Under Thatcher, the Poor Became Poorer

John Weeks: Thatcher and Reagan set out to crush the union movement and assert the power of capital

[yvignygoncharov]

The headline lies. The poor were not poorer. The british economy was absolutely in the TANK in 1979. Unemployment was in the worst shape in decades. By 1990 the UK economy was in a good enough shape that they (smartly) told the EU to stuff it and kept the British Pound.

[Freegionnaire]

Word is she's already secured the Brimstone rights and is brokering a deal to ship in Polish coal to keep the hell fires burning

[synapse]

The situation that caused the bank bailouts were caused by corporations and their champions who used highly paid lobbyists to get the govt to go along with what they wanted. It's not as though lobbyists don't exist now, is it? In fact the money spent by lobbyists and the number of lobbyists has increased dramatically. There are only so many people who can work and contribute to the productivity of a nation and therefore there's an upper limit on productivity and when the wealthy take too much...

[harbertsand]

Our country is till following her lead. Look where we are vs 30 years ago.

[Beautiful-Sickening-Rolex]

what was she supposed to do? inflation was over 20%...should she have printed more money to keep paying miners who sucked at their jobs? lol

[LiamE]

If only Britain had struck oil....

And yes you are quite right. Its much better to pay miners unemployment benefits and have every business in the mining towns shut and pay those people not to work too and to buy coal from South America than to make some investment in the mines that really hadn't happened since before the war.

That would be silly. Its not like coal mining could possibly be profitable, is it?

[RPenta]

She is in the same league as a champion of freedom as Benjamin Netanyahu.

[RealistAstrology]

Yes. Apparently she believed that people should stand together for freedom. Tough trick when 'there is no society' (not observed by a camera).

[TimmacTR]

Dear Mr.Jay, the sound in this one is a little inaudible, you actually have to concentrate to understand what he says..

Maybe a solution would be to make an semi-live interview with your invitee recording his conversation in a program then sending it to you...for course this would have other complications, but just an idea..

[MyTemporaryAccount]

and the list goes on, but being a War Pig is in and of itself enough of a reason for nobody to cry at your funeral, and for all those willing to piss on your grave. Sending others to die for your own selfish reasons is the height of insult to humanity & all that humane means.

[woodyguthriefan]

Paul please, if you are going to interview people over Skype in the future, make sure they have a DECENT microphone and connection. Otherwisem it is not worth listening to. I really want to hear what Weeks has to say, but I just can't hear it. It's painful.

[ManyGods]

Yeah she didn't want the poor getting poore but she didn't mind them being poor

[Freegionnaire]

What was she supposed to do.. keep those North Sea Oil and Arms Trade profits safely in private hands! LOL

[LieuC]

And under the aegis of her legacy (so called), the rich became poorer as well. Stuff that rotten cabbage under your nose and sniff it, Lord Kitchener !!!

[whurdsderodan]

This report here on the heels of Thatcher's passing was a low blow and full of lies.

[Freegionnaire]

The Gulf of Mexico wasn't BPs first hit!

[MatthewLittleopinomail]

Because the neo-liberal experiment in the western world was uncompromising. Which has increase in inequalities through economic system with dependency on government.

[leetcheet]

@ 6:42 "There wasn't something that happened in the world economy that made it easier to offshore"

Are you fucking kidding me? How about the Chinese Economic reforms in the late 70's and the Chinese currency peg that made British AND American labour largely noncompetitive. The unions would have dead off of their own accord, due to the loss of global competitiveness.

[alamo]

The poor became poor because they make bad decisions.

[jkjerome]

8:26 Arthur Scargill, not Roger. Good interview - nice to see not everyone was brainwashed by the hollywood movie.