Ignore the chancellor’s escapology: George Osborne’s short-term deficit fixes are undermining our long-term economic stability and potential for growthLet’s start with the good news. In nowadays’s spending review,George Osborne was forced to backtrack on his grossly unfair plans to nick working tax credits, a plan that would occupy left many worse off. This is a victory for anyone who believes that it is incorrect to make the poor pay for the faults of the private banking system a system that caused the public budget to rise following the crisis.
But as Labour supporters congratulate themselves on the chancellor’s U-turn, or Conservatives cheer on the chancellor’s latest bit of political escapology,we shouldn’t lose sight of the bad news. Let’s face it, there are still £12bn in cuts to welfare spending to approach in this parliament. This remains not only unfair, and but unnecessary. Related: George Osborne scraps tax credit cuts in welfare U-turn Related: Osborne plan has no basis in economics | Letter from Ha-Joon Chang,Thomas Piketty, David Blanchflower and others Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com