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That's definitely one of the problems many countries face, companies can withdraw, problems are global, the whims of global currency markets, money being siphoned off...
Even so local taxation and education policies can make a change, but I'm worried Labour is still thinking only of the basics and things have changed a lot the past 30-40 years.
It's hard to go it alone now, unless you are huge. But the UK leaving the EU, as much as I think that was a shit idea, does mean you can experiment more with monetary policies etc.
Just wish it wasn't done this way.... ;)))
JWestland
@rhowe
I have no desire to deflect any blame from those currently in charge, but the UK (and other places too) seems like it's been in a pretty precarious position since 2008.
Remember the headlines about various European countries teetering on the edge of financial collapse? I'm not sure much has really been done to address that, other than the rest of the world taking on a bunch of liabilities to prop them up.
Whether or not anyone calls us on those liabilities we'll have to see (if you offer a loan guarantee it costs you nothing unless the other party defaults) but for the last 40 years we've been working very hard to ensure that we have transferred ownership of strategic assets to either cut-throat businesses (hedge funds, private equity, etc.) or other governments. Neither of these have much of an interest in the UK as an entity - they're either supra-national and we're just one part of the mix, or they are foreign and therefore will always place national interests first if push comes to shove.
As a result, I think we're pretty much beholden to forces we have very little impact over, which isn't helpful when you get a bunch of people in charge who seem to think the UK economy is a closed system they can manage with some dogmatic economic theory.
Also if your tax base is heavily dependent on jobs which only really involve typing things into computers - which we've pretty much proven can be done from almost anywhere - you end up with even less influence.
Over the last few years there has been a lot of fiddling with the tax system - things like increasing the personal allowance and increasing the returns to pensioners which (I assume - hey, it's the internet) has narrowed the proportion of the population contributing to the treasury (at least through income tax) which surely only makes the tax base less resilient?
I wouldn't even claim to be an armchair economist but surely you want as many people paying tax so they feel they have a stake in the game, even if lots of them get some, all or more than that back in government support (I won't say benefits because there's way more than just that and it certainly doesn't always go to those who need it most), as inefficient as that sounds.
Edit: I'm not nationalistic despite all that, but those in charge sure seem to be, and I just don't see how you can tackle any of this if you think nationally. The global economy is just too... well.. global now to get away with thinking small.