Lordy be.  Prem Sikka's back in the media, and his latest idea, co-authored with Austin Mitchell, is an absolute stinker:

According to the Sunday Times Rich List, the collective wealth of the 1,000 richest people in the United Kingdom rose to £335.5 billion in 2010. This is an increase of 29.9 per cent, or £77.265 billion, since 2009. Despite the deepening recession, this is the biggest-ever annual increase in the wealth of our elite. Fifty-three of the richest 1,000 are billionaires. In 1997, when Labour came to office, the collective wealth of the richest 1,000 stood at £98.99 billion. No other group has received such a massive boost in its wealth. But even if they have all the clothes, mansions, cars, yachts and jets they want, they still can’t spend it all. They came into this world empty-handed. They’ll exit in exactly the same way, but leave behind impoverished citizens and employees when they could easily give 25 per cent, or some £84 billion of their wealth away without hurting the quality of their life. This redistribution would reduce and probably eliminate the need for draconian cuts.

Here's another idea.  Contrary to what the lefties would have you believe, the problem with the deficit isn't caused by a drop in income, it's thanks to Labour's uncontrolled obsession with spending taxpayers' money.  So we should cut state expenditure dramatically.  In order to do this most efficiently, we should quietly murder the 1,000 most needy citizens in order to save a small fortune on their benefit claims.  It's only 1,000 people, so it really won't affect the vast majority of society.  This would reduce and probably eliminate the need for draconian cuts.  And, in any case, we could always keep on killing until the books balance.

OK, so this isn't a serious suggestion.  It's clearly an abhorrent one.  But equally, so is Sikka's.  It's outrageous to steal private property from people merely because the ruling government wasn't able to run its economy properly.  There's no moral basis for the 25% figure. It's just a handy plug that makes the numbers sort of balance. And he overlooks the fact that stealing 25% from the richest billionaires will plug the shortfall only for one year, after which we'll need dramatic tax increases again.  Or perhaps we can steal another 25%? Presuming that they don't flee Britain forever. And who could blame them?

Sikka's articles are dismal enough at the best of times. But this one is totally rancid. It's disingenuous to attempt to perpetuate the idea that there is any sort of pain-free solution to Labour's financial mismanagement. The only way out is to cut spending and raise taxes, while letting inflation take a bit of the pain.  Sikka's solution is an appalling lie. We should expect much better from a professor at a UK university.

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Filed under: Economics, Other blogs, Politics with tags austin mitchell, deficit, idiots, labour, prem sikka, public sector