Over the last 35 years, the US has pursued a far more capitalist set of policies than the UK. We are now seeing the consequences of that when combined with modern technologies. Great thanks must of course also be given to our constitutional structure, which has stopped attempts at expanding the size of our government.
Thirty five years ago the British Prime Minister was Margaret Thatcher, who had recently entered her tenth year in power. She was replaced the following year by John Major, whose government pushed through some of the most radical and controversial of the 1979-97 Conservative privatizations and expanded further on Thatcher's marketization policies in parts of the public sector. The Labour government in officer from 1997 until 2010 (under Tony Blair's leadership until 2007 and thereafter under Gordon Brown's) pursued a policy of implementing traditional socialist goals using market mechanisms and the fruits of the deregulated financial services sector. Social spending increased significantly as did some regulation in certain fields, 'yet' the period was marked by widespread prosperity up until the financial crisis of 2008. Since 2010 we have had Conservative governments under an embarrassingly lengthy list of Prime Ministers (Cameron 2010-16, May 2016-19, Johnson 2019-22, Truss 2022, Sunak 2022-present). All of these Conservative Prime Ministers have had right-wing economic agendas, with the Cameron era policy of 'Austerity' being particularly significant, along with Truss managing to spook the markets so severely during her extremely brief period in office that a major run on the pound was triggered almost immediately. If the present government lacks much room for maneuverer on this front, it is largely due to the social damage done by 'Austerity' coupled reduced credibility with the markets due to 'Liz Truss', along with the post-pandemic issues that have been a problem everywhere.
1. I am well aware! Hence why I dated the
change to 35 years ago, when Thatcher's liberalizations ended with Major replacing her.
2. And yes, Blair "pursued socialist goals using market mechanisms." While that is preferable to pursuing socialist goals with socialist mechanisms, pursuing socialist goals tends to hurt economic prosperity when compared to a country like the US that pursues mostly market goals using stronger market mechanisms.
3. Economic growth is not perfectly related to government policies at any given point, hence why Venezuela didn't collapse until 2014. Hence why broader comparisons can also often be of help -- like, say, comparing a country that has historically pursued a relatively degree of greater economic freedom than European economies, including the UK, and has also pulled ahead even on a relative basis over the last 35 years, to one that has not. Do you agree that the US has on average had a smaller government and freer market than the UK? With a smaller social safety net?
4. No, they haven't. Johnson expanded regional transfers. Cameron's austerity was a
myth. But more importantly, none of them did anything to change the broader system. Have they been more right wing than Labour governments would have been? Sure. But that doesn't change that -- even after 14 years of Tory governance -- the UK still has a bigger government and lesser economic freedom than the US does today, even with Biden as President.
