Playing politics

An effective article by Bruce Anderson in today’s Independent on how Brown’s playing politics with the public finances.  Here’s a key passage:

“[Brown] is happy to risk further damage to the economy as long as he can inflict damage on the Tories. The only recovery which interests him is the recovery in his poll ratings. Today’s measures are not economic. They are political.

That is why they are based on a wrong diagnosis. In fact, the current ailments are not fiscal; they are monetary. Even before today’s increases, government borrowing was likely to break through the £100 bn barrier, so it would be absurd to claim that fiscal policy is too tight. Assuming that the weekend’s advance briefing are accurate, the government is proposing a stimulus of around one per cent of GDP. We are being asked to believe that while 100 per cent is inadequate, 101 per cent will work miracles.