Truss/Kwarteng: A Reckless Economic Gamble Certain to Fail

Liz Truss and her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng have told us that their priority is to grow the economy. They plan to do this by borrowing huge amounts of money whilst cutting taxes which will inevitably benefit the rich more than those in desperate need. This is in addition to the £130 billion which they are borrowing in order to protect the profits of energy companies as they reduce the prices charged to consumers.

Inflation is at the highest it has been for several decades, interest rates are going up and individuals and businesses are being squeezed ever more. The NHS is in crisis with around 6 million waiting for treatment.

More and more families are depending upon food banks as they face an approaching winter when many of them will be unable to afford to heat their homes.

To reduce taxes thus benefitting the rich at a time of such crisis is a reckless and stupid gamble which will not work.

Opposition to the government is increasing and will only be inflamed by this absurd government policy.

It seems highly likely that this will lead to social unrest and a breakdown of law and order in the coming months

Berlusconi Claims Russians ‘Pushed’ Putin into Ukraine War

THE GUARDIAN: Italian former PM’s party is part of coalition expected to win Sunday’s general election

The 85-year-old billionaire at the centre-right rally in Rome on 22 September. Berlusconi has long been close with the Russian president. Photograph: Giuseppe Lami/EPA
Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s three-time former prime minister, whose party is forecast to return to government after the general election on Sunday, has sparked a row after defending the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, over the war in Ukraine.

The 85-year-old billionaire told Italian TV that Putin, an old friend of his, was pushed to invad Ukraine by the Russian people and by ministers who wanted Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s administration replaced with “decent people”.

Berlusconi, who has condemned the war, told the chatshow Porta a Porta that separatists had gone to Moscow and told the media that Ukraine’s attacks had caused 16,000 deaths and that Putin was doing nothing to defend them. » | Angela Giuffrida in Rome | Friday, September 23, 2022

Is it true that this dude has already been embalmed? – Mark

Berlusconi draws a backlash for appearing to defend Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. »

Pound Plummets as UK Government Announces Biggest Tax Cuts in 50 Years

Don't call it a budget - but it is the biggest budget intervention we've seen in decades, largely at odds with what twelve years of Conservative Chancellors have told us.

The Office of Budget Responsibility was stopped from publishing forecasts it had been working on, so the test of whether it is responsible was largely left to the financial markets.

The Chancellor claims he's unleashing "the power of the private sector".

Kwarteng Accused of Reckless Mini-budget for the Rich as Pound Plummets

THE GUARDIAN: Strategy of sweeping tax cuts gets hostile reception from markets and economic thinktanks, leaving some Tory MPs aghast

A screenshot taken from the accompanying video.
Kwasi Kwarteng has been accused of delivering a reckless mini-budget for the rich after his £45bn tax-cutting package sent the pound crashing to its lowest level against the dollar in 37 years.

In a high-risk strategy designed to revive Britain’s stagnant economy, the new chancellor announced more than £400bn of extra borrowing over the coming years to fund the biggest giveaway since Tony Barber’s ill-fated 1972 budget.

Kwarteng said tax cuts worth more than £55,000 annually to someone earning £1m a year were part of a new direction for the economy and were designed to help boost growth to 2.5% a year. Some Labour MPs described them as a “class war”. With video » | Larry Elliott and Rowena Mason | Friday, September 23, 2022

This is capitalism at its most hideous! Kwasi Kwarteng has shown us the true face of the Tory party! These disgusting people need to be kicked out of office asap! There is capitalism and there is capitalism. This kind of capitalism disgusts any decent soul. It is inhumane and unChristian. To use Margaret Thatcher’s own words: No! No! No! – © Mark Alexander

Pound sinks as investors question huge tax cuts: The pound has fallen to a fresh 37-year low against the dollar as financial markets reacted to the biggest tax cutting moves in 50 years. »

Joe Biden face au « demi-fascisme » républicain

LE MONDE : En pointant du doigt les partisans pro-Trump et en assimilant ces derniers à une menace intérieure, le président des Etats-Unis veut convaincre les électeurs indécis que le structin de mi-mandat de novembre serait existentiel.

