Economic policy based on “unadulterated rubbish.”

In an article in last Sunday’s “Observer” (08/05/11)Will Hutton notes that estimates of the amount the UK needs to spend cumulatively in the next 15 years if we are to meet our climate change targets are in the range of £450bn, but only £70bn is planned.

He comments:

“…the coalition members’ chatter about not leaving huge public debts to our children, or Britain ‘maxing out on its credit card’ is unadulterated rubbish. While this can be expected of parts (but not all) of the Conservative party, better could be expected from the party that is heir to Keynes. I would expect my children to congratulate us on borrowing at today’s interest rates to invest in the infrastructure that will make the country more prosperous and global warming less likely, and accelerate a recovery that is so stuttering, especially as public debt levels in Britain have been higher for 200 of the last 250 years.”
His article concludes: “Orange book liberals have provided cover for a first order economic mistake.”

Unfortunately those of us who take this view, deficit realists, have been drowned out by the Tory spin doctors who have successfully labelled us “deficit deniers.” The truth is that not only are present generations, and especially the young unemployed, suffering from the abandonment of Keynesian policies, but future generations will also suffer as they inherit an economy which is “not fit for purpose.”