Imagine a world where this would be how news and newspapers covered economics

James Acaster really is a man of many talents

“The British public are not stupid” It was all going so well. 😅

Always love an interview with Torsten Bell! Keep up the great work :) "Biggest tax c*nts since 1988" @1:38 xD

"in the end the British public are not stupid" - as much as I want to believe this, you could argue that at least half of the populace are impeding progress due to their inability to understand the mixture of issues at hand.

I read that the Tories have wasted £100 billion in the last 4 years. That is over 150 million pounds for ever constituency in the country.

I'm ok with tax increases if it goes to public services, infrastructure etc. I'm not ok with tax increases if I'm being gas lit in to believing it's a tax cut, or if my increase is being used to subsidize corporate tax cuts, tax on the wealthy etc. just give us a GE ffs

The UK is servicing debts created for follies such as Tory corruption during 2020-21 & HS2 for example. And that's just the obvious high profile failures that we *know* about as examples. Paying high taxes for great public services is what a lot of Scandinavian countries do, the results are higher happiness, better health, and much stronger resilience to changing situations.

Thorsten has laid bare the Tory hypocrisy here! In short, he's done a very easy job, but done it very well !

Billions in Corruption? VIP Lane, PPE, Track and Trace and money dished out to Companies who did not need it. Taxing the excessive profits of Energy Companies. From a 71 year old tax payer because of fiscal drag.

I noticed when asked by interviewers if the stealth tax would mean that even with the national insurance drop it would actually mean people will get less after tax and Hunty wouldn't answer it.

This is the sort of person the Civil Service has or had and is now struggling to hold on to because this Tory government removed pay progression and refuses to offer reasonable inflation tracking wage increases. Clearly inflation this year is not standard, however allowing Civil Servants wages to stagnate for a decade whilst inflation was low was unforgivable. Not only that but because of this wage stagnation, people who are new to the Civil Service are being forced to chase promotion to just keep their head above increasing cost of living, leading to much less experience at the higher levels of the Civil Service. This is going to be a serious problem for years to come and action is required now to mitigate the impacts. Torsten does an excellent job here debunking Tory claims.

As someone who this affects, The unlocking of the LHA is great news.. Until you remember there is no rent control, and as soon as the government "give" more money to the worst off in our society, the landlords will match that increase by raising their rents. So essentially a increase in the middle and upper class income, wrapped up as a help for those struggling.

Really enjoy Torsten's commentary, always very clear and explanatory on what is a complex and subtle topic. Good lad

A brilliant explanation of how we are being lied to by the tories about how well we are off under them.

Why is this man not all over the telly?

LOL, 1:37 "biggest tax c*nt" instead of "tax cuts"

I keep hearing "the British public aren't stupid". But when you listen to the 'vox pops', this is clearly not true. I'm not convinced that the Tories won't win.

Very good interview. Thanks for the explanation, Mr. Bell.

The difference between an expert opinion and a headline in the daily rags is scary given how many just go on what they perceive rather than understand

What’s the point of better mental health provision when it’s government policy giving people anxiety and depression?

Torsten is the sort of person that luls you into thinking you're actually knowledgeable about something when you know nothing. You watch the video and think "yeah... I think I COULD be the Chancellor of the Exchequer!"

In 2 years a pensioner on minimum state pension will have to start paying Tax on their Pension...... Madness !

Don't forget the extra VAT everyone is paying, the VAT ceiling of 84000 for small business has pushed sandwich shops and take aways into collecting 20% tax with all the accounting charges that go with it. Naturally this is passed on to the public.

Excellent analysis. On mental health. BS. As government minister says disabled people must do their duty and work from home. As a father of a seriously disabled daughter with ASD, ADHD, suicidal and unable to attend school and the CAMHS cut to the bone her future ability to obtain benefits is terrifying

I look forward to when Torsten is on, he explains things so well.

This guy is great! Have him on more please 😂😂

I was with him until he said the public are not stupid. Based on what evidence? Huge swathes of them vote against their own interests, don't know how to think critically, don't question the motives of their information sources, value likeability over competence and automatically trust positions that they already agree with. People love conspiracy theories and hate having their preconceptions challenged. We have a culture where faith is a virtue and scepticism is a flaw. What chance do they have to not be stupid?

Glad he took time out of digging tunnels under his house to have this chat. Good talk.

"people will be surprised when the Sun contradicts itself"... 👀

I love you think cognitive dissonance at The Sun is a thing 😂

Thank you both.

