David Puttick FB99%

Trump’s Tariff Formula Slammed As ‘Fake’ And ‘Incredibly Stupid’ By Experts The approach appears to punish countries based on their trade imbalances with the U.S., rather than the taxes they impose on the U.S. and a combination of other trade barriers Trump claimed the new ta...

It will come as no surprise to anyone to hear Trump’s Tariff Formula has been slammed as ‘fake’ and incredibly stupid’ by experts

www.forbes.com/sites/sarado...

Starmer’s strategy is back to front - the trade deal we need isn’t with the US In Donald Trump’s mad world, up is down, black is white, and war is peace.

My latest oped for LBC.

On how we have it all back to front with the US and EU

👇
www.lbc.co.uk/opinion/view...

Brexit has never looked quite so ruinously insane as it does right now. And it’s always been idiotic. Alone, outside the EU, needing to improve our relationship with our own continent but also terrified of the wrecking-ball lunatic in the White House. Cornered by our own ‘sovereign’ stupidity.

Been thinking about this Zappa quote a lot lately.

Today's stock market crash was the worst since the Spring of 2020.

Can you guess who was president during *both* crashes? I bet you can!

Chart showing market losses for major economies since tariffs.

Tariffs were supposed to be better for the USA than any other major economy

They have been worse for the USA than for any other major economy.

When the World Changes … - 99% Our government faces stiff challenges and if it is to meet them and deliver the promised national renewal, it will need a rapid and significant shift in mindset Before the […]

When the World Changes … 99-percent.org/when-the-wor...

Time for a Progressive Tax System? - 99% How you probably pay a higher rate of tax than the wealthiest in society We are often told that the UK tax system is progressive: the better you are doing […]

A must read. Tax Wealth, Not Work.

Time for a Progressive Tax System? 99-percent.org/time-for-a-p...

Tackling austerity – what can we learn from Portugal? In this piece for Bylines Cymru’s Austerity Project, Mark E Thomas revisits his 2020 article on Portugal’s response to austerity after the global financial crisis

Austerity is counterproductive Well worth reading bylines.cymru/politics-and...

Learned Helplessness - 99% Why it is time to reject the idea that we are helpless to solve the nation’s problems The UK faces serious challenges: the cost-of-living crisis, which has been with us […]

Learned Helplessness 99-percent.org/learned-help...

Private healthcare is lobbying Wes Streeting to sign a new PFI deal with them. Time is running out to ask Wes Streeting to say NO. Please add your name to this petition now. #NoNewPFI

weownit.org.uk/act-now/tell...

An Eight-Year Struggle for Accountability in the US Ends in Defeat | TechPolicy.Press The present moment may put severe constraints on the imaginations of pro-democracy reformers, writes Dean Jackson.

www.techpolicy.press/an-eight-yea...
We need to get our act together before it's too, too late.
@mrmarkethomas.bsky.social and @markkieranuk.bsky.social, this may interest you.

Houses of Parliament

Yes, we really do.

And we are starting a new project to do that.

99-percent.org/projects/con...

It's urgent that we DO SOMETHING, or it absolutely COULD happen here If the last ten years or so have taught us anything, it should surely be that the era of the ‘good chaps’ theory of government is well and truly over, and ‘it’ (authoritarianism/oligarchy/fascism) cou...

Latest article. Think what's happening in the US couldn't happen here? We need to act to protect our #democracy while we still can.
@mrmarkethomas.bsky.social @openbritain.bsky.social
@georgemonbiot.bsky.social @peterstefanovic.bsky.social
westcountryvoices.co.uk/its-urgent-t...

Home - 99%

(22/22)

Now we have a new government. It is vital that they reverse all this damage.

If you think this is important, please share the thread widely tagging-in your MP, and take a look at The 99% Organisation and join us.
99-percent.org

(21/22)

Lord Darzi’s more recent report confirmed all these points and set out a challenge for the new government.
99-percent.org/wp-content/u...

Parliamentlive.tv Westminster Hall

(20/22)

This sparked a debate in Parliament in which the government again denied all the points above.

parliamentlive.tv/event/index/...

(19/22)

… and it showed that without a healthy workforce, the UK economy is doomed to fail.

(18/22)

It debunked the notion that the most cost-effective system in the developed world had mysteriously become unaffordable…

(17/22)

… and that NHS performance rose steadily from 2001-2010.

The problems came after 2010.

(16/22)

The report pointed out that the Conservatives inherited the best healthcare system in the world…

Parliamentary launch of The Rational Policy-Maker’s Guide to the NHS - 99% This is an approximate transcript of the presentation given by Mark E Thomas at the launch, hosted by Richard Burgon, MP on 4 July. Present from Parliament were MPs Caroline […]

(15/22)

In July 2023, we launched the Rational Policy-maker’s Guide to the NHS in Parliament …
99-percent.org/parliamentar...

(14/22)

So what SHOULD we do?

Fix it.

The Reality of Health Insurance - 99% In the UK, our healthcare is (largely) funded through the tax system and provided by the NHS. But Sajid Javid does not like that. He thinks, “government shouldn’t […]

(13/22)

… but would be ruinous for many UK citizens.
And many would die.

“This is the list of what Laura Marston has sacrificed to keep herself alive: Her car, her furniture, her apartment, her retirement fund, her dog….”
99-percent.org/the-reality-...

Saving the UK's social contract - starting with the NHS Even on the 75th anniversary of its foundation, the NHS came under assault from the far-right. This article tackles the claims of its detractors and shows how a team of volunteers has taken the argume...

(12/22)

Rather than fix it, the far-right are calling for it to be replaced with a private system and even suggesting some form of insurance-based funding. That would generate far more profit …
westcountryvoices.co.uk/saving-the-u...

Four ways to privatise the NHS - 99% The government and its supporters deny that there has been or ever will be any privatisation of the NHS. In their response to the NHS petition, they said: “The government […]

(11/22)

They also denied that they have been privatising the NHS claiming that “the NHS is not and never will be for sale.”

But that ignores the three ways they HAVE been busily privatising it – and the damage that has done.
99-percent.org/four-ways-to...

(9/22)

The last government tried to deny this by pointing out that, in cash terms, the NHS now receives a “record amount of money”.

A comment which ignores inflation, the growth in the economy, the ageing of the population and the increasing rates of ill-health in the population.

(8/22)

… in terms of the workload the NHS is expected to bear, it is underfunded.

(7/22)

The problem is sustained underfunding.

Whether you look at funding as a % of GDP, in absolute comparison with other countries, or …

(6/22)

… and the problem started well before COVID.