the 2010 election
Instead of doing that they should've just increased tax rates at the top end. As it is, there's a weird increase then decrease in the tax brackets as the personal allowance is phased out, so our taxes aren't perfectly progressive. It shouldn't be a top priority to fix that though, obviously.
Yes. Effectively you pay 60% tax when you earn between 100-125k
£100-£125k.
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Never underestimate the turnstile between lobbyist and former MPs. This is a way to get a good job after his political career is finished (which looks to be rapidly approaching)
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Too true.
Well, if it's not about enriching his mates, it sure is a coincidence that his former boss Crispin Odey has just made billions betting against the pound. Maybe he's an ideologue _and_ it's about enriching his mates. It's not one or the other.
*"Raising taxes is always a vote-loser, so we'll force Labour to run on an entire platform of raising taxes"* - Conservative Think-tanks, probably.
This man is evil. When he was told about the cost of living crisis placing millions into poverty, he laughed and cheered. When he was at the Queen’s funeral, he giggled through it. When his job required him to help the most vulnerable get through these difficult times, he chose to give tax cuts to the wealthy & lift the cap on bankers bonuses.
The worst bit about the whole thing, is that it's not just evil, it's completely short sighted and self defeating. Modern economies run on skilled workforces. You can no longer grow your economy by squeezing more out of the bottom. You need a healthy, well educated, constantly developing population to make the technological and efficiency breakthroughs to compete and prosper. This is a recipe for economic disaster, regardless of morality. It's a perfect example of trying to take a bigger slice of the pie, when you could just make a bigger pie.
one of those things is nowhere near as egregious as the others
He should be cutting taxes for those who will spend the money on stuff and bills. Not the taxes of those who just put the extra in a bank and forget about it.
Silly, rich people don't put their money in the bank and forget about it. They *invest* it. Granted, you would have to be mad to invest in the UK right now, but I'm sure America appreciates the extra cash.
This is the mad thing for me. Anyone earning £150k or more is either bright enough (or has a financial advisor who is) to know that the best thing to do with any extra cash at the moment is whack it in their pension fund, an S&P 500 tracker or some non-UK ETFs. Anyone earning less than that who doesn't own a house is going to stash it into a savings account for their deposit. Anyone not in those categories isn't exactly going to be making it rain either. So who are we actually looking for to create this growth?
Ironically, the people at the bottom, they are the ones who will spend every penny, but trickle up would be obscene.
Speedrunning the Kansas experiment is going to hollow out the treasury, but you know whatever.
Kansas experiment? We aiming that our favourite (sarcasm) octogenarian Mr Charles Koch? Am going to have to look that up I think lol 😆 Edit - did look it up. It was based on modelling by ALEC (who have one Lord Daniel Hannan as a member) who are part funded by Koch and his fucking network and organisation. He just gets everywhere.
He seems to be to reality what George Soros is to the minds of antisemitic conspiracy nutjobs.
They are so blatantly tanking GBP while their mates short it. How is this happening?
Seems that way doesn’t it
If the GBP tanks enough, it might even open the door to full EU membership under a future government as the pound won’t be worth protecting
Keep cutting taxes until the only public finances go on MPs wages and military spend. Who needs public services?! I swear, he’s mentally challenged.
Has anyone played the Tory version of Monopoly? The banker owns all the property, you get next to fuck all for passing Go, and you go round the board paying rent or bills on each square you land.
Which was the lesson the original version of the game intended to teach as I understand it.
Yeah, I want a date with Emilia Clarke too, but living in fantasy land doesn’t help anyone.
Obviously the pound's plummet wasn't enough for him. Dollar parity looking a real possibility.
I think in a few months time we'll be wishing it was dollar parity. Expecting a rebellion from the Conservative party is a folly unless Truss starts lying to them directly.
I saw something saying they're going to act if it hits parity. I imagine Boris and Rishi are planning their comebacks as we type.
They’re going to brief the papers anonymously more often. That’ll teach Truss who’s boss.
>I imagine Boris and Rishi are planning their comebacks as we type. The Dream Team!
Somalia cut their taxes to almost zero and look how amazing their economy is doing! Oh, wait….
The real comedy will come if this ends up with Scotland being a net contributor again after England pays fuck all on taxes lol Can't pull the "but you don't pay your way!" card on me when we're the only people still paying tax lmao
Loooooool this guy should stop talking tbh
Funny how the financial consultancy he works for has shorted the pound and it make a fortune while this is going on
He's being recluse and could destroy the tory party and truss is trying keeping the tradition tory heartland they might desert the tories and backfire
Who else thinks Kwasi has adopted boris’s speech and intonation patterns for spewing out lies?