In a non political fantasy government team, Torsten should be the Chancellor of the Exchequer

"I moved house this weekend" Congratulations. I can't even imagine having enough money to do that :)

17:53 - I strongly contest the claim that the British public are not stupid. They may not be truly stupid, but credulity of the level of the UK public is certainly far along the bus route to stupidity. Far from being objective (and I do like Torsten), he edges towards apologetics at times and is pretty flippant about what are some pretty fucking serious circumstances and ideologies.

You can tell what kind of politician Jeremy Hunt is when he claims £1.49 parking charges on his expenses,a multi millionaire

Great clarity on the details of this topic, thanks! Would have loved to have a slightly deeper dive on if Labour will have to undo the national insurance cut (or raise income tax to replace it), and if the debt interest rate is threatening the £28bn p/a green investment stuff, though I realise there's a lot to fit into the time you guys had, and he needed some sleep!

In April corporation tax was raised from 19% to 25% and in that time the economy has slightly grown. Now Hunt is claiming we need to drop corporation tax to grow the economy... The reason corporation tax being lowered does not help out the economy, is because the tax is only on profit and investment is pre profit. Therefore the higher the tax the more incentive to invest in your company, the lower the tax the less incentive to invest.

"the British public aren't stupid" I dont want to break it too you buuut

Economic commentary with a healthy dose of sarcasm and wit. Top drawer stuff.

Excellent summary as always.

I loved the Blackadder goes forth reference, it was b*#llocks! Well played sir!

What's missing from this discussion is WHY we've been in stagnation for 20 years. It's vaguely inferred that it's because of covid but that was only 3 years ago. It's all well and good talking about difficulties and what they should be doing but why aren't they doing it

Nicely edited!!

"What did we learn about living standards?" "Well it's going very well as we all know"

Great rundown.

I don't understand why after a near decade of austerity, the gross debt of the country has only risen. This predates the recent interest jump. Where did the money from cutting services go? (pre inflation jump) Side note. "that is what a country getting poorer looks like" what a quote.

1:37 - listen for the slip of the tongue as he remembers Truss! 🤣

Love this guy. Move him into your office.

Great talk !

Tax are up because interest rates are up, interest rates are are up because the goverment didn't effectively intervene in the energy market, which then gets magnified as the addional costs get passed on to the other markets, leaving the BoE to use the wrong tool for the job because they have no other tool to use.

Why aren’t we talking about how if gov debt is goes up, money is accumulating somewhere. The wealth of the richest is increasing and that’s why asset prices are rising in a cost of living crisis. It’s astonishing that the gov is/ has been inflicting pain on working people for decades when there’s a clear answer to solve this and save millions from poverty

Short version, they’re pi$$ing on us and telling us it’s raining.

Would be great to hear Torsten speak about how he would address the 20 year trend of no wage growth. What does he see as the UK's opportunities to reverse the downward trend?

More taxes less services should be the new tory tagline. That or ''Were rinising you blind and you keep voting us into power, dickheads''

It depresses me to see those clowns act like they have saved us when they have done anything but.

More tax and yet the Tories waste it so nothing actually improves.

"The British public are not stupid" , Really? Are you sure about that?!

1.38 - stealth insult or mere slip up haha - swear I heard tax c*nts……….

Very informative.

The only reason our tax system is so conveluted and hard to understand is so you can't see what they are getting away with.

Lots to think about

James Acasters brother makes some good points, raaaahaha Wonderfully relatable. At times he uses common vernacular!!

@18:47 what makes you think this government will invest in infrastructure or whatever else, if we had a decade of ultra low interest rates and instead of investing, we just got austerity at every level? just vote these crooks out

11:25 where can we find the ratio of the government's income that goes into paying for the debt (and/or it's interests)?

Marginal propensity to consume shows his budget will not help out the economy. As the poorer you are the higher the percentage of your income you spend on goods and services, the richer you are the less. So cutting taxes on the richest does nothing for the economy, while cutting benefits on the poorest causes an economic hit to the economy. Not to mention because tax is only on profit for corporation tax and research and development is before profit, the higher the tax the more money is invested, the less tax the less money is.

Didn’t the Tories increase National Insurance a couple of years ago as they said it would be ringfenced to pay for social care? It was Bozo’s answer to the social care crisis he promised to resolve when he was elected I think? Why is no one mentioning that by lowering NI again that funding is being reduced again?

Did he say tax c**ts instead of tax cuts at the beginning, I'm pretty sure I heard it, but bang on!

impressed. makes total sense.

