“This is what democracy smells like”

“It came as no surprise to me that the Government won its vote on tripling tuition fees, although the initial maths being passed among the crowd did seem to suggest more Lib Dem abstentions than votes against. But the pain and fury among the students – freezing, passionate – was as evident as it was heartbreaking. This unelected, unelectable cabinet of millionaires had persuaded the Commons to ignore an unprecedented wave of public anger and concern over a key plank of its policy. And sent heavily armoured goons out to apply state-sanctioned violence to those forced to suffer the consequences.”

–- read the rest at jhn brssndn!

“Osborne’s first Budget? It’s wrong, wrong, wrong!”

“If you have a household that can’t pay its debts, you tell it to cut back on spending to free up the cash to pay the debts. But in a national economy, if you cut back on your spending, then economic activity goes down, nobody invests, the amount of tax you take goes down, the amount you pay out in unemployment benefits goes up and you don’t have enough money to pay your debts.”

Joseph Stiglitz