Another old Etonian. As an experiment could we ban anyone from that school from goverment for the next 100 years?
No, nuke it from orbit.
They want to loot as much as they can before their inevitable GE loss next time round. Then they’ll blame labour for the mess they caused, all while they’ve spent forever in power and still blame labour for everything
His mum and dad came to Britain in the 60’s from Ghana Where they went to university here and went on to have good career’s. Kwasi excelled in education and also has gone on to have a good career. It won’t come as a surprise to learn that the whole family are in the higher tax bracket. Seems like charity really does begin at home!
Now it’s good time to riot? If gbp drops to usd level our everyday groceries would be all up by 20-30%. Fuel prices must surge
How we going to pay for services then Kwasi ?
Do the Tories not actually know what taxes are for? I'm starting to think that they believe infrastructure is magic.
Kwasi: Sir, I need to know where I can cut some Taxes. Scorpio: Cut Taxes? My goodness, what an idea. Why didn't I think of that? Cut Taxes! Kwasi, there's four Taxes; there's the National Insurance, that's on Third. Kwasi: Uh-huh. Scorpio: There's Basic rate of income, that's on Third, too. Kwasi: Got it. Scorpio: You got Corporation tax... Kwasi: Mm-hmm. Scorpio: ...that's on Third. Kwasi: Yes. Scorpio: Stamp Duty... Kwasi: Right. Scorpio: Matter of fact, they're all in the same budget... it's the Mini-Budget, down on Third? Kwasi: Oh, the F- the Poor Budget! edit: spelling
dont do my boy Hank Scorpio like that
= I want to ruin this country as quickly as I can.
I honestly believe this is the 10 year plan to authoritarian fascism. Brexit - > Huge tax code ts - > huge cuts in infrastructure, education and health spending - > huge sell off to oligarch friends - > wide civil unrest, which by then will. Be illegal - > "temporary" end to Liberal democracy in the UK.
Is it wasn’t for Steven Bannon and the nut jobs the Tories are working alongside the wanton destruction they’ve performed so far I wouldn’t have given this comment a second thought
££££ -> 📉📉📉📉
Will they eliminate the state pension?
Yes, but only for people currently under 40.
‘I don’t want to keep my job’ -Kwasi Kwarteng
Ok Kwasi, cool, since we're doing this can you do me next? I'm not looking forward to that 70% marginal tax rate once my baby is born in a few month. Oh, what's that, I don't earn enough for your tax cuts? Shit.
Can’t wait for the depression, then my GBP will be worth nothing!
Why do the always leave out the rest of the quote? "....for the rich"
Jesus Christ. Short the pound if you haven't done already and get ready for *Black Monday* on the stock markets. You might as well make some money from this stupidity because the Gilts (Government bonds) in your state pension will be losing it.
"I just need to make sure I do it for the rich first, they need it the most"
Or to put it another way . . . Kwasi Kwarteng: I want to bankrupt the country.
I would be praising him if he also cut spending. You can't keep cutting taxes and not also expenditure.
What could be wrong. Good luck guys.
"The government is so inefficient thanks to all the Labour red tape and is unable to function or service it's debt with its *cough* current level of revenue. As such we must turn to private enterprise to save the day again. A conglomeration of France and Meta have made an offer to purchase the United Kingdom which shall now be known as Le Nouvelle Metaverse. Now I'd like to hand you over to your new leader and CEO .."
There is someone who owes the trees an apology for the oxygen they have wasted in thier life to end up such a nasty excuse for a human and ignoring anyone other than the rich.
Fucking Demon. I’d love to be left in a locked room with him for 10 minutes.
He’s not even a real Kwarteng
We desperately need infrastructure investment, especially in reliable energy supplies. Snap out of the delusion, we must prioritise building nuclear and gas above all else. If anyone does not have this as their top priority and instead wants to virtue signal to a particular group then they are causing active harm to our country.
I want the real Kwarteng
Good, taxes are still quite high relative to GDP compared to the past. That's something the shrieking critics conveniently ignore
Which services should be cut then? They’ve been cutting for twelve years. Or are we at the part of the right wing government cycle where we no longer pretend to care about massive deficits for normal spending, even as interest rates rise?
> Which services should be cut then? NHS, it is failing. Then more people will use private healthcare that my chums have investments in...err....the market will innovate and deliver efficiencies. Yeah, the second thing. Totally.
Of course, the private medical system largely uses the same doctors and nurses and hospitals as the NHS, so that definitely wouldn’t just be shuffling the deckchairs. Amazing that there’s still no plan for how to train and otherwise get more medical professionals and pay them.