Today we saw a 0.5% shrinking of the economy, this not just a statistic but peoples jobs and living standards. This before the main tranche of the austerity cuts by the conservative led government come into force and VAT increases.
At the general election Nick Clegg said in his own words to Reuters "My eight-year-old (son) ought to be able to work this out -- you shouldn't start slamming on the brakes when the economy is barely growing. "If you do that you create more joblessness, you create heavier costs on the state, the deficit goes up even further and the pain with dealing with it is even greater. So it is completely irrational."
So I agree with Nick, it's just a pity George and Nick doesn't agree with Nick.
Yesterday we saw the retiring General Secretary of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Sir Richard Lambert criticised the government because they"failed so far to articulate in big picture terms its vision of what the UK economy might become under its stewardship." He went on "It's not enough just to slam on the spending brakes. Measures that cut spending but killed demand would actually make matters worse," and concluded the government were "apparently careless of the damage that they might do to business and to job creation".
People like David Blanchflower pleaded for investment to be protected. Not only would it maintain important jobs, it would lay the groundwork for a modern, technologically-driven UK economy. Without the necessary infrastructure ready for the upturn, we will continue to see growth lag our rivals.
So it's critical for a Plan B, this to take measures on the supply side of the economy, such as the Future Jobs Fund, or the Educational Maintenance Allowance.
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