It’s long been considered a sign of high intelligence to acknowledge when one is wrong and adopt a new course of action. Failure to do so usually is an indication of pure and simple stupidity.
Rick Perry is that kind of stupid. So, apparently, is David Cameron who despite his near constant failure to stimulate the UK economy through government spending reductions (AKA, fiscal austerity) has apparently decided to double down on his bad bet.
“It is absolutely vital that we continue with the work of this Government that has cut the deficit by a quarter, that has a million extra private sector jobs and has interest rates at record low levels,” he said.
That jobs number completely ignores the record high unemployment and the fact that the UK is back in recession, for the third time since 2008. At issue was Moody’s downgrade of UK sovereign debt from AAA to AA1 which caused the yields on Gilts (the UK equivalent to the US Treasury) to actually decline, just as the rates on Treasuries did after S&P downgraded the US in 2011. Moody’s downgrade, it’s worth noting, wasn’t based solely on government debt… it was based primarily on continuing weakness in the economy which was exacerbating the debt and preventing fiscal consolidation. Of course, Cameron completely ignored this and, suffering from a nasty case of confirmation bias, yelled and screamed to all who would listen that cuts, cuts, CUTS! must be made.
Cameron is making the same mistake the austerity crowd all over Europe has been making, namely that in an economic environment with a massive demand gap the best thing to do is cut spending by the only entity with the capacity to spend. Only then, the austerity crowd claims, will confidence be restored.
Well, Prime Minister, you’ve been doing it for four years. Confidence is being lost and the economy of the nation you lead is failing. You and your ideas have failed absolutely.
A broken clock is right twice a day. Eventually the UK economy will turn even if the stupid policies of the current conservative government aren’t changed. However, there will be a lot of pain and a lot more debt when it does. If he’d rather actually save the UK, here are some fine ideas.