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  Howard said in post #3
  """"business confidence has crumbled over the last month and got markedly worse after the budget statement.
  
  the deficit will not be cut by an appreciable amount by the present methods.
  
  i heard more than a few economists say prior to the election that there should be small spending cuts in the first year then building up over the next 4 in order not to kill off the recovery.""""
  
  I challenge the first statement. It has got quieter for business, we all feel it, but as Andy says this not the fault of a government a month old trying to deal with the aftermath of the deepest and longest recession ever and a record deficit.
  
  The budget is getting support from businesses as they know failure to deal with the deficit would be a disaster for them.
  
  You have no basis to claim the deficit is not going to be appreciably cut by the present methods. That is patently untrue.
  
  As for economists - there are different schools of theory and yes it is all theory. The left love Keynseyan economics because they think it gives them the licence to be spendthrift, but theirs is a butchered form of Keynes. He never did advocate the borrowing splurge during the growth cycle that Labour indulged in. The leading cheerleader for the Government approach is David Blanchflower, who I met in January and found that he was disingenious, very selective on the basis of his approach and a man who thinks that 5% plus inflation for 5 yeasr or more is a price worth paying.... the idiot is clearly not a pensioner on a fixed income who's standard of living would drop by around 30% on thatbasis.
  
  Remember, howard, the 365 economists who objected to Geoffrey Howes retrenchment budget in 1982 - they were all wrong and ended up with egg all over their faces. Interesting that Labour at the last election could not conjour up anywhere near that number....
  
  I retain a believe if the Friedman school of economics. It actually works in real life and is not based on voodoo.
  
  Dont worry, Rick - difficult as it is things would be a lot worse if this nettle were not to be grasped and the firmer and quicker it is grasped then the less painful it will be over the longer term. Osborne is right to go in hard and fast.

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