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In Britain, Austerity Is Changing Everything (barf Alert)
New York Times ^ | May 28nd 2018 | New York Times

Posted on 05/29/2018 8:15:19 AM PDT by Ennis85

After eight years of budget cutting, Britain is looking less like the rest of Europe and more like the United States, with a shrinking welfare state and spreading poverty.

PRESCOT, England — A walk through this modest town in the northwest of England amounts to a tour of the casualties of Britain’s age of austerity.

The old library building has been sold and refashioned into a glass-fronted luxury home. The leisure center has been razed, eliminating the public swimming pool. The local museum has receded into town history. The police station has been shuttered.

Now, as the local government desperately seeks to turn assets into cash, Browns Field, a lush park in the center of town, may be doomed, too. At a meeting in November, the council included it on a list of 17 parks to sell to developers.

“Everybody uses this park,” says Jackie Lewis, who raised two children in a red brick house a block away. “This is probably our last piece of community space. It’s been one after the other. You just end up despondent.”

In the eight years since London began sharply curtailing support for local governments, the borough of Knowsley, a bedroom community of Liverpool, has seen its budget cut roughly in half. Liverpool itself has suffered a nearly two-thirds cut in funding from the national government — its largest source of discretionary revenue. Communities in much of Britain have seen similar losses.

For a nation with a storied history of public largess, the protracted campaign of budget cutting, started in 2010 by a government led by the Conservative Party, has delivered a monumental shift in British life. A wave of austerity has yielded a country that has grown accustomed to living with less, even as many measures of social well-being — crime rates, opioid

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: austerity; conservatism; economics; europe; welfare; welfarestate
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1 posted on 05/29/2018 8:15:20 AM PDT by Ennis85
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To: Ennis85

They have a noisy radical protest group, Uncut UK, that is all about staging ugly protests to get budget cuts reversed.


2 posted on 05/29/2018 8:18:39 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Ennis85

Yes, notice how the “austerity” ALWAYS is pointed out (true or false) to involve the buildings and “services” that most people approve and support . . police, library, parks

Unless the budget was cut to zero, or the powers that be are pocketing all tax monies, then the $$$ must be being spent on individual welfare cases.

Or perhaps the NYT is lying.


3 posted on 05/29/2018 8:22:49 AM PDT by A_Former_Democrat (Ban athiests, not guns)
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To: Ennis85

The welfare state, any welfare state, exists for the purpose of perpetuating poverty.


4 posted on 05/29/2018 8:22:50 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: Ennis85
with a shrinking welfare state you GOT to be kiddin me...
5 posted on 05/29/2018 8:23:18 AM PDT by Chode (You have all of the resources you are going to have. Abandon your illusions and plan accordingly.)
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To: Ennis85

Yes, this is always the end result of socialism. You create a dependent class then you run out of other people’s money which ultimately results in an economic crash. You can only survive on imaginary money in the guise of deficit spending for so long.


6 posted on 05/29/2018 8:25:33 AM PDT by circlecity
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To: Ennis85

Sounds like they need more Muslim Migrants to boost their economy.


7 posted on 05/29/2018 8:35:29 AM PDT by eyeamok
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To: Ennis85

Why do I keep reading about the government putting people on the dole in fancy homes if the situation is so bad?


8 posted on 05/29/2018 8:46:04 AM PDT by Retired Chemist
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To: Ennis85

So it’s the opinion (obviously) of the reporter and the NYT that communism is the answer. How many times does he point out rich corporations and rich people having it made. It’s time for the people to rise up, take the money from the rich, and live in heavenly bliss with all things being equal. Thanks for the barf alert. It really makes me gag.


9 posted on 05/29/2018 8:55:09 AM PDT by GoreFreeTN (Thank you, President Trump!)
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To: Ennis85

The cut services but not gov employee salaries.

Perhaps the biggest prob w/the brits is their tracked education system. As I understand it, folks are tested early on as to whether they are academic or trade. When in your caste, you can’t change.


10 posted on 05/29/2018 9:07:16 AM PDT by fruser1
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To: Ennis85
Well, their “austerity” hasn’t cut police nearly enough to prevent judges and the police from being able to arrest/silence Tommy Robinson to protect Islamic pedophiles.
11 posted on 05/29/2018 9:09:31 AM PDT by House Atreides (BOYCOTT the NFL, its products and players 100% - PERMANENTLY)
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To: Ennis85

And Muslims everywhere.


12 posted on 05/29/2018 9:25:53 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: Ennis85

“and more like the United States, with a shrinking welfare state and spreading poverty. “

uh, yeah. spreading poverty in the U.S. ... the degree of lying by The Slimes just keeps growing on a daily basis ..


13 posted on 05/29/2018 9:55:02 AM PDT by catnipman ((Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!))
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To: Ennis85

I have friends in the UK.

They have ran out of others peoples money.


14 posted on 05/29/2018 10:20:36 AM PDT by redgolum
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To: Ennis85

Poverty is spreading in the US? Really? The UK is toast. Socialist loving tea swilling Brits let in thousand of Muslims who are turning it into a Third World sh!thole. Too bad for them. They do nothing but sneer at us anyway.


15 posted on 05/29/2018 11:11:12 AM PDT by jmacusa ("Made it Ma, top of the world!'')
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To: fruser1

You understand wrongly. That hasn’t been the case since the compulsory 11-plus exam was abolished in the 1970s.


16 posted on 05/29/2018 12:39:36 PM PDT by Winniesboy
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To: Winniesboy

Does a student need an A level/s to get into a college or uni?


17 posted on 05/29/2018 12:43:24 PM PDT by mewzilla (Has the FBI been spying on members of Congress?)
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To: Ennis85

#FREETOMMYROBINSON

Until then, everyone on that Island can just shut up!


18 posted on 05/29/2018 12:49:18 PM PDT by The Toll
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To: Ennis85

In sane realistic words :

Poverty is an incentive to actually work for a living instead of too easily being a parasite of others.

Leftists encourage parasitism because they KNOW how destructive it is.


19 posted on 05/29/2018 3:24:30 PM PDT by elbook
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To: mewzilla

To University, yes, but ‘college’ covers a wide spectrum of institutions. You don’t always need A levels to get on a vocational course in a College of Further Education - usually just a selection of GCSEs.


20 posted on 05/30/2018 12:33:09 AM PDT by Winniesboy
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