1. David Blackburn reveals that Merkel is growing tired of the Eurozone.2. Katharine Birbalsingh's Free School battle is about to commence.
3. Allister Heath explains why we shouldn't bail out Portugal.
4. Tom Bradby reckons Labour is losing the argument on the deficit.
5. Duncan Robinson is worried about the danger of coal power.
6. Will Heaven on Rory Stewart.
It’s perfectly possible that Labour is losing the argument on the economy, but that is of no consequence compared to the issue of whether Mr Osborne’s strategy is sound. He appears to hope that the private sector will provide jobs. I think that that is unlikely to happen for the following reasons.
ReplyDeleteIf you embark on a severe cutting spree, targeting both welfare and public sector jobs, all of a sudden you have a large group of people with dramatically reduced spending power. This means that they will no longer buy products or services that they would have bought but for the cuts. As it is often, if not always, the private sector that provides these goods and services, business will be quieter, not busier, and they therefore will not have the profits needed to take on more people. They are more likely going to have to let people go.
And, of course, that could have a disastrous domino effect.