Austerity for 10 years as no 'quick fix' for Britain, Reform warns

mystic_trev

Britain needs 10 years of austerity to fix its economic problems, a leading think-tank has warned as it questioned Coalition plans to restore growth by unleashing a building boom and urged George Osborne to stick to his spending cuts

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8905455/Austerity-for-10-years-as-no-quick-fix-for-Britain-Reform-warns.html

wellused

Britain needs to shrink the public sector, wean people off of benefits, cut red tape, loosen employment laws, and get away from the borrowing culture. Probably need more than 10 years but they have to start somewhere.

paulmapp8306

If you shrink the public sector where is the work coming from?
If you wean people off benefits - whos picking up the high rental tabs?
If you loosen employment laws - wont wages drop? wont that lessen what people can afford to pay in mortgage/reny payments.
If you get away from borrowing, where is the money to support the economy coming from?

Not saying I dont agree with the sentiments - just how its achievable in reality.

chucknorris

Austerity for 10 years as no 'quick fix' for Britain, Reform warns

Could that mean 10 years of low rates then?

Going4TheDream

chucknorris wrote: »

Austerity for 10 years as no 'quick fix' for Britain, Reform warns

Could that mean 10 years of low rates then?

Low interest rates on their savings for all those that were prudent and didn't spend tomorrows money yesterday for a lifestyle that they couldn't afford?

worldtraveller

I feel that this one will indeed be a long haul. As the report says, "There is a view that the recovery from the financial crisis should have been largely instantaneous and painless. But this is clearly unrealistic,". I tend to agree. Like many others I remember several UK recessions in the past and I get a feeling that a lot of people today, that have never really seen more than this one, expect that it (the one that really never ended - that was purely an magician's illusion created by QE) will end soon. The cheap credit and, spend now, "I want it now", keep up with the Joneses mentality that we've seen for the past 10-15 years will take a long time to change. It really could never go on that way! Frankly I could never understand the profligate spending I've seen every day in the UK over the past 10-15 years. It's amazed me! For example, how could so many people in their 20's/30's afford to eat out several days a week, buy new furniture, kitchens, cars, i-pods, i-phones, PC's, when also buying a new house? That was unheard of when I was that age! The bloating of the public sector, especially under Gordon Brown, is another major factor, which undoubtedly affected the rise in house prices over the same period. The problem is that this whole issue has not just been limited to the UK, of course. It is a global issue. 10 years? I don't know, but it could be a great deal longer than many people today think.

However, one thing that I see increasing massively over the next few years will be the
socialisation of debt. Unfortunately, those people that have not been profligate at spending what they don't have, will undoubtedly end up bailing out those that have!

Rant over!

MacMickster

wellused wrote: »

Britain needs to shrink the public sector, wean people off of benefits, cut red tape, loosen employment laws, and get away from the borrowing culture. Probably need more than 10 years but they have to start somewhere.

In short, the British need to get used to a significantly lower standard of living, and probably for a lot longer than 10 years.

It is wrong to think about it as austerity. We may find that what we think of as austerity today will be looked upon as decadence in a few years time.

geneer

chucknorris wrote: »

Austerity for 10 years as no 'quick fix' for Britain, Reform warns

Could that mean 10 years of low rates then?

:rotfl:Nice one Chuck. Yeah, global economic collapse is just swell isn't it. Jeez.

chucknorris

geneer wrote: »

:rotfl:Nice one Chuck. Yeah, global economic collapse is just swell isn't it. Jeez.

Don't be so dramatic it's a downturn/recession (yes I know we are not technically in a recession), get used to it, the economy is cyclical and it will probably happen again twice more in your lifetime. I sometimes wonder how people like you would cope if they had to live through world war 1 or world war 2 (now that would have been a real problem).

Is it not working out very well for you geneer, sorry to hear that.

kabayiri

Okay, so 10 years then to fix things.

But what is it a return to at the end of this austerity decade ?

It seems governments and so called experts are quite happy to keep the target loose; that way we can't really prove they have achieved the targets.

If, in 10 years, real incomes for the 80% population mass are 20% below current levels, is that still success ?

We have £275 BILLION of QE, yet I don't have a clear definition of the success of that tactic either.

Going4TheDream

chucknorris wrote: »

Don't be so dramatic it's a downturn/recession (yes I know we are not technically in a recession), get used to it, the economy is cyclical and it will probably happen again twice more in your lifetime. I sometimes wonder how people like you would cope if they had to live through world war 1 or world war 2 (now that would have been a real problem).

Is it not working out very well for you geneer, sorry to hear that.

People helped each other, everyone was trying to do their bit, Today it seems much more of a case of 'Im all right Jack' and sod anyone else