The post you are reporting:
PaulB - Apparently the BBC were furious that DC expected the same considerations that were given to Brown so it is hardly surprising that there were 'technical diffficulties'.
As I have said before I believe DC should be a lot bolder about what needs to be done. I am in support of real and substantial cuts to public expenditure and not merely spending less that the present Government.
You should note that there are big differences between the route proposed by Obama to stimulate the US economy and that taken by Brown. The VAT reduction was and is an expensive flop, so much that the Government are now considering what I said should have been done instead, an increase in the starting rate of income tax to £10,000 (the cost would be the same as the VAT cut).
Why, oh why, has Brown also not taken the advice of Cameron and brought in a loan guarantee scheme to get banks lending again? That addresses the core of our problems. This was first proposed back in November by Cameron, who has made 11 calls now for the Government to act and it has still not done so. Not yet anyway, there is word leaking out that they are planning to do it!!! Too late and under pressure. No doubt the real reason for Brown not acting yet is purely political, placing party politics at a higher importantance than keeping people in work.
The fact is we have a tired Government which is unwilling to take the decisions needed. Their biggest crime so far, apart from failure to take effective action, is to leave the whole burden of the recession piled on the private sector, something that will deepen and lengthen the recession. It is only the private sector that can pull the economy back up again so to overburden it in the way this Government is mad. That is why real cuts are needed in public spending.
