Following a really interesting thread on which US president caused the most damage to the American economy, I wanted to talk about the UK equivalent. Which UK PM do you hold responsible for messing up the economy? I have to say that my opinion is divided. Most people would say Margaret Thatcher caused the most damage and I would agree to an extent. However, David Cameron has done a comparable job. Both of there right-wing Conservative PMs have favoured the richer people in society time and time again, whilst introducing measures which have ensured that the poorer people in the country have no disposable income to spend. This, in turn meant that businesses struggled to stay afloat as nobody was spending. Business closure leads to job losses. This means that there are more people applying for the same job, making securing a position even harder. And so it goes. What about you? What's your opinion?
Out of curiosity, why do you consider Thatcher problematic from an economic standpoint? I realize she was controversial, but wasn't her economic track record pretty solid?
Well, we hit a bad recession in the early 80s and unemployment levels were at an all time high. Thatcher was very much against the idea of workers requesting higher pay (the minimum wage did not come into effect until 1998) and those who protested through worker's unions were heavily penalized. Obviously, the low pay meant that there was no disposable income for people to spend at businesses - so they went bust. The manufacturing industry was hit pretty hard and this, of course, led to job losses. Overall, poverty levels in the country had increased by 22% during her reign.