Analyse. Au temps de la guerre froide, l’ennemi de l’Amérique était communiste. Dans l’ère post-11 septembre 2001, il était islamiste. Voici aujourd’hui les Etats-Unis face à une nouvelle menace redoutable : elle est intérieure. Une partie du pays dérive, portant atteinte à son âme, à ses valeurs et à son système politique. Tel est le constat dressé par Joe Biden, à une cinquantaine de jours des élections de mi-mandat du 8 novembre. Pour caractériser cette menace représentée par les « républicains MAGA » (acronyme du slogan « Make America great again », de Donald Trump), le président est allé jusqu’à dire, le 25 août, qu’elle était « comme un demi-fascisme ».

L’expression surprend. D’abord, comment être fasciste à moitié ? A croire que le président n’assume pas entièrement son audace sémantique, ou qu’il redoute une rupture complète avec cette partie de la population américaine. Dans le camp républicain, les calculs de Joe Biden n’ont guère été pris en compte. Chacun s’est dit heurté, évitant ainsi de s’interroger sur la pente extrémiste du parti. Le présentateur vedette de Fox News, Tucker Carlson – qui a légitimé à l’antenne la théorie raciste du « grand remplacement » menaçant supposément la population blanche chrétienne –, a prétendu que les propos du président démocrate étaient « une déclaration de guerre contre la moitié du pays ». Pourtant, Joe Biden a longuement insisté sur le rôle toxique d’une minorité seulement du Parti républicain. Et de guerre, il n’a jamais été question. Seulement d’une mobilisation civique pour défendre, dans les urnes, la démocratie américaine. » | Par Piotr Smolar (Washington, correspondant) | vendredi 23 septembre 2022

Au Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU, la Russie seule contre tous

LE MONDE : Les représentants chinois et indien ont pris leur distance avec les surenchères de Moscou lors de la 77e Assemblée générale des Nations unies. Les dirigeants occidentaux ont, eux, poursuivi leur dénonciation de l’attaque des forces russes en Ukraine.

Le ministre russe des affaires étrangères, Sergueï Lavrov, lors du Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU, à New York, le 22 septembre. MICHAEL M. SANTIAGO / AFP
Sergueï Lavrov n’est resté dans la salle que le temps de prononcer une virulente diatribe contre « l’Etat totalitaire nazi », qui serait selon lui en place en Ukraine. Il n’empêche, le ministre des affaires étrangères russe s’est retrouvé isolé comme jamais, jeudi 22 septembre, à New York, lors d’une réunion du Conseil de sécurité, qui restera comme le temps fort de la 77e Assemblée générale des Nations unies, Chine et Inde plaidant pour mettre un terme aux hostilités, deux jours après la mobilisation « partielle » décrétée par le président russe, Vladimir Poutine.

En principe, la séance devait être consacrée à « la lutte contre l’impunité » des crimes dont sont accusées les forces russes engagées en Ukraine. Un sujet douloureux, une semaine après la découverte d’une fosse commune et des nouvelles atrocités commises contre les civils dans la ville d’Izioum, tout juste libérée de la férule russe. « Il n’y a pas de paix sans justice », a asséné la ministre des affaires étrangères française, Catherine Colonna, qui présidait les débats. Au moment où Vladimir Poutine joue l’escalade dans l’espoir de reprendre la main face aux succès de la contre-offensive ukrainienne, le rendez-vous a mis en lumière l’isolement croissant du chef du Kremlin. » | Par Philippe Ricard (New York, envoyé spécial) | vendredi 23 septembre 2022

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Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng Have Made a Declaration of Class War

THE GUARDIAN: This unofficial budget is morally indefensible, economically reckless and so risky it suggests a political death wish

Taking from those who have least, lavishing gifts on those who have most.’ Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng on a visit to Berkeley Modular in Kent. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/AP
She makes Margaret Thatcher look like a moderate and Ronald Reagan seem positively wet. Liz Truss has embarked on an ideological project so extreme that the de facto budget announced by her chancellor today amounts to a declaration of class war. It was a reverse Robin Hood: taking from those who have least, lavishing gifts on those who have most. It is morally indefensible, economically reckless and so politically risky as to suggest a death wish.

Trussonomics rests on a simple article of faith: that by rewarding the already wealthy, life will improve for everyone else. Trickle-down economics, they called it back in the 1980s, and it didn’t work then. Now it’s back in a form more stark, more extravagant, than even its most ardent apostles ever dared contemplate.

The generosity towards the amply blessed was breathtaking. Kwasi Kwarteng’s totemic move was the removal of the cap on bankers’ bonuses – as if the number one problem confronting Britain today was that bankers aren’t rich enough. It’ll be Cristal magnums all round in the City, obviously, but Labour HQ should also raise a glass: they’ve just been handed an attack line that cannot fail. The Conservative predecessors of Truss and Kwarteng had no principled objection to letting bankers receive telephone-number bonuses, but held off because they knew the optics were so screamingly awful. The new duo has no such restraint.

