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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (132957)	4/10/2013 8:48:12 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

"How Mrs Thatcher smashed the Keynesian consensus" She financed her government by taxing oil at 90%. Don't let this get around. It will ruin her reputation. We can do the same thing. Jonathan Callahan on April 8, 2013 - 5:26pm Permalink There are a couple of Thatcher timelines out there but here is one for TOD readers: The numbers on the graph refer to oil-related moments in Thatcher's career as Prime Minister. Thatcher became leader of the opposition two years after the 1973 oil shock at a time when UK imports of increasingly expensive oil were at their height, the balance of payments was terrible and unemployment was high Thatcher became Prime Minister just as the second oil shock was getting underway. This time, however, North Sea output had increased so much that it equalled the shock-reduced demand by 1981. The UK could afford the Falklands war in 1982 because they were starting to earn revenue from oil exports. Quoting wikipedia: "By 1983 overall economic growth was stronger and inflation and mortgage rates were at their lowest levels since 1970, although manufacturing output had dropped by 30 per cent since 1978 and unemployment remained high, peaking at 3.3 million in 1984." The Thatcher administration was able to thwart the UK miners strike of 1984 by having power plants switch to burning oil, causing a blip up in oil consumption and down in exports. The Piper Alpha disaster of 1988 and ensuing investigation shut down a lot of North Sea oil production but not so much as to discontinue exports in Thatcher's final years. An easily ignorable sentence from the Wikipedia article sums up the financial situation during her Prime Ministership: Throughout the 1980s revenue from the 90 per cent tax on North Sea oil extraction was used as a short-term funding source to balance the economy and pay the costs of reform. So Thatcher had the genius to be in the right place at the right time. Her "Iron Lady" temperament was a good match for the UK's renewed economic strength derived from oil and gas despite the hollowing out of the UK's manufacturing sector. But, to give credit where credit is due, it was her force of will and strength of character that placed those fossil fuels there in the first place. ;-)

To: RetiredNow who wrote (132957)	4/11/2013 1:19:49 AM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

Nice pictures. I like to look at the case shiller index. It has been showing steady improvements in price and housing starts. That's the macro for me. We agree that there's improvement in housing...not sure why you are trying to prove that to me. It's tepid growth, but it is gaining steam. It's a real positive spot in the economy that can be built on. Those pics were photos of DTs throughout the country..........they include both commercial and residential bldgs. Construction has started to boom. That's the macro. *How Mrs Thatcher smashed the Keynesian consensus* The Poll Tax Riots were a series of riots in British towns and cities during protests against the Community Charge (commonly known as the poll tax), introduced by the Conservative government led by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. By far the largest occurred in central London on Saturday, 31 March 1990, shortly before the tax was due to come into force in England and Wales. The disorder in London arose from a demonstration which began at 11am. The violent confrontations between the Metropolitan Police Service and demonstrators ended up in rampaging and looting that ended at 3am the next morning.[ citation needed] Fall of Thatcher The riot in central London, with the national opposition to the Community Charge (especially vehement in the North of England and Scotland) contributed to the downfall of Margaret Thatcher, who resigned as Prime Minister in November the same year, defending a tax which an opinion poll had found 12% favoured. [7] John Major, who succeeded Thatcher, announced that the tax would be abolished. link