Surprise Election Called

Well this week the shock news is that there is going to be a General Election on 6th of May. I don't think anyone saw that coming.

Already I am sick of the election coverage in the media and seeing a bunch of grown men, and sorry female personages but it is mainly men, acting like over grown school children. Thus far the political slogans can be summed up as “My Dad can beat up your Dad”

The problem is simply that the two main parties, Conservatives and Labour, are just not being honest. While the economic crash would have happened no matter what party was in power, either have been equally to blame as their central economic policies are the same.

Therefore the so called row about an increase in a tax, is really irrelevant. One side, the Conservatives, are saying it will be a tax on jobs. At the margins any tax increase will effect jobs. Equally the Labour party are saying that taking £12 billion out of the economy will effect the recovery. The point is both are true, but the real question is changing the economy so we can deal with the deficit The deficit last year cost each of us £2800 and this financial year it is expected to £2700. That is like each person in the UK having a credit card that we have borrowed £2800 on then rather than paying that off, we get another and we plan to spend £2700 on that. While the £100 per person raised by the tax increase, will barely pay off the interest.

The reality is that both the Conservatives and Labour would have bailed out the banks. While the details would have been different, the effect would have been the same. As both the main parties seek to perpetuate the myth that property is not overvalued. As what ever party gets into power, they want and need the tax income from property sales (based upon a percentage of the price paid) and the taxes that the banks pay in corporate tax as well as the income tax on the bonuses. Thus the very economic activities that caused the problems in the first place will be repeated.

This election I personally will be voting Liberal Democrat. My rational is actually quite simple, Vince Cable the Liberal Democrat spokesman that shadows the Chancellor was warning of a banking crisis before it happened. Further when Northern Rock went belly up he called for that Bank to be nationalised. Something that had to happen but only after the government had wasted fifty billion trying to prop the bank up.

Had Northern Rock been nationalised from the start, then when the rest of the banks started to fall, the government would not have needed to bail out the banks as they would have owned an institution that would have been able to keep the banking system working. Without spending over a trillion pounds supporting failing businesses.

Further, while the property market would have collapsed, and this would have been very unpleasant for many, the current bank bailout has only delayed the collapse in housing prices. Had we as a nation been following Liberal Democrat economic policies then we would not be as bad as it currently is. It would still be a bad economic situation but not as bad as is currently is.

I know that there will be plenty of people that will say that I am wasting my vote by voting for the third party. Well if everyone who thought about voting for the Liberal Democrat actually did then there could be a real change in politics in this country. That is not to say that I trust the Liberal Democrats more than any other politician, but economically they really do seem to make sense. Further, while members of the other parties were dipping their hands in the expenses pot that looked corrupt, they on the whole were not. Equally, there are many other polices that I tend to agree with the Liberal Democrats on.

So apart from the half a forest of propaganda that is landing on my doorstep, I will be ignoring the whole shambles.