And so they have delivered the biggest tax cuts in half a century, outstripping the landmark Nigel Lawson budget of 1988 – and their largesse is aimed squarely at the top. Kwarteng decided it was those in the highest tax bracket who needed help, so he abolished the top rate altogether. That will hand an average £10,000 to the highest-earning 600,000 people in the country: literally the one per cent. » | Jonathan Freedland | Friday, September 23, 2022

Liz Truss makes Margaret Thatcher look like the fairy godmother! Divisive politics like this could eventually well lead to a revolution. Even tolerant Brits have their limits! Could Tory policies like this—giving the already super-privileged even more privileges—lead even to Britain overthrowing the monarchy? The French did it in 1789, declaring the motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité. It is very difficult to see how we Brits could declare the same here! In the UK, there is liberté for the super-priviliged, there is certainly no égalité and where there are such class divisions, there can certainly be no fraaternité, either.

It is high time for this country to call time on giving the already super-privileged yet more privileges. A well-run economy, even a capitalist economy, should be, must be run for the benefit of all. I believe it is true to say that this country has more food banks than it has Starbucks outlets! How can it be morally justifiable to pursue such shameless economic policies when so many people have to go to food banks in order to put food on the table for their children? What we need is more food for our children, not more champagne for our bankers!

Once upon a time, when I was young, I was so proud to call myself British. These days, not so much. Moreover, we Brits were spoken about in the same breath as fairness and fair play. No longer, I fear. This country has become synonymous with class division, unfairness, greed and selfishness.

With policies like these put forward like this by Kwasi Kwarteng and Liz Truss, it is easier to feel ashamed to be British than it is to feel proud. These are , indeed, sad times. – © Mark Alexander

For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. – KJB Matthew 13:12

"This Is Not a Referendum" Ukraine's Ex-President Poroshenko Slams Russia's Latest Announcements

Russian-installed authorities in occupied parts of Ukraine have been holding so-called referendums on joining Russia. Polling has begun despite worldwide condemnation and a warning from the UN chief - that the results will not be recognised. Ballots are being collected in the regions of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk - an area making up about 15 percent of the Ukrainian territory. As voting continues, Kyiv say it has recaptured more ground in its continuing counter-offensive. The voting is expected to last several days and result in the regions' annexation by Moscow. Ukraine and Western governments say they won't recognize the outcome. We talk about Russia's latest moves with Petro Poroshenko. He was president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019.

Pound Crashes as Markets Lose Confidence in Government

A screenshot taken from the accomanying video.
THE GUARDIAN: This is turning into an absolute rout on the pound, as the markets give a scathing verdict to Kwasi Kwarteng’s unfunded tax cuts and extra spending.

Having dropped through $1.10 earlier this afternoon, sterling has continued to crash….. all the way down to a new 37-year low of $1.09.

The pound has lost 3.5 cents today, cratering by 3% – on track for its worst day since the market panic of March 2020 when the pandemic hit. With video » | Graeme Wearden | Friday, September 23, 2022

Kwasi, the quasi chancellor! Kwarteng’s economics is already being shown up for what it truly is: voodoo economics. – © Mark Alexander

Pound sinks as investors question huge tax cuts: The pound has fallen to a fresh 37-year low against the dollar as financial markets reacted to the biggest tax cutting moves in 50 years. »

New Chancellor Just Shamelessly Blamed Benefit Claimants for High Inflation Labour Shortages

Sep 23, 2022

En Italie, le droit des femmes selon Giorgia Meloni

LE MONDE : REPORTAGE | La présidente du parti d’extrême droite Fratelli d’Italia a promis, lors de la campagne des législatives du 25 septembre, de limiter le recours à l’IVG. Une vision ultraconservatrice de la famille qui séduit dans un pays inquiet de sa natalité déclinante.

La candidate d’extrême droite Giorgia Meloni, à Turin (Italie), le 13 septembre 2022. JEAN-MARC CAIMI ET VALENTINA PICCINNI POUR « M LE MAGAZINE DU MONDE »
Giorgia Meloni a un débit de mitraillette. Une rafale contre la gauche, une autre contre la justice. Puis les impôts et les médias prennent à leur tour une bordée. La présidente de Fratelli d’Italia (« Frères d’Italie ») traverse la tribune, tonique, vêtue d’une veste turquoise, son micro en main et les mots comme des balles.

