Osborne’s budget has gone down like a bucket of sick on the front-pages this morning. As long as we have flat-lining growth and a failure of political will to tackle spending, all fiscally-neutral budgets will be like this, identifiable ‘losers’ will out-number identifiable ‘winners’. The losers this time are those who were prudent enough to save for their retirement. The so-called lucky generation of baby boomers who had a working life in a long term growing economy and an overly generous welfare state which has now impoverished their children and grand-children. Some might spin this as a bit of inter-generational payback, others as an unjust punishment of those who saved for their retirement. Pensioners have a propensity to be voters…
Osborne is spending more than Brown, borrowing more than Brown and taxing more than Brown. The official numbers revealed yesterday show that spending is still rising in real terms, there is no hope of for an “expansionary fiscal contraction” if there is no fiscal contracti0n. The national debt is still rising. The coalition government’s self-defined primary mission, to close the deficit by the next election, is on course for failure. As long as this obsession with fiscal neutrality and timidity towards cutting spending continues the tax burden will not be reduced, the debt will not be reduced and growth will flat-line. Fiscally neutrality is just another phrase for tinkering with the tax burden.
The bond markets already know the government is going to miss the deficit target. All the fast growing economies in Asia and the Americas have lower tax economies than the UK and Europe. A dash for growth stimulated by across the board tax cuts will not as Osborne fears be punished by the bond markets, that is a fundamental mis-reading of bond market mentality. Osborne knows bond markets think long term, that is why the Treasury is contemplating issuing 100 year bonds. Bond traders understand that broad tax cuts are a real stimulus that will lead to a more dynamic growing economy which will reap more tax revenues long term. Why are we waiting?
