This link has been bookmarked by 1 people . It was first bookmarked on 23 Mar 2008, by Anthony Barnett.
Someone is now required to tell the British the following facts. The first is that things are truly, awesomely bad: homes, jobs, livelihoods, businesses, savings and futures are all at risk. The second is that, while the current crisis is not of the Government's making, its policies have increased our exposure to it. The third is that these policies must be changed in order to limit that exposure.
That means, first and foremost, a serious cut in public spending. There will be job cuts - mainly in the public sector - as a result. But tax cuts to stimulate growth in the private sector can be deployed to offset this. There needs to be a tight control of the supply of money. Interest rates may have to go up, not down - definitely not down.
There need to be bankruptcies because, as the late Professor von Hayek correctly pointed out, it is only when we have these that we have a sign that efficiency is returning to the economy. In short, the public, indulged for so long by an economically illiterate and cynical government, has to be told the party is over.
Some of us have felt that Mr Cameron is not the man to take this necessary lead. His recent statements in the course of the economic maelstrom have proved this point ever more eloquently.
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