What is Swinney playing at?
The recession (depression more like) is a result of a bankrupt British state and Scotland is worse off because of decades of mismanagement from London and patronage economics. The only reason Brown can pretend that the UK economy isn't economically dead is because of North Sea oil. The City in London, thanks to Gordon Brown, is bleeding the taxpayers dry and so causing huge cuts in public services.
Yet they are not only getting let off the hook but we are letting them, in a death defying twist of logic, blame the SNP!
Indeed, Swinney wants to talk about "Cautious Optimism" in the Scottish economy? (Where is the evidence of this?) And what can he do about it anyway? Almost nothing.Yet, as he plays the reassuring banker and tries to make it look like he's the one in charge of it all the entire unionist propaganda machine is killing the SNP.
In Das Herald Sturmer the headline screams:
Scotland’s recession far deeper than rest of UK
The article has a picture of Swinney looking like a puppy in front of a pile of poo as if suddenly he was the Chancellor of the Exchequer and responsible for it all.
For heavens's sakes, he should be telling the press that this was all about London being bankrupt and that only the financial levers of independence can give him the ability to turn Scotland around. This is monumental naivity and it will do untold and lasting damage to the cause of independence if it is not tackled head on and fast.
In this article New Labour feel confident to make moronic assertions like the following:
However, Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray warned it painted a “worrying picture” for Scotland and blamed the weak recovery on the SNP Government.
For a start, there is no recovery - that's idiotic, and how on earth can that have anything to do with the SNP? Did the SNP learn nothing from Glasgow North-East?
It seem that Labour has. They have realised that they can get away with blue murder:
Mr Gray said: “The decision to cancel the Glasgow Airport Rail Link (Garl) is an example of how they get it wrong. Garl alone will cost 1300 jobs. It also puts Scottish business at a disadvantage to our competitors.”
Labour should be on the ropes over the economy. Yet, thanks to the SNP's lack of political guile Labour can land all the punches and recruit their shills in the media to run this garbage as lead stories.
Everyone in Scotland is going to blame the SNP for the state of the economy! Come on, this is politics 101. There's no excuse for this kind of negligence.
A 'Bankrupt Britain' campaign would put Labour on the back foot in Scotland. Yet, we insist on letting the culprits land all the punches? What blind stupidity.
As part of a co-ordinated propaganda campaign Das Schottishman leads on:
SNP will miss key target on boosting economy
Of course it has an equally unflattering picture of our First Minister.
Again Ian Gray, who is illiterate on the subject of economics, feels comfortable saying about the SNP:
"They are more interested in pursuing the narrow interests of the SNP than the interests of Scotland and ordinary Scots concerned about jobs and the economy,"
This from the party that has bankrupt Britain through wars, Trident and giving their corporate donors in The City trillions of pounds in bail-outs and quatative easing finance whilst millions lose their jobs.
The SNP is flush with economic talent. Why don't they unleash it? The strategy is going off the rails badly here.
Change the strategy NOW!
I'm afraid, Alex, the narrative is set by a hostile media.
ReplyDeleteWhilst I agree that Swinney should be making it clear where the blame lies, it's not going to be disseminated in a balanced way (if at all).
He probably doesn't want to flag up the Scottish Govt's economic impotence either - although I agree that's exactly what he should do.
We're going nowhere until the U-media can be challenged.
I understand your fatalism but I think a lot can be done!
ReplyDeleteThe message has to be pumped constantly that Britain is Bankrupt. That makes it easier to counter this kind of drivel (which will cause a lot of harm if un-checked) and more difficult for the media to conspire with!
As for impotence, heck even the Calman Commission thinks that.
This is a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned!
Certainly we need to explain why Scotland invariably seems to suffer more when the UK is in recession.
ReplyDeleteMany might think that the large public sector here would be a bulwark against such a nose-dive. I'd be interested in your analysis.
Excellent blog by the way. I hope it receives the attention it deserves and that you stick with it even if it doesn't.
good luck,
Davie.
Cheers Davie!
ReplyDeleteI'll mull over my opinion on that. There are a lot of myths about what recessions are IMHO. I think that there have been distortions in the British economy caused by debt driven bubble economics.
The real economy wants to correct the distortion but by pumping money into the system that prevents the correction. Naturally, the place that avoids the correction the longest is the place where most of the bubble money-printing goes i.e. London.
In a sane world we would see a recession in Scotland as the economy here correcting first and that the market was asserting itself healthily.
Not so in fantasy land British economics where we borrow to consume and build the debt burden so that politicians can hail themselves as saviours..
The illusion is very thick. I wouldn't be surprised if Ukania/US start another war to distract us from the lie of recovery and have yet another short term economic stimulus..
Thanks for the challenge and again for the encouragement :O)