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A state dinner with the U.K.’s king cost the French nearly €500,000.
Why is it that the 'tough choices' politicians across the world talk about never involve saving on luxury dinners and travel?
France, you were once better than that. Round about January 1793.
And yes, we on the other side of the Channel need to get the spirit of January 1649 back, too.
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The Joy of Being a Mad Ignorant Citizen
I'm still learning about the fault lines of local Portland politics. Everyone is a Democrat here, so that's no help. We just completely revamped our city governmental structure, abandoning the "commission" model (where elected city commissioners were responsible for particular bureaus of city governance) in favor of city council featuring three elected members each from four geographic districts. I think that's an improvement, though the last election was a bit of a free-for-all. Anyway, Portland is in a time of budget cuts, and the city council is deciding what to slash. One proposed cut is to permanently close the Multnomah Arts Center (MAC), where I happen to be currently taking an introductory drawing class (if you want a charcoal self-portrait that will haunt your nightmares, hit me up). Since I'm enjoying my class (and am anticipating taking my son to family art classes when he's a bit older), I was horrified at the prospect that the center might close -- it's got a lot of great programming and its five minutes from my house. So I wrote to my city councilors urging they keep the MAC open and find other places to make budget cuts (I apparently wasn't the only one). Congratulate me on being an engaged public citizen? Maybe. But the thing is, here's the relevant information I was bringing to the table in forming this opinion and deciding to yell at my councilors about it: I like the MAC. End of list. Obviously, in the abstract the MAC is a nice thing and worthy of support. But in times of scarcity, the question is about relative priorities -- the money has to come from somewhere. And for my part, I have no idea what other things might be cut instead of the MAC is kept open, nor do I have any insight in how to weigh potential competing priorities even if I was told of potential alternatives. And moreover, I don't really have any interest in learning more. "There must be another way", I say, while having no idea what those alternatives might be and no interest in finding out. To be clear, I'm not saying it's likely that the MAC is actually a good place to cut. The hue and cry to save it makes me feel more confident that there really are better places to trim from. And the proposal to close the MAC came from one councilor -- it's not a situation where all the experts agree this needs to be done while I stubbornly refuse to accept it. But the point is that I'm getting to be an uninformed voter (for real this time!) and it is glorious. I just get to see something I don't like and be mad about it! Do you know how much more relaxing that is compared to when you do know the difficulties and complexities of an issue? I can also decide that the reason we're facing the need for such cuts is Donald Trump. Do I know that? No, but I can't imagine his slash and burn attack on effective governance is doing Portland any favors, and that's good enough for me! This could get addictive. I have to be careful. via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/7iYoxIw
“Things come apart so easily when they have been held together with lies." - Dorothy Allison
“Five ways to fix the £40bn hole in UK’s public finances.” (FT: 18/10/22)
“Fast-rising borrowing costs putting UK public finances at greater risk, warns OBR.” (Guardian: 13/07/23)
“Britain’s debt timebomb is about to explode – and politicians are too timid to defuse it.” (The Telegraph: 09/12/23)
“The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) suggested some government departments could see cuts of between £10bn and £20bn – something Labour was reluctant to engage with during the election campaign." (BBC News: 27/07/24)
Given that the above news outlets – along with many others – have been telling us about the hole in UK public sector finances for at least 2 years why does it seem to have come as a great shock to Rachel Reeves?
“Chancellor Rachel Reeves said there was a £22 billion black hole in the public finances as she accused the Tories of covering up the scale of the problems.” (Northwich & Winsford Guardian: 29/07/24)
Either Rachel Reeves does not read official financial reports (in which case why is she Chancellor of the Exchequer) - or she is simply lying. I suspect the latter. This is what fullfact.org had to say:
“The IFS says many of the challenges Labour outlined this week were “entirely predictable”, and during the election campaign the think tank said that a new government would likely see a shortfall of £10-£20 billion by 2028/29.” (30/07/24)
How disappointing that Starmer’s Labour Government has the same relationship with the truth as the Tories - utter distain!
this is not a can we're kicking down the road, it's a snowball
We're in a major argument with math. And math wins, every time.
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When deficits are created to make the filthy rich even filthier, there are few things Republicans love more.
Okay, perhaps voter suppression occasionally gets more love from Republicans than tax breaks for billionaires.
