An alternative to popular faith
Cameron Warns Britons of ‘Decades’ of Austerity
By SARAH LYALL, Published: June 7, 2010
LONDON — Prime Minister David Cameron said Monday that Britain’s financial situation was “even worse than we thought” and that the country would have to make savage spending cuts to bring its swelling deficit under control.
Stern and grim-faced in a speech in Milton Keynes, just north of London, Mr. Cameron said, “How we deal with these things will affect our economy, our society — indeed our whole way of life. The decisions we make will affect every single person in our country,” he said. “And the effects of those decisions will stay with us for years, perhaps decades, to come.”
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Dave Prentis, the general secretary of Unison, a union that represents many public service workers, nonetheless told the Press Association news agency that Mr. Cameron’s speech was “a chilling attack on the public sector, public sector workers, the poor, the sick and the vulnerable, and a warning that their way of life will change.”
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“Nothing illustrates better the total irresponsibility of the last government’s approach than the fact that they kept ratcheting up unaffordable government spending even when the economy was shrinking,” Cameron said.
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As a cautionary tale, he mentioned Greece, where profligate spending led to a huge budget deficit and eventually a downgrading on financial markets.
While Britain’s economic position is stronger than that of Greece, he said, “Greece stands as a warning of what happens to countries that lose their credibility, or whose governments pretend that difficult decisions can be avoided.”
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The U.K. was smart not to lose control over their money. They remain monetarily sovereign. Unlike the euro-using nations, the U.K. can create their money at will. But suddenly, they have forgotten why they didn’t switch to the euro.
Now, the debt hawks have the U.K. preparing for “decades of austerity” (aka, decades of poverty), as they falsely compare themselves to Greece. Wake up, U.K. You aren’t like Greece and you don’t need to choose poverty.
Mr. Cameron said, “. . . if you start with a large structural deficit, ramping up spending even further is likely to undermine confidence and investment, not encourage it.” This is as false a statement as it’s possible to make. I challenge Mr. Cameron to explain how government spending, which is the way government adds money to the economy, can reduce investment or economic growth. It simply is total nonsense.
It’s difficult to imagine why an otherwise intelligent people intentionally will subject themselves to decades of misery based on a foolish belief that not only is unproven, but factually has been proven wrong on many levels. While some of the same ignorance exists in the U.S., we only can pray it does not reach the extreme levels of utter stupidity it apparently has reached in the U.K.
Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
http://www.rodgermitchell.com
No nation can tax itself into prosperity
#Monetary Sovereignty - Mitchell 