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Dutch Orchestra Protest

The link is to a story about a Dutch Orchestra protesting about funding cuts.

The protest of performing in a commuter railway station is at least more musical than average. However, what we are seeing across the developed world is the consequences of the recession. Initially it was a private sector recession and has turned into a public sector recession - inevitably.

John O Shea complained about me using the crocodile on a plane analogy. Much that the previous (Labour) government were responsible both for overspending (believing their own publicity) and a failure of regulation, the recession was also caused by high oil prices and the lack of liquidity in the housing market. These things were hard to predict (in the same way as a crocodile on a plane), but they cause a big problem.

Labour are in the "spend your way out of the problem" camp. That is exactly the policy adopted by Greece before their debt crisis.

Remember that interest is affected both by the amount of debt and the interest rate on the debt.

All developed countries are having to cut public spending. Hence the protests in France, Holland and Greece. However, protesting cannot do anything about reality.

It is worthwhile people suggesting alternate routes. I attended the PCS fringe meeting in Liverpool to discuss what options there were and to be fair to them they were not as uncompromising as the public statements.

However, the risk of inaction at this stage is far greater than the risk of action.

In a sense doing nothing is not a "high risk" strategy as there is certainty that the UK would face a sovereign debt crisis.

Labour's current position is to offer up no cuts at all. That is a certainty of disaster (and with it greater cuts).

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