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March 29th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Press TV has conducted an interview with Ian Williams with Foreign Policy in Focus, to further discuss the issue.
The following is a transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Mr. Williams, economists are saying that overall the British economy’s been flat over the period since Autumn, 2010. The question is why? Is it because, as our guest in London, Mr. [Shabbir] Razvi, was saying is because of the austerity drive and, basically, about the unresolved problems in the Euro zone? We know, of course, that Britain is not a part of the Euro zone but it has, of course, great reliance on the Euro zone when it comes to trade.
Williams: There’s a combination of factors. Britain is uniquely exposed to two of the blocs in recession, that’s North America and the European Union. So, in a sense, it’s almost surprising that it’s done as well as it has.
I think the Bank of England has to take some credit here because while the government has been slamming on the brakes with quantitative easing, the Bank of England has actually been putting in money into the economy in a sort of [Keansing] way in defiance of the government. The government’s austerity measures certainly aren’t going to help.
I’m afraid listening to [your other guest speaker] Sean O’Grady, it’s a bit like if you remember the olde joke about the Lone Ranger and Tonto surrounded by Indians, and he says ‘what are we going to do?’ He says, ‘who is we?’ When you say ‘we have been over spending’, Britain less than America but certainly more than other countries has seen a huge increase in inequality. There are a lot of people that have been making out like ‘bandits’ over the last decade.
And what’s happened now is we have a government that’s determined to keep it that way. It isn’t cushioning the weaker sectors. And it’s also sending symbolic messages. The reduction of 50 percent to 45 percent is actually not that significant in terms of fiscal revenue.
But it’s very significant in terms of the message it sends about whom the government is supporting and who it isn’t.
Really, it’s up to the people of Britain to draw up the necessary conclusions as there’s a coalition government in there. It should be plain to either of both the parties that they won’t get back if they carry on with this, of course.
Press TV: Mr. Williams, let’s have your view on what was said by Mr. O’Grady. Basically, would you also say that George Osborne’s plan was not actually unfair, that the taxation issue is pertaining to the competitiveness issue of Britain and that Britain is going to maintain that triple-A rating?
Williams: Well, if we look at the real world then by those definitions Greece and Ireland, where companies pay virtually zero tax, should have booming economies. They don’t.
Obviously, there’s a lot more to it than the type of fiscal finagling that’s been going on [with] tax rates.
The real point has been there’s been a major shift in the Western economies and particularly in the Anglo-Saxon – the American and the British economies – of wealth towards a small group of people.
That wealth has been reinvested in what seems to be speculative investments and using money to make more money. It certainly hasn’t been invested in productive industry or lending to small or medium enterprises or to entrepreneurs.
The British economy is remarkably resilient. And I think people having seen it fall from the heights of empire are gloomier about it than it is. It is still very competitive in many sectors.
But, it’s also true that the previous government basically abandoned whole [ranges] of manufacturing for all sorts of reasons – political, social and economic.
And I think one thing not to be underrated is that Margaret Thatcher, Reagan and his successors didn’t like manufacturing industries because there were strong unions in there and they didn’t like strong unions. She was quite prepared to close the coal mines down to get rid of the mine workers’ union. There’s a ruthlessness from some of these ideologues that makes Stalin seem like a sort of Sunday school teacher on occasion when it comes to the economics.
There are a whole slew of factors here that have come together, but that inequality is the basic core.
Right across Europe, belatedly, people are saying, ‘no, we’re not going to pay for the mistakes made by the people who have been robbing us blind for the past 20 years’. That’s the conundrum that’s coming up now.
GMA/JR
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