It does take some chutzpah for the worst and shortest lived PM in British history to lecture her successor on his economic policies.
Especially so since Liz Truss’s premiership is the subject of a new book, extracts from which yesterday pointed out that the crash in the markets her mad as a hatter economic believes caused was as nothing compared to what was expected to happen when the markets re-opened.
Step forward Mark Carney, his description of the fallout from Brexit and the Liz Truss crisis was that they thought they could create Singapore on Thames and we got Argentina on the Channel.
If Liz Truss had not been forced to retreat and reverse her disastrous policies the pound would have fallen below parity with the dollar and the British government would have stopped being able to borrow money on the gilt markets, at all.
An utter disaster, an unprecedented crisis, the costs would have been huge and permanent. The UK’s economic credibility would have been destroyed, rather than just seriously damaged.
We now learn that Ms. Truss was also seriously considering a single rate of income tax at 20%, costing another £41 billion. Which would have abolished the 40% and 45% tax rates and done nothing for the vast majority who pay no tax or 20% tax. The ultimate fantasy of the far right.
Apparently the opener up of “pork markets” thinks that all these mad ideas were not the result of being stupid, following the swivel eyed lunacy of the far right or just economically illiterate; but that they would have paid for themselves in “higher growth”. That is, they weren’t unfunded they were self funding.
Well, the markets thought otherwise.
Ms. Truss is however sure they were wrong, she really believes this stuff, after the most humiliating and damaging tenure at No. 10, she is back telling us she was right all along.
Not only that she has criticism and advice for her successor.
The former PM still thinks she is an innovative thinker, a radical reformer, an economic expert, ahead of her time, betrayed by the Blob, and this is the best one; an elder stateswoman with wise words of advice based on experience and success that the great and the good should stop and listen to.
Well things are so bad at No. 10 these days that we should not begrudge them a good laugh from time to time.
As for the rest of us, be worried.
This trickle down economic lunacy still has lots of supporters, MPs who will accept nothing less, newspaper editors and commentators who push it relentlessly, it has think tanks and “experts” who are paid to promote this tosh, it is what they are still working towards.
Give them a chance and they will be back.
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.
By Jonty Bloom Media
"Trickle down economics" is often referred to as an economic theory. But in a real sense it's not a theory - more of a fanciful thought experiment. And in the scientific sense it's a failed hypothesis, therefore not a theory at all.
Can't we just call it by its real name, "crumbs from the table if you're lucky" economics?