Osborne Finishes Off The Economy.

George Osborne has now managed to get together the full bag of economic horrors. Demand is falling like a rock, confidence is at an all-time low, unemployment is rising, wages are falling and now inflation is beginning to race ahead. Austerity is like playing a round of golf with only one club and the wrong one at that. Not only is it destroying the economy it is making it ever more difficult to reverse the trend. We are near a tipping point where no amount of effort to get the economy going again can possibly work. There will simply not be enough momentum to get it moving again and nothing left in reserve to edge it forward. George Osborne is nothing less then a one-man walking disaster area, the only thing on the economic horizon with enough energy to still keep moving and that in entirely the wrong direction. There is method behind his madness, however. The recession he's so happy to promote doesn't affect the rich - people like him in other words. As the econonomy collapses the alibi that the Tories need to dismantle the welfare state gathers credence. As things get worse ordinary people are encouraged to blame each other and point the finger at those who are "undeserving". People begin to wonder if their taxes are being properly spent and support for them wanes. Soon no one will want to pay taxes at all and the Tories will be only too happy to oblige - not because its the right thing to do but because they and their rich mates will be the biggest beneficiaries. The collapse of the economy is, then, not an unfortunate outcome of the recession but a policy goal in its own right. The Tory's cannot save the economy and have no interest in doing so if that means they will have to pay higher taxes. If they cannot increase their incomes they will do the next best thing - lower their overheads. Either way they win and the rest of us lose.