howard mcsweeney1 wrote:Who is paying for it all Barry?
Wages down in real terms £1600 on average per person.
Public sector wages frozen.
Benefits Frozen.
A million people using food banks.
Public services cut to the bone.
The office of budget responsibility says that we are not even halfway with public spending cuts.
Howard - perhaps you should ask why Labour allowed public spending to soar out of control in the first place from 2000 to 2010 a period of growth during which a sensible government would have balanced the budget rather than pile up more of a deficit creating a disaster waiting to happen.
All of the bad is entirely a result of that mismanagment and if it is not dealt with we could have a total meltdown, look at France. Do you want 25% unemployment, chasing 50% among the young with a stagnant economy?
I have said for 5 years that the government has not been cutting deep or fast enough.... You see the proof in what I said now.
As for each of your comments:
Benefits should be cut not frozen... these do not and should not offer a route to a better long term lifestyle and should be returned to a safety net to protect people. Only work offers the potential of a better lifestyle as is only right (and saving).
Wages down in terms - true, a knock-on from the ill-conceived political minimum wage locking poeple into low pay as well as a consequence from necessary restraint to protect jobs during the slowdown. This will right itself. An oversupplyu of cheap labour has also helped downward pressure on wages.
Public sector wages frozen - good, they experiencded pay rises in the early years of the crisis while the private sector experienced pay cuts to protect their jobs. They have to take part of the pressure needed to put thing right.
A million using food banks.... society helping the needy, a good thing. Again this is a problem created by the years of government fiscal and monetary mismanagement.
Public services cut to the bone - good. We need less government and there must be more cuts to reduce the public sector to a level that is economically sustainable....
For many years this country lived in a fantasy economy fed by a sea of debt and, as always the bubble burst. Without the tough decisions the vulnerable will suffer a lot more long term than anything experienced in the process of righting the economy.