They are doing "austerity" in the midst of a downturn.
This will no doubt deepen the dip or prolong the recovery.
The slick part is whether they've calibrated it so that people can't tell the difference between what will occur and what might have been, with no way to disaggregate the effect of contractionary fiscal policy.
So, no, it doesn't look like they have particular fiscal courage, despite the cuts in defense. It just looks like they have a bet on how much they can get away with before people notice they've made things worse, before they get better.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Are Cameron's Tories Fiscal Visionaries or Just Slick
