avatarKaren Madej

Summary

The web content provides a historical overview of the UK's economic and social challenges from the 1980s to the 2020s, highlighting the impact of financial bubbles, political decisions, and the COVID-19 pandemic on the nation's prosperity and happiness.

Abstract

The article titled "Bubbles Burst Lives Hurt" outlines a timeline of significant events in the UK, beginning with the economic and social upheavals of the 1980s, including the miners' strike, the privatization of state assets, and the 1987 stock market crash. It then moves to the recessions of the 1990s, characterized by falling house prices and rising unemployment. The early 2000s saw a housing boom and subsequent financial crisis in 2008, followed by a period of austerity in the 2010s, with the added complexity of Brexit. The 2020s brought the COVID-19 pandemic, with its economic and health challenges, and a reflection on the effectiveness of economic growth as a measure of societal well-being, referencing the Easterlin Paradox.

Opinions

  • The article suggests that the UK government's policies of the 1980s, such as privatization and tax cuts, were detrimental to the working class and contributed to social unrest.
  • The author implies that the economic booms of the late 20th and early 21st centuries were built on unsustainable financial practices, leading to severe economic downturns.
  • There is a critical view of the austerity measures implemented in the 2010s, which are seen as neglecting the welfare of common people while favoring businesses.
  • The article expresses disapproval of the UK's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, pointing out the prioritization of economic interests over public health and the inadequate support for essential workers.
  • The author questions the pursuit of economic growth as the primary goal of government policy, suggesting that societal well-being and "gross national happiness" might be more appropriate targets, in light of the Easterlin Paradox.

Bubbles Burst Lives Hurt

A timeline of events in the UK that got us to where we are today.

Photo by Mike Erskine on Unsplash

The Eighties

Miners broken. A brave stand against a precedent of denigration to come.

A drought of income-producing, a scarcity of lucrative employ.

The strike-breaking Prime feeds her countrymen sweet inducements and they dream of promised vast riches.

In the shadows lurk those who would disagree if there were any to listen.

The war to protect grassy rocks and patriots in a far-off sea, stir national pride.

A show of strength not witnessed since the time of Boudica.

The kingdom’s coffers brim with profits. Sales of institutions that belonged to the country.

Merchants and traders spend new-found coin and paper on fancy and exotic goods.

The years rollick by in a haze of sparkling wine and mead and great fortunes made.

A black day, nervous traders panic and electronic values plummet all over the planet.

Three years pass. Values of abodes rocket. Borrow, consume, repeat.

The Prime raises common tax. But the population refuse to be extorted.

Examples imprisoned. Supporters seethe and riot on the streets.

The Prime capitulates. Tax abolished commoners placated. The Prime retires.

The Nineties

Hardship ensues as a second magical bubble of abode value and commerce deflates suddenly.

Spending frenzies halt, interest rates soar. Abode values’ drastic drop. Commoners’ incomes reduce, jobs lost. Weak businesses go kaput.

A high price for low tax and interest rates benefitting high earners and selling off the family silver.

The grey Prime sees the Kingdom through periods of fluctuating stability. Borrowing costs and mortgage payments rise, disposable income drops and spending falls. House values in negative equity.

Bank of England inflation-control reigns over a period of great stability.

The Noughties

A new millennium dawned to financial deregulation and innovative ways of purchasing abodes.

Commoners clamoured to buy what, in the past, was not imaginable. Some bought more than one.

All was not as it appeared. Across the waters, analysts developed financial amnesia, bankers spread toxic deals worldwide.

This bubble burst and the whole world reeled from it.

Credit crunched to a halt. Government bailout banks. Interest rates slashed. Commoners bust or overpay their mortgages.

Debt unsustainable threat of government default. Growth required.

Rising sea levels extremes of weather go untended.

2010 to 2019 Austerity

No majority a coalition forms.

Tightening belts, rocketing interest rates and bankruptcies rife.

The evil Primes neglect the commoners. Empower businesses, reduce benefits, welfare, and employment.

Zero-hour contracts, no holiday, no sick pay.

Abode prices peak mid-way along with the rest of the economy.

Resilient consumer spending yet poor show of business investment.

Uncertainty about staying or leaving the community of the Union hinders productivity.

The referendum divides the Kingdom worsening productivity growth and investment.

Lucrative corporations move out of the City and the Kingdom.

High employment. The GBP devalues. Labour costs to output rise.

Tory Primes and Brexit cost the UK tens of billions in lost potential. Import prices rocket.

The Twenties

Pre-pandemic growth required extreme policy certainty measures.

Billions spent on propping up the economy. Millions slip through the cracks.

Herd immunity designed to kill off millions may yet be achieved.

Cost-cutting and incompetence contribute to deaths of physicians, medical staff.

Further savings insult essential workers.

Lockdown lifted to save the economy, covidiots flock to junk food, beaches, pubs.

Current deaths up again.

We are well and truly screwed.

Unless those lurking shadows unite and fight.

I’ll leave you with these quotes on Richard Easterlin’s Paradox from the Economic and Social Research Council.

The ‘Easterlin Paradox’ states that at a point in time happiness varies directly with income both among and within nations, but over time happiness does not trend upward as income continues to grow.

If economic growth does little to improve social welfare, should it be a primary goal of government policy — or should ‘gross national happiness’ be the main target?

Politics
Capitalism
Universal Basic Income
Environment
Life
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