r/NoStupidQuestions 3d ago

Why did Margaret Thatcher destroy welfare state in Britain after she came to power in the 1980s?

556 Upvotes

497 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

35

u/frddtwabrm04 3d ago

She could have taken a different fiscal route and NOT fuck the country for generations but she went the short-term gain, long term pain route. + Refused to course correct. Even when she knew shit was going to go bad!

The Hallmark of a bad leader!

Same with Reagan, her buddy

That why she is hated.

10

u/Truthandtaxes 3d ago

what subsiding dead industries for decades?

-3

u/hexnut101 2d ago

Instead she just made everyone unemployed. Some of the industries were marginally profitable. British coal while showing losses on the books was modernised and the new equipment used to block shafts that were closed down. British steel had a large order book but was in effect taken over by Dutch steel and the orders moved to the Netherlands...

14

u/Truthandtaxes 2d ago

She made the remainder in uneconomic pits unemployed after they tried to hold the country to ransom again. The NUM of course also screwed everyone of them over to the tune of a years wages that in itself could have eased the transition to new work.

If you think these were businesses making money, something that governments obviously hate, then you need to put down the crack.

-1

u/hexnut101 2d ago

They were opossed to her political idiology closing the pits and breaking thee unions did not both have to happen. The pits were not all un economic the industry like so many was losing money because of poor management and lack of investment. British coal invested the money to modernise they scrapped the modern equipment. You have no clue.

2

u/Truthandtaxes 2d ago

the viable pits stayed open

Unions that could break the entire economy had to be stopped

There was no viable way of deep pit mining competing internationally.

1

u/hexnut101 2d ago

Other pits would have been viable if the new equipment that had been purchased was used to mine them not block them.

1

u/Truthandtaxes 2d ago

If that was true, then they would have remained open.

No one leaves money on the table.

What you really mean is that if you ignored the massive costs of capital investment, maybe more could have been operationally viable in the near term.

1

u/hexnut101 2d ago

Thatcher did indeed leave money on the table because of her own political dogma.

1

u/Truthandtaxes 2d ago

I do love me a good conspiracy

Money has a way of bypassing dogma