tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7985429043801017839.post9041173919063147295..comments2023-10-27T07:50:27.411+01:00Comments on Next Left: So, just how independent is the Coalition's first Quango?Tom Hampsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05917325958130851128noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7985429043801017839.post-82123701183862104582010-05-24T04:38:36.174+01:002010-05-24T04:38:36.174+01:00My understanding was that the office will not mere...My understanding was that the office will not merely be concerned about forecasts, but with the impact of deficit reduction measures - in other words, a way for the govt to outsource the decisions on "savage cuts".<br /><br />Budd cannot be ignorant of what he is tasked to do - he gave advice on economic policy to the Tories during the 80s, and said the following in a 1992 documentary on the period:<br /><br />"The nightmare I sometimes have, about this whole experience, runs as follows. I was involved in making a number of proposals which were partly at least adopted by the government and put in play by the government. Now, my worry is . . . that there may have been people making the actual policy decisions . . . who never believed for a moment that this was the correct way to bring down inflation.<br /><br />"They did, however, see that it would be a very, very good way to raise unemployment, and raising unemployment was an extremely desirable way of reducing the strength of the working classes -- if you like, that what was engineered there in Marxist terms was a crisis of capitalism which re-created a reserve army of labour and has allowed the capitalists to make high profits ever since.<br /><br />"Now again, I would not say I believe that story, but when I really worry about all this I worry whether that indeed was really what was going on."Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11443724356434212172noreply@blogger.com