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I get the theory obviously, if the government can drag more money in than it actually spends then the debt will have to be reduced accordingly, it’s logical but also not quite. If the cutbacks increase unemployment then the government will have to spend some of the money it’s trying to save, & if the cutbacks reduce the amount of money people have then they’ll spend less so unemployment will go up. I keep studying the figures as far as I understand them but I can’t see why this isn’t political suicide, it’s probably a worthwhile risk right now with Labour still outcasts but it remains a risk. It may well be in the interests of the UK to have some harsh medicine to swallow but when the people doling it out are rich & those taking it are not then the risk that they’ll remember come election time has to be considered. People have never liked doing things solely for the common good especially when they’re only going to feel the benefits after years & even then only in the abstract. The lottery may make a comeback but it’s hard to see anywhere else getting a boost out of austerity, I aren’t saying that the job doesn’t need doing or that I care how unpopular the Tories get, just that I thought they were meant to be brighter than this?

I know that Cameron wants to be seen as strong & decisive, I know that both the Tories & the Lib-Dems want to prove how much better than Labour they are but  already increasing the unemployment lines whilst attempting to claw money from everyone? It’s too soon surely? Okay so the bigger the labour pool the cheaper the wages can be but with VAT due to rise & all the rest that’s hardly anything to throw a party over, where’s the good news that makes it all worthwhile to us? I can see what big business & the stock markets get out of this & I get the no pain no gain theory, what worries me is that it isn’t the ones who stand to gain that are taking the pain, from a small business perspective an economy with less money in it isn’t a good thing generally. I think my main problem is that deep down I just don’t trust the politicians to do anything that doesn’t help them in the long term no matter what it does to the rest of us in the short term, I’d love to believe that altruism is alive & well but in government? Let’s face it, we’re talking about people who can spend more money on something yet claim that it’s less in real terms whilst at the same time spending less money on something else whilst telling us all it’s more in real terms, we call them politicians because calling them liars is too easy.

Okay so it isn’t that easy & not all of them are either on the make or power crazed, a lot of them are just incompetent or just don’t give a toss, it’s like any other company in the world really except that the interviews take longer, when you realise that these people are in charge of your world it tends to help if you drink a little. I’d like them to fix the UK & bring back prosperity for all but I can’t see it happening, it’s nice that they’re having a go but they do seem to have bitten off more than they can chew, that we’re all going to be a little worse off is naff enough without having to own a bank to boot. Before the public owned a bank everyone who owned a bank was stinking rich, now not only do we own a bank or two but we’re also responsible for ensuring their prosperity at the cost of our own, no wonder the rich sods bailed on them. When it comes to the deficit we should have owned up to the fact that we’ve borrowed too much & come to some other arrangement, I may well borrow money but I don’t expect anybody in Whitehall to pay it back for me, I expect I could borrow a fair bit as well if it wasn’t me with the bill. We might, just, come out of all this with a healthier financial outlook but until we recognize that the stock market is just a fancy slot machine it wont be healthier for long, here’s hoping that optimism strikes, I did win a pound on a scratchcard so maybe it is me this time, let’s hope so.

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