Le public de Turin se régale, en cette soirée du 13 septembre. Les effets de manches et les moues de bateleuse de la candidate aux élections législatives italiennes du 25 septembre contribuent à son succès. La foule rugit de plaisir lorsqu’elle dénonce « l’immigration de masse » et promet d’imposer un « blocus naval » en Méditerranée pour empêcher les bateaux de migrants d’accoster.

La Romaine baisse la voix. Son débit se calme (un peu). « Ils ont besoin de faire de nous des monstres… », dit-elle en soupirant. « Ils » ? Le public comprend. La gauche, les médias, étrangers notamment. « Il y a une fake news qui tourne, poursuit-elle. Nous voudrions abolir le droit à l’avortement ! » Un rire nerveux lui échappe. « Personne ne l’a jamais dit ! », clame-t-elle. » | Par Olivier Faye (Turin (Italie), envoyé spécial) | jeudi 22 septembre 2022

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Democracy Now! Top US News & World Headlines — September 23, 2022

Pound Sinks as Markets React to Mini-budget

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BBC: The pound has fallen to a fresh 37-year low against the dollar as markets react to the biggest tax cutting budget in 50 years.

UK stocks also slid after Kwasi Kwarteng outlined a series of tax cuts and economic measures in a massive shake-up of the country's finances.

The pound dropped by nearly 2% against the dollar, putting it close to $1.10.

Sterling has been falling in recent weeks, partly down to the strength of the US dollar. However, sterling also fell against the euro on Friday, with the pound down more than 1% at €1.12.

Meanwhile, the UK's FTSE 100 of major shares fell to its lowest level for more than two months. » | Noor Nanji, Business reporter, BBC News | Friday, September 23, 2022

Kwarteng’s voodoo economics spooks markets. – © Mark Alexander

«Wir wollen keine islamische Republik» – nach dem Tod einer jungen Kurdin fordern Frauen in Iran das Regime heraus

NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG: Mutig reissen sich Frauen das Kopftuch herunter und verbrennen es, manche schneiden sich in der Öffentlichkeit die Haare ab. Die Herrschenden reagieren nervös.

Die Hardliner versuchen, den Kopftuchzwang in Iran mit Gewalt durchzusetzen. | Abedin Taherkenareh / EPA
Die islamische Revolution in Iran war unter anderem auch deshalb erfolgreich, weil sie von Frauen unterstützt wurde. Viele hatten das Kopftuchverbot unter dem Shah-Regime satt und wollten sich verhüllen, wie es ihnen gefällt. Zwar gab es schon kurz nach der Einführung des Verhüllungszwangs unter dem neuen Regime Proteste, dann wurde es still. Mehr als 43 Jahre nach der Revolution wollen sich viele Frauen von den Geistlichen aber nicht mehr vorschreiben lassen, was sie zu tragen haben.

Bereits vor vier Jahren kam es zu massenhaften Protesten gegen den offiziellen Kopftuchzwang. In den letzten Tagen gingen erneut Frauen – und Männer – auf die Strasse und boten den Mächtigen die Stirn. Der Auslöser war der gewaltsame Tod von Mahsa Amini. Die 22-jährige Kurdin aus der Stadt Saqez war am Dienstag der vergangenen Woche in Teheran von der Religions- und Sittenpolizei festgenommen worden und offenbar so schwer geprügelt worden, dass sie drei Tage später in einem Spital starb.

Von den Epizentren der kurdischen Städte und den Universitäten in Teheran breiteten sich die Proteste in den letzten Tagen über das ganze Land aus. Das Erstaunliche dabei ist der Mut, den manche Frauen dabei beweisen: Sie stellen sich den Sicherheitskräften direkt in den Weg. » | Inga Rogg, Jerusalem | Freitag, 23. September 2022

U.K. Government Goes Full Tilt on Tax Cuts and Free-Market Economics

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The new administration’s proposals are a sharp break from the era of Boris Johnson, and they represent a turn toward Thatcherism.

Britain’s new prime minister, Liz Truss, will be hoping that the measures can engineer at least the start of a solid economic recovery before a general election that must take place by January 2025. | Daniel Leal/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
LONDON — Prime Minister Liz Truss of Britain on Friday gambled that a hefty dose of tax cuts, deregulation and free-market economics could reignite growth before the next general election as her government unveiled a package of measures that is likely to determine its electoral success or failure.

