Sunday, 2 July 2017

An End to Austerity - What Austerity?



What is all this nonsense about “an end to austerity?”  A calm look at the facts reveals no such regime to end:

  • Public Sector spending is higher now, in real terms, as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) than at any time under Labour Governments prior to the financial crash.
  •  Public borrowing remains at record levels (uncomfortably high at about 87% of GDP) and the national debt rises inexorably (£1.7 trillion)
  • We have never spent more on health per head in real terms
  • We spend more on education per head than any of the world’s top 30 economies
  • Despite the public sector pay cap, public sector pay continues to be higher than the private sector and, of course, public sector workers enjoy much more generous pensions
  • ETC

So, tell me, where is the “austerity” in that?  But more importantly how is the debt going to be repaid?  I wonder whether the Twitter generation will still be fervently exalting “JC” when they realise that it will be they who will be footing the bill in their futures?

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