21 October 2010

Has Osborne Cut Enough from Public Spending?

I have just read Jeff Randall's contribution to tomorrow's Daily Telegraph. After reading the article, that points out that Osborne's cuts in spending will only get public expenditure back to 2006-7 levels. And that is not until 2014.

What is shocking about the whole issue is the belief by much of the population - especially those outside of the south and midlands of England - that they are somehow entitled to take money whether they deserve it or not. On last night's TV I watched a woman from Swansea moan about the fact she had lost the child benefit of a daughter who had left school. Why she posited should she not carry on getting this benefit. Her rationale, and that of the TV narrator, appeared to be that she lived in Wales. And that because of the local economy, they were somehow entitled to money, whether earned it or not.

Even Jeremy Paxman joined in. Constantly complaining to Treasury Secretary Danny Alexander about the poorest 10% of the population, almost all of whom live entirely on benefit and have therefore enjoyed inflation-linked rises in tax free income over the past three years, whilst almost everyone in employment has seen their real incomes diminish in value.

Yes it's time to cut. But I do not believe Osborne has gone far enough in cutting the waste that is central to much of the public sector.

No comments:

Post a Comment