the red light district
Four years of austerity and guess what, we’ve done precious little to impact our nation’s massive deficit (the difference between what the government raises and what it spends), and what’s more, whichever party gets in next year will have to impose ever greater cuts on us than we’ve yet seen. Ouch. Again.
For what seems like ages & ages, the Tories have been bleating on about our fantastic economic recovery and about how we are leading the world out of global recession. Last week however saw a marked change of tone and direction with Chancellor Georgie-Boy warning us of the red lights flashing on his dashboard of recovery, together with an autumn statement promising the confession that we’re now borrowing an increased five billion quid more than this time last year. And rest assured that under shadow foot-in-mouth, Ed Balls, it would have been no different as his approach would have been no more radical than marginally slower.
So, Japan’s back in recession, Germany & France only narrowly missed such ignominy, Spain & Greece are still in a shocking ‘Southern European’ state that Italy knows is just a matter of time away and China is about to hit the brakes like never before. The only reason we’re in a slightly better shape is that we’re still borrowing and still spending like it’s going out of fashion. An up-to-date and in-depth study by The Financial Times has confirmed that whoever wins next year’s election will have to make MASSIVE cuts in public spending. Humungous, apparently. Somewhat worryingly, the study reasserts that less than half the reduction in spending required to balance the books has been made so far. Joy, oh joy.