Breaking sharply with the era of the previous prime minister, Boris Johnson, the new chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng, promised the dawn of a new age of lower taxation, with the scrapping of one planned tax rise and the reduction of levies on home purchases to try to fire up the real estate market.

Mr. Kwarteng abandoned a proposed rise in corporate taxation and, in a surprise move, also abolished the top rate of 45 percent of income tax applied to those earning more than 150,000 pounds, or about $169,000, a year. He also cut the basic rate for lower earners.

“We will focus on growth, even when that means taking difficult decisions,” Mr. Kwarteng told a packed House of Commons. “None of this is going to happen overnight, but today we are publishing our growth plan that sets out a new approach for this new era.”

The focus on tax cuts to grow the economy “is how we will turn this vicious cycle of stagnation into a virtuous cycle of growth,” he added.

…

Some dispute the comparison because the plans announced on Friday are likely to mean a large increase in government borrowing, at a time of rising interest rates, because there has been no indication of big spending cuts. While Thatcher was a committed tax cutter, she believed in balancing the books first. » | Stephen Castle and Eshe Nelson | Friday, September 23, 2022

Just when you thought we had reached the bottom with BoJo, along comes Truss to disabuse us of any such notion! At least it will be a smooth ride for the super rich! That's some consolation, I suppose. The rest will be able to look on! – © Mark Alexander

Ukraine War Comes Home to Russians as Putin Imposes Draft

THE NEW YORK TIMES: As Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” enters a new chapter, Russians are being plucked from villages around the country for training and military service.

A day after President Vladimir V. Putin announced a call-up that could sweep 300,000 civilians into military service, thousands of Russians across the country received draft papers on Thursday and some were being marched to buses and planes for training — and perhaps soon a trip to the front lines in Ukraine.

Mr. Putin’s escalation of the war effort was reverberating across the country, according to interviews, Russian news reports and social media posts. As the day wore on, it became increasingly clear that Mr. Putin’s decision had torn open the cocoon shielding much of Russian society from their leader’s invasion of a neighbor.

Mothers, wives and children were saying tearful goodbyes in remote regions as officials — in some cases, ordinary schoolteachers — delivered draft notices to houses and apartment blocks. In mountainous eastern Siberia, the Russian news media reported, school buses were being commandeered to move troops to training grounds.

Russian officials said the call-up would be limited to people with combat experience. But the net appeared wider, and some men decided it was best to head for the borders.

Yanina Nimayeva, a journalist from the Buryatia region of Siberia, said that her husband, a father of five and an employee in the emergency department in the regional capital, had been inexplicably called up. She said he received a summons to an urgent 4 a.m. meeting where it was announced that a train had been organized to bring men to the city of Chita.

“My husband is 38 years old, he is not in the reserve, he did not serve,” Ms. Nimayeva said in a video addressed to regional officials. » | Anton Troianovski, Valerie Hopkins, Ivan Nechepurenko and Alina Lobzina | Published: Thursday, September 22, 2022; updated: Friday, September 23, 2022

Many Flee to Avoid Getting Drafted, but Where Can They Go? | DW News

Vladimir Putin's escalation of the war is running into increasing opposition within Russia. Police have arrested more than 1,000 people demonstrating against the call-up of reservists at nationwide protests. And Flights to foreign destinations are also selling out, as many fear it could be their last chance to leave.

UK in Recession and Further Interest Rate Hikes on Their Way, Bank Warns Kwarteng

THE GUARDIAN: Threadneedle Street makes clear on eve of tax-cutting mini-budget that plans risk triggering more rate rises

One Whitehall source described the chancellor’s mini-budget as having ‘more rabbits than Watership Down’. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters
The Bank of England has warned Kwasi Kwarteng the economy is in recession and it will most probably need to push interest rates higher following Friday’s tax-cutting mini budget from the chancellor.

On the eve of a major package of support from the chancellor designed to break what he called the economy’s “cycle of stagnation”, Threadneedle Street said the UK economy was heading for a second consecutive quarter of falling output, with gross domestic product set to shrink 0.1% in the three months to September.

However, with energy and food bills still soaring, and inflation not expected to peak until October, the Bank of England raised the cost of borrowing for a seventh successive meeting of its monetary policy committee (MPC) and made clear the new government’s plans risked triggering more interest rate hikes. » | Larry Elliott, Jessica Elgot and Richard Partington | Thursday, September 22, 2022