DingDong

[gwyl]

I am in two minds..........

I'm glad she broke the monopoly and the strangle hold the unions had the country under and brought our country back from the brink of economic collapse and into the 20th century.

I am not glad that a lot of people and communities had to suffer to do this.

Maybe if both sides of that particular political disagreement had been more reasonable, less people would have suffered.:face-stir:

in response - Kevin has already provided the answer to the union issue; and to respond to this pernicious lie that the country was the sick man of europe see below.

'In 1978 the economy was rapidly improving. Inflation was down to single figures and unemployment was on the way down too. The great Thatcherite myth that late 1970s Britain was the "Sick Man of Europe" is not borne out by the facts. "The outlook for Britain is better than at any time in the postwar years," was the verdict not of a Labour party propagandist, but of Chase Manhattan bank's chief European economist, Geoffrey Maynard.' (http://neilclark66.blogspot.co.uk/2008/0...world.html)

there is too much rubbish rewriting of history which is being left go blindly and unquestioned by - Niall Ferguson personifies this neo-liberal position in the historical sphere presenting all sorts of extremely dodgy, and frankly, frequently shameful, things as for the good, which as right-minded folk you must agree with, otherwise you're one of the fellow-travellers. however, this rewrting of economic and social history is in the service - consciously or not - of the politicians and corporations who are in thrall to the Chicago School. And we are all paying for it.

the only people who were unreasonable are the Friedman-influenced boot-stuffers who have brought us to our knees. we are punished by their hubris. as Gordon Gecko memorably said 'Greed is good' and this exemplified the attitude not only of the half-baked gamblers on the stock- & money-markets, but also of the people who should have been regulating them at all sorts of levels. as someone else has noted the only thing that they are interested in is driving down costs (hence off-shoring profits and production) to stuff more in their boots, without realising that an economy needs guidance and some degree of planning to ensure that there is sufficient capital but also liquid moving around to maintain employment: we are all consumers of goods and services, at the end of the day. Reducing your consumers, reduces your profits in the long term, unless you raise prices, causing inflation.

Ladies & gentlemen, I welcome you to the end of the 19th Century. The Long Depression Mk2 could well be starting here.

But we must dump this neo-liberal free-market crap. It's not much good for people and it's rubbish for archaeology.