Curiosidade do dia

Austeridade? Que austeridade?

"In the fiscal year 2009-10, before the government came to office, current spending was £575.1 billion; last year it was £618.8 billion. The annualised figure for this year is heading for £630.7 billion. If we exclude interest payments and welfare benefits, spending in 2009-10 was £377.4 billion, last year was £389.4 billion and this year we are heading for £390.4 billion. For anyone who has worked in a private sector company, these would not count as aggressive cost-cutting measures; illustrating how difficult it is to cut public spending. In real terms, there has been a fall, but the chart accompanying Martin Wolf's piece illustrates the longer-term trend; in the past 30 years, there have been three periods where the government has managed to halt the rise of public spending in real terms (of which this is the latest) interspersed by two periods of a rapid increase. In the last 10 years that the Labour government held office, public spending rose 50% in real terms."

Trecho retirado de "Paved with good intentions"