The analogy I've been using is the "big picture" tax rises are like we're travelling down the motorway at 100mph. Jeremy "Rhymes With's" tax cuts are a 10mph brake. Do you think the police are going to let you off because you were only doing 90? (Plus, whether you're going 90 or 100, if your seat belts are frayed, your tyres are bald, you're leaking crap from the engine everywhere and the driver's grabbing all the travel sweets while getting ready to jump out, the inevitable crash is going to hurt. A lot.)

Support my request to have the conservative party investigated as a Criminal Organisation.

How is the capital expenditure expensing for corporation tax amounting to a supposed £11bn tax cut a genuine tax cut? It is a timing difference isn't it and the tax deduction is merely brought forward.

Nice chap. Never thought I'd hear a posher name than Tristram but here we are.

Very useful to have a numbers guy in the room.

Income tax and inheritance tax thresholds have been frozen, national insurance has not been reduced by 2% points for the self employed. Council tax is going up, public services are being reduced, car parking fees are being brought in/are going up. More and more legislation and costs.

When you have an economy that depends on nail bars, beauty salons and celebrity culture, why would you expect to be doing well?

I like this Torsten chappie. Makes me laugh.😊

Please, please, please give us a general election

the main issue is that the cost of living has got to a point where at the lower end its now unviable for even a small family, living alone is out of reach completely, everyone feels like they are drowning, living day to day or week to week, its also effecting up to middle class, this has a serious knock on effect to mental health, it literally breaks people, talking to someone and saying hey i havent eaten anything apart from bread this week because i needed to make sure i could continue to heat my house so i dont freeze to death isant going to help them no word can solve the underlying issue, sure it might stop them jumping off a bridge in the moment but honestly it should not even be at this point. both parents (if your lucky to have both again i believe another stress issue) working and scraping to afford to live and choosing not to have kids is also another reason we are seeing issues across the globe in regards to not enough young people to replace the workforce. we need to bring down cost of living, be it capping profits on essentials, working out a system that enables housing to remain cheap (its certainly a large chunk of your outgoings), i dont think raising wages is going to fix this fundamental issue with the current system, costs just get passed to the consumer? i wish i understood more, atm i just feel like those in power havent got a clue either or they are all just playing us for fools and seeing how much they can get away with before it all tumbles.

It's not a bad Idea for the landlords to pay NI... But I feel like what it would change is the amount I would have to pay for my rent

Yeah gotta disagree with you on the news paper comment. It is really important that newspapers are accurate and independent. If not the most crucial element of a healthy democracy!

The elderly are sicker because waiting lists are so long. I have a two year waiting list for a hip operation if I need it, I've got a six month waiting list to find out if I need to go on the list! In the meantime its 200 a month at the osteopath to try keep me going.

Never heard the name Torsten before I heard of Torsten Bell

Can’t we just finally tax corporations properly? And don’t have corporation get off with paying zero in taxes!! And if they want to operate in this country, they just simply have to pay these taxes whether they want to base themselves in a “tax haven” or not.

Your title to this video begs the response of," What a silly Hunt".

Would be interesting to see these people’s bank balances and how they grown over the last 10 years or so ,

Plenty of good sense in this podcast

tax cuts for big business nearly never promote aggregate wage rises

I like this Torsten guy

Am at 18mins and have agreed and enjoyed all…until “in the end, the British public isn’t stupid”.

£10 says Bell's "silly book" reference is to The Deficit Myth by S Kelton

Newspaper coverage does matter hugely and its integrity is important. Talking therapy under the IAPT system is a very contentious issue. CBT was originally a long term therapy but has been changed to fit political ease of statistical recording. It is ethically questionable to offer the same therapeutic model to all people. Many will not respond to CBT models and not to record those who return into the system is hugely unethical. Currently the return of a client who was seen before will be recorded as a new client not a returning one, thereby massaging the success and contact figures. This is politically beneficial but not for people who may be seriously affected by mental health conditions.

1:37 I'm sure he says "tax c*nts" very apt. lol😉

Let me be really clear. Sociopaths won't listen to reason, empathy, compassion or sob stories. They respond to fear.

1:35 _That didn't sound like "cuts."_

Trevor Wallace really sticking to this character well

So...any advice on how to figure out what it actually means for us as individuals?

The only thing I would disagree with is that Mr Bell assumes that the government will be doing what they say they are going to do. When did that last happen?

The UK is one of the most collectively taxed nations on Earth.

Debt levels are not so important if the money is being used on real infrastructure investments, which creates jobs and increases tax revenue. Of course, Tories would squander it all giving billions in contracts to peers and donors without any experience.