Saturday, May 31, 2003

Thatcher

Just So You Know

Had Thatcher’s Tory government made alternate arrangements for workers and miners that would have eased their transition. But they were pretty much just out on the street. It doesn’t make much sense to solve high unemployment problems by creating more unemployment. As to Thatcher overhauling Britain and improving its economy, historian Kenneth O. Morgan, in The Oxford History of Britain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993) argues that while Thatcher’s policy did introduce some recovery to Britain’s economy in the early 1980s, the economy tanked again in the late 1980s after a decade or so of Thatcherism. According to Morgan,

“Most serious of all [difficulties], the apparent revival in the economy began to lose credibility. The tax-cutting policy of the Chancellor, Nigel Lawson, was now seen to have led to a huge balance of payments deficit, at 20 billion pounds the worst figure on record. Unemployment rose sharply and the pound came under pressure. Worse still, the conquest of inflation, the government’s main boast, was now threatened by a consumer-credit and spending boom. Bank rate soared to 15 per cent, and the impact was felt by every mortgaged home-owner in the land” (Morgan 660). [Note: I tried to block this appropriately but can’t figure out how. Apologies.]


Posted by Mike on 05/31/03 at 07:58 PM
Just So You Know • Permalink