Well, That was Quick

After less than 2 weeks, British PM Liz Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng have capitulated to the torrent of opprobrium unleashed across the political spectrum, and the bond vigilantes, and will not be putting forward their tax cut for rich folks.

Truth be told, it was probably more the bond vigilantes, and the emergency rate hikes by the Bank of England, than it was criticism from fellow Tories:

The new British government said “we get it” as it abandoned plans to abolish the top rate of income tax, a key part of its centerpiece economic policy that spooked the markets and pushed the British pound to an all-time low against the U.S. dollar.

In a major U-turn, Prime Minister Liz Truss said Monday that the proposal to scrap the 45 percent rate for people earning more than 150,000 pounds ($168,000) had become a “distraction.”

Reacting to the news of the reversal, the pound rebounded Monday morning against the U.S. dollar, returning to where it was before the government’s tax-and-borrowing plan sent it plunging.

But the reversal is an enormous blow to the authority of the young Truss government, in office for less than a month.

It leaves the government hugely weakened and exposes the lack of support for Truss from her Conservative Party’s lawmakers in Parliament, said Mujtaba Rahman, an analyst with Eurasia Group. Her critics “now scent weakness,” he said in a briefing note.

When I suggested that Liz Truss was attempting to replace Boris Johnson with something even more bizarrely inexplicable, I was correct in my prediction.

That may be the first time I've nailed a prediction so well.