Borrow, Borrow and Borrow Some More
With Exchequer finance spiraling out of control, what should the Left argue? Shore up capital spending? Cut current expenditure (i.e. public services, wages, social programmes)? Increase taxes? What should the Left’s prescriptions be? How can we show the public that we have a handle on these matters? What is the best way forward?
Difficult one. A right-wing government recklessly allowed the nation’s finances to become over-dependent on property-related revenue; they broke it and we’re asked what we would do to fix it. So here goes – my own suggestion for what it’s worth: don’t argue the issue in the narrow fiscal 'increase-tax or cut-spending' context. In the first instance, damn the Maastricht guidelines and borrow, borrow, borrow. There, I said it. I feel a lot better.






