# Margaret Thatcher's Legacy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 8, 2013, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margaret-thatchers-legacy/655142 "2013-04-08T12:00:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margaret-thatchers-legacy/655142/141 "2013-04-10T04:01:08Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Like this.](http://michael-hudson.com/2013/04/failed-privatizations-the-thatcher-legacy/) The article doesn’t mention the 2008 collapse. Hell, in the first couple of paragraphs it states: > [@](#): > > Yet by 1997 the Conservatives were voted out of office by one of the largest margins in their history. What concerned voters were the results of privatization that Mrs. Thatcher had not warned them about. and > [@](#): > > This is from my book on privatization, written some 15 years ago, never published. Even people who have difficulty with math can do the subtraction: 2008-1997 = 11 years. 2013-15=1998. So Thatcher caused the 2008 crisis 11 years after her party was voted out of office? A man wrote this article in 1998 proving Thatcher was responsible for the 2008 financial crisis? Back a year or so ago we had a pretty long GD thread, [You have 100 Blame Points. Assign them to those responsible for the financial meltdown](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=628504), and while there were people who mentioned Reagan and his administrations willingness to deregulate, not a single one mentioned Thatcher (though, admittedly, the thread was from an American viewpoint.) Even a careful reading of the 2008 crisis literature shows that much of the true underlying causes were created under Clinton and Carter (see my post #57 in the linked thread for more info.) Regardless, your cite does not say what you are claiming it says (hell, it _cannot_ say what you are claiming it says), so you may wish to try again. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margaret-thatchers-legacy/655142/142 "2013-04-10T05:48:36Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > So Thatcher caused the 2008 crisis 11 years after her party was voted out of office? See post #139. See also the concept of [“Overton window”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window) (no, no, not Glenn Beck’s lameass ghostwritten novel). ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margaret-thatchers-legacy/655142/143 "2013-04-10T13:35:32Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > See post #139. See also the concept of [“Overton window”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window) (no, no, not Glenn Beck’s lameass ghostwritten novel). Could you maybe explain your arguments yourself? And no, “Thatcher deregulated stuff” is not an explanation. The fiscal crisis was not caused by “something being deregulated.” It was a complex event with a lot of things that combined to cause it to happen. I’m especially curious as to how a book excerpt written in 1998 explains the 2008 fiscal crisis. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margaret-thatchers-legacy/655142/144 "2013-04-10T14:53:07Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Could you maybe explain your arguments yourself? And no, “Thatcher deregulated stuff” is not an explanation. The fiscal crisis was not caused by “something being deregulated.” It was a complex event with a lot of things that combined to cause it to happen. My point was simply that the crisis could not have happened without a degree of financial-sector deregulation that would have been considered unthinkable in 1979 in both the UK and the U.S.; and that deregulation would not have been possible without Thatcher (or someone like her) as PM and Reagan (or someone like him) as POTUS. Of course there were many causes; Thatcherism/Reaganism was a necessary but not sufficient condition for the crisis. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margaret-thatchers-legacy/655142/145 "2013-04-10T15:59:28Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Thatcherism/Reaganism was a necessary but not sufficient condition for the crisis. Possibly, but to lay any of the blame on her we’d have to go much further than this. We’d have to argue: 1. Thatcher’s deregulation, in and of itself, was flawed. 2. The policy was flawed in a way that specifically would make a banking crisis more likely with no other changes at all. Just being casually linked doesn’t show culpability. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margaret-thatchers-legacy/655142/146 "2013-04-10T19:42:24Z")
[QUOTE=sidecar\_jon] Which county in Europe isn’t a basket case?..the Germans who make high quality “stuff” and detest “hedge funds”..flogging each other insurance is all very well,but someone has to make something to afford it. [/quote] The Germans that have embroiled themselves in the disaster that is the Eurozone, precisely to make their manufacturing sector more competitive, and in the process have opened themselves up to the _dirigiste_ influences of the French and Italians, whilst transferring more and more of their money further south to keep the whole thing from tanking and taking the German economy with it? ---
**Author:** ![sidecar\_jon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@sidecar\_jon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidecar_jon)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margaret-thatchers-legacy/655142/147 "2013-04-11T16:03:25Z")
Glenda Jackson’s “tribute”…go Glenda! [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/XDtClJYJBj8/maxresdefault.jpg "Glenda Jackson launches tirade against Thatcher in tribute debate") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDtClJYJBj8) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margaret-thatchers-legacy/655142.md?page=7)