I must admit to warming to the UK's new Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne. Unlike Tim "Deficits Still Don't Matter" Geithner and other acolytes of Cheneynomics, he doesn't flinch when it comes to administering cuts to the UK budget lest it become as fiscally and morally bankrupt as its erstwhile Anglo-Saxon sparring partner.We are all familiar with global warming deniers, many associated with various conservative think-tanks, that have no truck with science. Now Osborne introduces us to another set of folks who are mathematically instead of scientifically challenged: "Deficits don't matter because our great nation will always find some dumb sumbi***es to lend to us" and all that jazz. Fortunately, current UK leadership has had enough of American-style jihads on fiscal sanity:
George Osborne today insisted making Britain “a more equal and fair” country was at the heart of his economic policy. The Chancellor used speech to the City to insist that spending cuts would not destroy growth nor make Britain less fair. He also attacked “deficit deniers” in the Opposition parties for being willing to pass on huge debts to the nation's children.Thankfully, the rest of the world seems to be keener on following the UK's lead, not that of the American heartland of deficit deniers. Let's just see where the latter end up; I can hardly wait.
Speaking before his speech, he said: “I want, fundamentally, a child born at the end of this period of government to have better life chances than a child born at the beginning of this government if they are born in disadvantaged circumstances.” The Chancellor added: “I also want to make sure that child is not burdened with debts that this generation were not prepared to pay off.”
He said ring-fencing the NHS and overseas aid budgets showed the Coalition was committed to fairness, although it meant bigger cutbacks elsewhere. Mr Osborne argued in his speech that public spending is being shifted to areas that will boost Britain's long-term success...“We are shaping the economy of the future by promoting a pro-growth agenda,” he said at Bloomberg's offices. “It is not about how much the government spends but about what the government actually does with the money...”
He said there were grounds for "cautious optimism" over the country's prospects, but warned that the situation could deteriorate quickly if the Government went into "denial" over the scale of the deficit. "Employment is growing at the fastest pace for over a decade, confounding predictions that the economy cannot generate private sector jobs. Manufacturing is picking up and exports are recovering thanks to increasing global demand," he said.
"As the Bank of England confirmed last week, this is consistent with the kind of gradual recovery forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility at the time of the Budget. The much-needed rebalancing of our indebted economy - away from government and towards the private sector, away from consumption and towards business demand, away from imports and towards exports - is beginning."
