Michael Meacher MP

The evidence that prolonged austerity has failed is now overwhelming.   The economy is experiencing  the slowest and feeblest recovery from slump on record, and the longest depression since 1873.   The double-dip recession is extending into a long contraction with no plausible scenario of growth in sight.   Manufacturing, which initially rallied in 2010, then slipped slowly over the next year, has now begun a precipitous fall, with the PMI index down a catastrophic 7 points in the last quarter.   Companies which have hitherto wisely opted to retain their workforces intact as far as feasible in the hope of an upturn, are now likely to begin discarding workers on a large scale on the grounds that the cost of keeping them under-employed is now becoming prohibitive.   Unemployment, which had reached the very high level of 2.7 million but then eased slightly down to 2.6 million, is likely over this next year on unaltered policies – to pass the crfitical 3 million mark.   The question is: how can this insanity be stopped? (more…)