David Cameron: 'The world doesn't owe us a living … Britain has no automatic right to prosperity, David Cameron (left) has said, declaring: "The world doesn't owe us a living." The Prime Minister said many people are under the "delusion" that just because the UK has historically been one of the richest countries on earth, it will always remain so. Only if we "reboot and rebuild" the UK economy can the country's future prosperity be assured, he said. Mr. Cameron told business leaders in London that Britain has no automatic right to prosperity. Mr. Cameron used a speech to business leaders in London to argue that the spending cuts and other changes his Government is planning are not discretionary political choices but essential economic moves to stop the country falling. Government is planning are not discretionary political choices but essential economic moves to stop the country falling behind its competitors. He said: "I think too many people in this country are living under the delusion that a prosperous past guarantees a prosperous future. But it isn't written anywhere that this country deserves a place at the top table. He added: "It was once said that freedom once won is not won for ever; it's like an insurance premium – each generation must renew it. Economic prosperity is the same. Just because we've had it before doesn't mean we'll automatically get it again." – UK Telegraph
Dominant Social Theme: It's time to cut back for the good of everyone.
Free-Market Analysis: As we have reported before, this austerity seems part of a larger dominant social theme. In the US, President Barack Obama is quoted as speaking about the need for "painful" choices. In Europe, a whole slew of Southern European countries are even now in the mist of making such painful choices. And now Britain, which has no "automatic right to prosperity," must "reboot and rebuild" as well. The shared theme, obviously, is that "after decades of profligate public spending and socialist governance the time has come to pay the piper." There is no time to waste.
What a change this is! Anyone who was alive throughout the 20th century knows quite well that socialism was one of the defining forces of Western society, especially in Europe where it was celebrated by politicians, the media and the "chattering classes" as necessary facet of a caring community. The societal consensus over socialist practices was one of the startling things about Western society right up until the 21st century when the consensus seemed to become unraveled. And today, of course, there is little in the mainstream media that supports the idea that the West can go on in the future as it has in the past. Here's some more from the article:
The Prime Minister said Britain will only remain a major economy if it can tackle the huge Government deficit, reform the welfare system and attract new investment from overseas. "These three steps can help Britain to earn its living in the decades to come," he said. Despite warnings about the state of the public finances and their impact on the wider economy, Mr. Cameron insisted he was optimistic about Britain's long-term future.
"Ever since it was said that Britain had lost an empire but not yet found a role there has been a lot of anxiety about our future; about our declining place on the world stage and our diminishing fortunes with it," he said. "But I passionately believe that decline is not inevitable." Britain is "blessed with huge advantages" such as the English language, its universities, established industries and the "ingenuity, openness and talent" of its people, he said. He added: "These are the old advantages, and I believe there is a new one, too – a growing attitude across the country that we are going to deal with these debts and fight not just for our survival, but for our success."
Cameron comes across as lucid and practical when it comes to Britain's dilemma. But this is a society that in the past has virtually pioneered European socialism. Today, most everything that moves, produces or informs is in some sense part of the British government. London has more public cameras than any other place on earth. The surveillance society is not merely a danger in Britain, it's a reality. We have no doubt Cameron will initiate downsizing in Britain; equally we have no doubt that the downsizing will somehow further the state's control over British citizens – though Cameron will never admit it.
We already have an example of this sort of activity. During the campaign, Cameron preached the virtue of a "big society" in which control over governmental programs would devolve to local municipalities. But on coming into office, Cameron immediately reconstituted the big society approach rhetorically so that it supported British military aims in Afghanistan. We quoted the UK Telegraph's coverage of Cameron's statements previously as follows:
The Prime Minister uses an article in The Sunday Telegraph to say that it is not just the Government's responsibility to back military personnel. He makes clear his belief that it is the whole nation's "social responsibility" to put Servicemen and women at the "front and centre of our national life". … In an unprecedented intervention, he states that with Britain at war in Afghanistan, the public has to give full and unequivocal support to troops and their families. His demand comes a week after he returned from his first visit since taking office to Afghanistan, where the number of British troops killed since 2001 stands at 299. – UK Telegraph
Is it a coincidence that the whole of the Western world is now speaking of austerity? After over 200 years of increasingly militant socialism and communism, public spending is no more. One reels from the spectacle of certain Group of 20 advanced economies committing themselves to reportedly "at least halving deficits by 2013 or stabilizing and better still reducing government debt-to-GDP ratios by 2016." (Xinhuanet) The speed with which socialist precepts are being abandoned is truly a spectacle to behold.
In fact we are on record as stating that such a wholesale transmutation of Western society cannot be anything other than a promotion. For 200 years, the fabric of Western civilization has been increasingly socialistic. Songs have been sung. Art has been made. Novels have been written. All support the compelling morality of Samuel Johnson's "leveling." Here's how we reported this agenda in Deflation as a Scare Tactic.
Ireland is not a patient taking "hard medicine." Ireland is country made up of individual people who will gradually realize, we believe, that they have dragooned into "austerity" via a fear-based promotion featuring price deflation and the need for resultant economic discipline. Right now similar conversations are taking place in Spain, Greece, Portugal and many other countries. Britain as well. But we wonder if the Irish medicine is going to go down so smoothly elsewhere. (We wonder if it will come back up in the case of Ireland.) The trouble is, of course, that price deflation itself is a dominant social theme – a fear-based promotion that is being used, in our opinion, to justify the Draconian cuts that are being called for. No, there is no morality involved. It looks to us more and more like an outright manipulation.
The austerity that Cameron speaks of will prove a trap for Britain. One way or another it will not bring success or make Britain more prosperous. Somehow it will end up giving more power to the state while further denuding the private sector. People have been made to feel that the control of the state is theirs, but this is never so. The state is in the hands of the power elite and now the elite is attempting to further manipulate citizens under the guise of "austerity" and deflation.
Yes, it is a promotion. It is not aimed at national health but at making banks whole while bringing whole populations to heel. Public services must be cut, taxes must be raised, people's standards of living degraded and their tattered unions denuded. Austerity is being implemented quickly, while the conditions are right. This is because austerity, sooner or later, will run into something else we have written about at length – price inflation. Cameron et al. will have much to say on the problems of inflation as well, if and when it comes to that. He will be no more truthful.
