By committing to the largest fiscal retrenchment in living memory the coalition has gone for broke. The prime minister says it will “change our way of life”. That's the problem. Ken Clarke used to say that good economics is good politics. The government has turned this on its head. Framing the debate as a choice between the public and private sectors is certainly good politics, but it is bad economics. The Budget will force 600,000 public sector workers into unemployment. With recent surveys suggesting rapidly worsening business confidence and no evidence of an emerging hiring spree, their prospects of finding work in the private sector are bleak.
通過承諾實施當代人記憶中最大規模的財政緊縮，英國聯合政府已經孤注一擲。首相表示，它將「改變我們的生活方式」。這就是問題所在。保守黨資深議員肯•克拉克(Ken Clarke)過去常說，好的經濟政策就是好的政治。本屆英國政府把它顛倒了過來。將這場辯論框定爲公共和私人部門之間的選擇，當然是好的政治，但對經濟沒有益處。財政預算案將迫使60萬名公共部門僱員失業。最近的調查表明企業信心快速惡化，同時沒有證據表明出現新的招聘熱潮，因此這些人在私人部門找到工作的前景渺茫。