Ireland’s budget balancing hurts economy

I thanks you.

told you so

"Ireland suffers from problems familiar to British policymakers: a housing downturn, troubled banks and an economy overexposed to consumption. The policy response has been starkly different.

Last Autumn, at the height of the financial crisis, the Labour Government launched a fiscal stimulus despite falling tax revenues. The Irish responded in the opposite manner by cutting back spending and raising taxes. The country has had two emergency budgets in the past year. Both direct and indirect taxes have been raised and public sector pay cut. These moves were praised by Guido Fawkes at the time. In essence they represent the views of George Osborne and David Cameron who today said:

“we opposed the VAT cut and warned about the scale of borrowing … bringing down the deficit is not an alternative to long-term economic success, it’s a vital part of it.”"