I haven't been following the debate about Britain's public spending cuts very closely (after all, it's a long way away), but catch snippets here and there -- like this one: Britain’s Austerity Overdose - NYTimes.com:
There is a time and a place for aggressive deficit reduction. Now is not the time, especially not in Britain. The deep spending cuts announced by Prime Minister David Cameron’s government will hobble public services, strain poor families’ budgets and weaken Britain’s influence abroad. They could suffocate a feeble recovery.
Mr. Cameron and his team appear to be driven solely by Conservative Party articles of faith. They are gambling on the improbable theory that in a period of weak consumer demand, the private sector will generate enough business activity to replace the $130 billion the government will be withdrawing from the economy over the next four and half years. We are not sure why the Liberal Democrats, the coalition’s junior partners, are going along.
But I suppose that the Lib-Dems may have influenced their Tory partners to rein back on some unnecessary spending, like the Trident nuclear submarine replacement.
4 comments:
I guess we can say good-bye to Britain as a serious contender in education, research, and science. It seems like the current British government is on a suicide mission of guge proportions.
One might say that the Conservatives were using the 'global financial crisis' to dismantle the publically funded welfare state and services. After all they would say there's no reason why private capital can't provide those services. For a profit. Logic doesn't seem to come into a lot of their actions.
As to the Lib Dems, it's a case of make hay while the sun shines as they will be decimated at the next election.
Nobody should be fooled that these cuts are only about reducing the deficit. THey are far more to do with Thatcherite ideology.
The Government is going to throw half a million public servants on the dole (an equal number of private sector jobs will be lost as a consequence) and yet they HOPE that the private sector will take up the slack!
Far worse is the appalling attack on the most vulnerable sections of the opulation - It's not going to be the upper deciles who suffer from public service cuts.
As for the Liberal Democrats, they are far too wrapped up in having theur dirty mitts on the ministerial cars at the moment to see their annihilation at the mext election - unless they break the link with the Tories toute suite
One might say that the Conservatives were using the 'global financial crisis' to dismantle the publically funded welfare state and services.
And to kowtow to Brussels.
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