R.I.P. Margaret Thatcher age 87

With the caveat that his memories were provided by NewsCorp and Rupert Murdoch and off a bit as the miners voted for a 5% pay raise while the Murdoch "memory" claimed 40%.

Well the last vestige of socialism in UK is National Health which costs 50% less than US "free market" health care, provides 100% coverage vs. US 70% and gets better health care results.

Ideology over common sense and common wealth was the signature of Thatcher and Reagan.

 

Anti-Thatcher Protesters Revive 'Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead' - Speakeasy - WSJ

The BBC has not yet decided about it's airplay, as the downloads are an attempt to make the song #1. This is being compared with the Sex Pistol's God Save The Queen, which the BBC banned from play.

 

GrumpieCabbie was talking about power off in British residences during the Three-Day Week - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and Winter of Discontent - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Are you trying to suggest

NewsCorp could make it seem like homes had power or their garbage was picked up during those times?

 

I was in the Navy during the Falkland War. Without going into sensitive details, while the visible US political position was one of neutrality, I saw firsthand the low profile actions of the US Navy that were key in maintaining the Very Long logistics "pipeline" the UK needed for this operation. Right or wrong, the UK got a LOT of US help.

 

Look no offense to our good friends in the UK. I'm sure good, bad or indifferent Margaret did a great job taking into consideration the times. History will be kind to her.

 

I'm suggesting you might not have read the sources you referenced which mentioned commercial users but not residential users since most of them were the strikers.

The 40% was also a fabrication specific to Thatcher's time (the above was a previous administration not Thatcher's) since the miners voted to accept 5%.

The workers demands in those high inflationary times were that their wages keep pace with inflation since the "free market" sellers of the things they needed and made had no compunction about raising prices just not raising wages as much as they raised their prices.

 

Instead of continuing this arguement, let me ask if you think Britain was better off in the 70's with stuff like The Winter of Discontent and the Three-Day Week? (Well, I knew who I got that question from. )

 

So we move from provable facts, that claims of homes without power and 40% raises were false to "better off". Reminds us of Reagan going from the facts of Carter standing up to Soviets in Europe and Afghanistan, Carter ending the Vietnam inflation of Nixon/Ford, Carter telling the US that cutting oil use was the moral equivalent of war to the fantasy of Reagan that lead to $14T in debt, 20 years of oil wars and worst recession since the Great Depression.

Better that Thatcher and Reagan's discredited ideology of government by and for the rich, for oil companies and military contractors never happened. History has answered that question.

Had we taken the path of "moral equivalent of war" we would be driving US and UK made "Prius" not Japanese made Prius.

 

^ Don't you just love it when the opposing side dodges a question and continues to attack?

Implicit admission you don't have an answer.

Not saying Thatcher/Reagan have all the answers - just had better ones than in the 1970's.

Gripe on.

 

Well I did admit that the "40% wage" increase touted by the Thatcherite's was phony. I did note that the "homes without power" claims of the Thatcherite's was false.

I did answer the vague "Are we better off" change of subject from the hard facts above.

I don't mind when people change the subject when their "facts" (40% wage hike and homes without power) are proven wrong.

Sorry you don't like the facts or the answers.

The main theme of Reaganomics and Thatcherism was government by and for the wealthy. The result has been a huge shift of wealth from the working and middle class to the wealthy, massive government debts, decades of resource wars to the sole benefit of oil companies and weapons builders, low to no GDP growth, financial collapse of the deregulated dream world of the Thatchers and Reagans. They got their way and it proved them wrong on every claim they made.

Reagan took the solar panels off the White House roof, the US went $14T into debt fighting for oil to fuel Reagan's failed fantasy and we drive Japanese Prius and have global warming disasters because the US went the wrong way in 1980 as did UK with Thatcher.

We all drive the proof of it.

 

^ If you bothered to read my posts on this thread not intoxicated with your agenda, you would know I have concerns with how the lassie-faire economy got out of hand - you're just too busy arguing. Still, Thatcher/Reagan had better ideas than Callahan/Carter had for the 70's...Blair/Clinton made concessions and kept some of the free market reforms of the 80's instead of going clear back to the 70's.

I predict you will notice this post without an actual read and attack, attack, attack.

 

Reagan rescued us from Jimmy Carter

 

In a nutshell, Carter solar panels on White House. Reagan solar panels off White House.

We report, you decide.

 

^ Example of blind eye.

I was addressing the national economy (macro level) - iCladius focuses on a detail (micro level) to win debate points (?) Was not addressing green issues (which I support) - did you bother to see my post Thatcher voiced concerns on Climate Change???

Guess it's not enough I've conceded Thatcher/Reagan was not perfect, their successor might have gone too far...seems like iClaudius wants me to say they were utter failures....guess we simply have different convictions. Ironically, I'm getting "handbagged" online by an opponent of Thatcher.

Perhaps iClaudius would be happier venting by downloading Ding Dong - the Witch is Dead.

 

Well glad to hear the need for clean energy and fuel efficient, low pollution cars like the Prius are no longer necessary.

 

"Aggie Culture"

A neighbor has school banners of Notre Dame and Texas A&M - nobody has more school spirit.

Texas A&M is the anti-Berkley steeped in the military and conservative traditional values....more generals from that school than and college in WWII. Aggie jokes sound a lot like reused Polish jokes, brought on by Aggies don't shy away to let everyone know who they are....Worf on Star Trek the Next Generation often acts like an Aggie in The Corps when he harps on Klingon tradition and HONOR.

We have not had an Aggie President, although alumni Rick Perry is probably running again and Dubya could be easily mistaken for one....his Presidential libary seriously should be relocated at A&M and his father's moved to preppy SMU in Dallas - they got it backwards.

Putting an end to this long, meandering post - Texas A&M was a men's-only college until 1970. When they finally allowed coeds, they were nicknamed "Maggies."

With the above thought in mind, Michael Thatcher is a recent graduate of A&M - grandson of the PM. His sister (who will read Bible verses during the military funeral next Wednesday for her grandmother is 19 and about ready to attend college. If Amanda goes to A&M, what will that make her?

 

Amazing how this thread has gone WAY off.

I was there in the 1970's, I am still here. Murdoch doesn't run the press or tv here like he does in the US. In fact, he had his butt kicked big time due to the Murdoch press getting too big for their boots;

News International phone hacking scandal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Apparently it was due to Thatcher that we had the financial crash in 2007/8. Odd that our Labour Government with Tony Blair did NOTHING to put right her so called 'mistakes' in the 14 YEARS that they were in power. Mr Blairs successor actually reduced and removed regulation.

But hey, what do I know and when do facts count.

One thing I'll say about Thatcher is that we're a country of 65 million and you all remember one of our leaders who left office 20 years ago. Name me the Prime Minister of Australia in 1986 or the President of Spain or Italy in the same period. Exactly.

Right, I'm leaving this thread because it has become the usual political shite that seems to have infested this forum of late.

 

You'll have to talk to GrumpyCabbie about the hijack, he's the one who posted about the coal miners and how Thatcherites and their ally Rupert Murdoch made phony claims of homes without power and 40% wage demands. I simply corrected him noting 5% wage increase, no homes without power.

My original post was Elton John's "tribute" song to Thatcher.