Pre-Election Reading

Hello there! I hope you are all well.

I haven’t had much time for blogging of late, for which I apologise. The good news is that there are plenty of better people than me still doing it. With the election almost upon us, I thought I would direct you to some things you should read before casting your vote. If you are thinking of voting for the current government based on their economic record then I urge you to read these posts before doing so. If you know someone who is thinking of doing that then point them in the direction of these posts before they get near a polling station.

Paul Krugman is a winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics* and his recent essay published in the Guardian says everything I’ve been trying to say for five years – but much better:

The Austerity Delusion

Simon Wren-Lewis is a Professor of Economics at Oxford University but also writes economic blogposts that everyone can understand. He recently wrote a whole series debunking what he calls the “Macromedia Myths” – the stories we receive every day from the right wing press and the government, stated as facts but, as he shows, clearly not based upon them:

Media Macro: Introduction

Media Macro Myth 1: Britain faced a financial crisis

Media Macro Myth 2: Labour profligacy

Media Macro Myth 3: The 2007 Boom

Media Macro Myth 4: The immediate necessity of belt tightening

Media Macro Myth 5: The long term plan

Media Macro Myth 6: 2013 recovery vindication

Media Macro Myth 7: The strong recovery

Media Macro Myth 8: Employment growth

Oh, and on the subject of Labour’s “overspending” you might want to look at what George Osborne’s spending policy was in the year before the financial crisis:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6975536.stm

Use your vote well on Thursday.

RedEaredRabbit

*Yes pedants, I know it is really called the “Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel”