Osborne Vows More Austerity as Slump Hits U.K. Deficit Plan

Says it all, sadly.

France and Germany also announce agreement to target 0 deficits for all euro members which
takes the steam out of any relief rally as they solve the solvency issue.

Not much upside for the world economy when it all thinks and acts like this:

Osborne Vows More Austerity as Slump Hits U.K. Deficit Plan

By Gonzalo Vina

Nov 30 (Bloomberg) — Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said Britain faces two extra years of austerity as he sought to shore up his deficit-reduction plans, intensifying a conflict with unions that are staging a mass walkout today.

Osborne used his end-of-year economic statement to Parliament yesterday to announce 23 billion pounds ($36 billion) of additional spending cuts after the Office for Budget Responsibility slashed its forecasts for economic growth. The fiscal watchdog predicted Osborne will need to borrow an extra 112 billion pounds by 2016 and said more than 700,000 public- sector workers will lose their jobs over the next six years.

“Osborne acknowledges that the consolidation program is behind schedule and aims to make up for lost ground with an even longer period of fiscal austerity,” Michael Saunders, chief European economist at Citigroup in London, said in an interview. “The government has no alternative. If they slide, the markets will put the U.K. from Category A to Category B.”

Unions say as many as 2 million public-sector workers will join today’s 24-hour strike over plans to make them contribute more toward their pensions and retire later. Osborne is extending his spending cuts beyond 2015, when they were due to end, risking a backlash from voters in the election due in May of that year.

Britain to Slash Public Spending in Austerity Gamble

Are they actually going to do this???

Good for us if we realized the right response is to lower our taxes here and letting them export all they want to us.

But we don’t.

Britain to Slash Public Spending in Austerity Gamble

October 20 (AP) — Recession-battered Britain learns the true cost of the global financial crisis Wednesday, as the country’s government outlines the largest cuts to public spending since World War II — slashing benefits and public sector jobs with a five-year austerity plan aimed at clearing the nation’s debts.

After spending billions bailing out indebted banks, and suffering a squeeze on tax revenue and a hike in welfare bills, Treasury chief George Osborne will stake the coalition government’s reputation on fixing the country’s economic ills by the next election in 2015.

In a major address to Parliament, Osborne will announce about 80 billion pounds ($128 billion) in spending cuts, which he claims are necessary alongside tax rises to wipe out Britain’s 156-billion-pound deficit and reduce its huge debt.

It means as many as 500,000 public sector jobs are likely to be lost, while pay for almost all government workers has already been frozen for two years under an initial round of austerity measures announced in June.

Even Queen Elizabeth II has taken a share of the strain, as Osborne froze government funding for her household and staff.

The Treasury chief — seen as a possible future prime minister — has already warned government departments to prepare to cut their budgets by up to 25 percent over four years. While the eventual cuts are likely to be much less severe, they are likely to be the sharpest in about 60 years.

About 1.2 million families will lose child benefit payments beginning in 2013, and tens of thousands more Britons are likely to see their welfare checks trimmed or scrapped.

If the government decides to slash its winter fuel allowance, millions of retirees could lose out on subsidized heating. About 12 million people currently receive the payment.