Covid-19 & the rise of Popularist Socialism

Hugo Rune said:

It’s quite astonishing to see the Conservative government shift from the right to the left. Of course, popularist governments have invested heavily in the state before, the National Socialists did this with their Public Works, Rearmourment and National Service.

Closet Brexiteer Corbyn’s interview today confirms that he is a a happy bunny now the government has invested billions into the Country.

From the BBC:
He said the government had been "shocked" by the national emergency, as their "instincts" were for "free market economics and the small state". Corbyn thinks

"They've now suddenly realised that they have to spend money to invest in the state, as we have always said as a party, and they have come around to a lot of that position."
'We need everybody'

Mr Corbyn said the government had also failed to realise how many people were in "insecure" employment in the UK when they drew up their response to the emergency.

But he believed that the pandemic had changed the political landscape forever.
"I think our society and our politics will never be the same again, because we have suddenly realised as a society and a community, we need everybody - and everybody has a contribution to make."

With the Schengen Area closed indefinitely and the possibility of quarantining or screening to enter other Countries, free movement of people in the EU might be fatally flawed. It seems Brexit might have landed on it’s feet and become a worthwhile idea way ahead of it’s time due to a viral fluke instead of the economy busting wretched nationalist little Englander project it was originally dreamed up as.

Walking along (one outdoor exercise per day), singing a song (The Red Flag), walking in a Corbyn wonderland.

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Machiavelli said:

What is 'popularist'?

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beorhthelm said:

Italy in particular will need some significant financial support, they were likly to go into recession as it was.

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Green Cross Code Man said:

From the BBC this morning:

After six hours of talks, EU leaders - by socially distant video conference - failed on Thursday to agree to share the debt they are all racking up fighting Covid-19, with finance ministers instead reporting back in two weeks' time.

The EU is famous for kicking difficult decisions down the road but in coronavirus terms, with spiralling infection and death rates, two weeks feels like an eternity.

Spain and Italy - ravaged by the effects of the virus on their populations and their limited public finances - were deeply disappointed.

Italy was already one of the EU's most Eurosceptic member states before Covid-19 hit. Italian Twitter was littered with expletives on Thursday - and those were just the posts from politicians.

President Emmanuel Macron of France is said to have told leaders the political reaction after the crisis could spell the end of the EU.

The thing is, the coronavirus simply highlights already existing, well-known difficulties in the EU.

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Weststander said:

Hungary - since the weekend run by a single far right party dictatorship, his party had a majority in parliament which voted through a change where Orban rules by decree. Opposition newspapers, journalists and websites had already been gradually closed.

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Weststander said:

Hungary - since the weekend run by a single far right party dictatorship, his party had a majority in parliament which voted through a change where Orban rules by decree. Opposition newspapers, journalists and websites had already been gradually closed.

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Green Cross Code Man said:

Orban is pretty extreme sadly. This could be all the excuse he needs.

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Weststander said:

Opportunistic.

Leaving the EU in a difficult place. Once the COVID crisis is over, will they tackle him on the lack of true democracy and free speech, possibly creating a split Putin would absolutely love.

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Green Cross Code Man said:

Even without extremists like Orban, the EU is likely to be in trouble after the crisis has passed. The southern countries already had such huge debt, that it is hard to see the Euro for example not coming under a lot of pressure and then cracking, maybe even going under. The EU is caught between a rock and a hard place, do nothing and afterwards people will ask 'What is the point of it?', take action and people will maybe resent the intrusion into something most people and countries are now regarding as national issues and furthermore the EU could easily end up as a scapegoat. I am no fan of the EU but in this situation, I can't help feeling that a lot of well-intentioned people could be thrown under the bus.

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Weststander said:

Even though we’re out soon, I want to the EU to survive. It almost certainly has prevented wars or other conflicts imho, it creates a trading block so that the USA don’t have everything their way on the planet, and nations such as the Germans, Dutch and the Scandinavians are friends of the UK ... I don’t wish them ill.

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Weststander said:

Even though we’re out soon, I want to the EU to survive. It almost certainly has prevented wars or other conflicts imho, it creates a trading block so that the USA don’t have everything their way on the planet, and nations such as the Germans, Dutch and the Scandinavians are friends of the UK ... I don’t wish them ill.

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dingodan said:

A decade of prudent economic policy has meant that, now that we are dealing with an emergency, we actually have some breathing room in our finances to take care of people when they are in desperate need.

If we had spent the last decade funding liberal economic policies and bloating the welfare state, "because we care about people", we would have no breathing room and people in desperate need would suffer. We would be absolutely screwed right now if we hadn't tightened our belts over recent years. The people we care most about, the most vulnerable, would have been the ones suffer the most. Now they don't have to.

We've spent so long hearing liberals accusing conservatives of not caring about people because they won't spend more money.

You care about people by acting responsibly.

Thank f*ck we've had a conservative government for the past decade.

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dingodan said:

A decade of prudent economic policy has meant that, now that we are dealing with an emergency, we actually have some breathing room in our finances to take care of people when they are in desperate need.

If we had spent the last decade funding liberal economic policies and bloating the welfare state, "because we care about people", we would have no breathing room and people in desperate need would suffer. We would be absolutely screwed right now if we hadn't tightened our belts over recent years. The people we care most about, the most vulnerable, would have been the ones suffer the most. Now they don't have to.

We've spent so long hearing liberals accusing conservatives of not caring about people because they won't spend more money.

You care about people by acting responsibly.

Thank f*ck we've had a conservative government for the past decade.

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e77 said:

Historically if you owned a business you might reap the rewards but you had to take the risks as well. Over the last decade the Conservatives have presided over an economy where the risk of business has been transferred to the employee via zero hour contracts and sham self employment leaving us in the position we are now where only a minority of people have enough money to fall back on during a period of not earning any money. They only did it to keep people in their homes and to have an economy to come back to when this is all over.

They have also defunded the NHS and created an environment where non-British staff were made to feel unwelcome and went home in a large part due to a xenophobic attitude fostered by the government.

If they really do care for people they have a funny way of showing it.

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GT49er said:

We're out soon. I don't really mind one way or another if the EU survives or not. On balance, I'd prefer not - but whatever way it goes I'd still want to be friends with our friends and allies in Europe. No reason why we can't co-operate when it's for the good. Just doesn't need Brussels, the European Parliament and all the bureaucracy to do that.

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Pretty pink fairy said:

#Jo swinson
Regards
DF

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e77 said:

Why don't you go back to laminating posters of Yaxley-Lennon and let the grown ups talk?

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