Britain To Continue Economic Plan That’s Not Working,

Because It Says So in the Conservative Playbook

The inauguration of a Conservative governing coalition in Britain brought with it a plan to reduce the British budget deficit by drastically cutting government spending and raising taxes.  The idea behind this plan was that despite the expected result of economic contraction, the private sector would respond with increased hiring and investment and the British economy would have full employment, high growth and fun for all.

This expected private sector response was based on hope and dreams.  Reality is that the contractionary policy produced contraction.  And so today the minister in charge of Britain’s economy, George Osborne said in response to the failure of the program,



George Osborne:  Being a Conservative Means
Never Having to Admit Being Wrong



“that the government would stick unwaveringly to its austerity plans, despite admitting that the long-term damage caused to the economy by the credit crunch was forcing him to revise down estimates for growth that were already weak.”

Like any good Conservative, Mr. Osborne blamed someone else

“blaming the necessity for the fourth downgrade since the coalition came to power 16 months ago on the government's legacy from Labour.”

And like any good Conservative Mr. Osborne looked to someone else to fix the problems he and his policy were creating,

“But the chancellor said the coalition had no intention of rethinking its tax and spending plans, and instead dropped a broad hint that he expected the Bank of England to take action against growing recessionary pressures with a second round of the electronic money creation process known as quantitative easing.”

And finally, like any good Conservative Mr. Osborne praised his own dismal performance, in part because no one else seems to want to.

"We had an emergency budget last summer on our own terms – not this summer on the market's terms – unlike so many other countries. We have been ahead of the curve. We have been a safe haven in the sovereign debt storm. We have delivered record low interest rates for families, businesses and taxpayers. We can remain masters of our own destiny."

Of course, this performance is only a positive when Conservatives are in power.  When they are not in power, well, the same performance in the United States is evidence of failure.  See with Conservatives it’s the old “heads I am right, tails you are wrong”  approach to economic policy.