Chancellor claims to be ‘fixing the roof while the sun is shining’. Cuts to housing benefit and forced sales of council homes say otherwiseWatching George Osborne deliver budgets has all the charm and entertainment value of watching a peculiarly inept (not suitable or capable, unqualified) children’s entertainer attempt to perform magic tricks. “Employment is up!” George cries. “But wages are down,” replies the audience. “Inequality is lower!” But wealth inequality has risen!”, comes the reply. The chancellor needs a functioning calculator, and a crash course in economics,and to memorize that the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (ODR) forecasts are notoriously unreliable.
There were some sleights of hand designed to yield positive headlines that mostly faltered. The hypothecated tax on tampons was quickly decried as insulting given the government’s cuts to women’s services; the tax credits U-turn looked politically weak, and also failed to hide the fact the cuts will reach in besides through universal credit.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com