The Alleged Austerity of the United Kingdom

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1 MIN READ - The Short Read from the Cautious Optimism Correspondent for Economic Affairs and other Egghead Stuff questions seriously the decade-old presumption of budget "austerity" in Europe.

Nearly a decade after the global financial crisis, the New York Times continues to propagate the myth of European "austerity" with a front page story this week about the long-term impoverishing effects of ten years of "budget cuts" in the United Kingdom (see article link).

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/28/world/europe/uk-austerity-poverty.html

Has the New York Times even bothered to look at the British government’s budgets for the last ten years?

From HMTreasury National Archives. Note that spending has risen every single year since 2008 and is up 40% since the financial crisis. If this is their definition of "austerity" then what does it take to be considered profligate spenders?

2008       582.23 £ billion

2009       633.81 £ billion

2010       673.10 £ billion

2011       714.34 £ billion

2012       720.87 £ billion

2013       740.73 £ billion

2014       746.12 £ billion

2015       761.11 £ billion

2016       762.28 £ billion

2017       780.27 £ billion

2018       814.02 £ billion