I admit that I do not think Money Week editor Merryn Somerset Webb a reliable commentator on very much to do with finance, but this morning she is in the mood to exonerate Rishi Sunak for this appalling Spring Statement in the FT.
As she has noted there, in her opinion the government cannot solve all issues in society. Her claim is that:
The £400bn spent during the pandemic, the demand boom that it has given us and the creation of the illusion that in extremis the government can come up with the cash to solve every problem all rest at his door.
Let's leave aside for a moment that much of this was used as a source of inappropriate payments to friends of the Conservative Party.
Let's also leave aside that much of what was spent was appallingly managed, and was absent of management focus.
Instead let's note that there has been no demand boom - evidenced by the fact that the economy is smaller still than what it would gave been without the pandemic, so her claim is wrong.
And then let's note that Sunak clearly still thinks that there are issues he can resolve - like tax for business, where he is determined to be very friendly to them, and soon, whilst making clear that government spending is not his priority now and will not be.
In other words, it is not true that there are issues that the government cannot address - like poverty. There are just decisions not to do so, just as there are decisions to try to cut the money supply (which some call the national debt) during a period of inflation when its increase will be necessary, and to do so at cost to those who are worst off in the UK.
In other words, there is not an inability to act, or solve issues. There is instead a choice, and the choice is not to act in the best interests of the population at large, but is instead to act in the interests of a chosen few. This, of course, is clientelism. And that is on the path to corporatism.
Somerset Webb may be happy with a small state that makes excuses for its inability to help anyone but business and the well off. That though is not necessary. It is just a choice. And it is the wrong one at this moment. That's why every single national newspaper has condemned Sunak's statement. It's also why I think he will be back at the Dispatch Box well before he plans on being so.
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It’s very frustrating isn’t it to see the lack of curiosity about whom the ‘debt’ is owed to?
Obviously in Webb’s mind, the state does not effectively own the currency as sovereign. It just appeared out of nowhere one day and the rich increasingly claim most of it as their own.
Never mind ‘small State’ – it’s a two-faced state – a face with a frown and an ‘up yours’ finger for the poor and middle incomes and a smiley ‘come on in and help yourself’ face for the rich.