Preparing the way for austerity

When the chancellor says that "We`ve provided over £200bn of support to protect the economy", are we to assume he is including the Bank of England`s role in the government`s recent spending (Record borrowing lifts UK`s debt mountain to £2,076bn, 21/11/20)? The inference is that it is all taxpayers` money, and as tax receipts have fallen, the books have to be balanced and public finances put back on a "sustainable path". Could the reason the disingenuous Sunak does not mention the Bank's quantitative easing programme, which has provided the government with £875bn since 2009, including £350bn this year, with promises of more to come, is because he is going to announce what amount to austerity measures in Wednesday`s spending review? What Johnson calls the "A-word" may not actually be mentioned, but pay freezes, cuts and/or tax increases are certainly in the pipeline. Britain`s "debt mountain" only reaches the £2tn mark if the £875 of QE is included, and, as the Bank of England is a government entity, why should it be? The truth is there can be no excuses for not funding our social services properly, not extending the £20 a week extra benefit payments, and increasing public investments to create employment. Interest rates are at record low levels, with payments on the government`s debt costing £2bn this October, £4.4bn less, as your reporters Inman and Wearden tell us, than in the same month last year. No Tory urgency then for a return to the belt-tightening days, especially with the election looming! Increased government spending, furthermore, has the backing of the IMF and the OECD, especially with economic multipliers known to reduce costs significantly. The country, as a recent editorial pointed out, is being "softened up for austerity policies" (Vaccines will not end the unemployment crisis, even if they end the health crisis,17/11/20). Hopefully Starmer and Dodds are aware of the shortcomings of Sunak`s economic theories, and ready to put matters straight! Polly Toynbee is right to say the Sunak`s "underlying message" in his spending review, is to "prepare the way for a new austerity" (This week, Rishi Sunak is aiming to level down, not up, 24/11/20), as is the editorial when stating that a pay freeze would "undermine the government`s commitment to levelling up (A public-sector pay freeze is evidence of ministers clapping without caring, 24/11/20). The truth is that there can be no excuses for not funding our social services properly, not extending the £20 a week extra benefit payments, and increasing public investments to create employment. Interest rates are at record low levels, and increased government spending has the backing of the IMF and the OECD, especially with economic multipliers known to reduce costs significantly. Of course, countries like Japan have "run large deficits for years", with debt-to-GDP ratios of well over 100%, not that this will rate a mention in Sunak`s speech. Furthermore,the Bank of England is willing to add to the £350bn it has already created this year through quantitative easing, making £875bn in total since 2009, sums which the government need not repay immediately, if ever, so reducing its exaggerated £2tn national debt total by a third. . Preventing ordinary people spending money to boost local economies is madness in the best of circumstances, so any tax increases or pay freezes announced by Sunak should be focused on high earners and on capital gains, along with tougher measures to prevent tax avoidance and evasion. Hopefully, Labour`s leadership team are being primed to expose the error of the chancellor`s ways!