Why the Treasury’s panic over debt, when borrowing costs next to nothing?
by Phillip Inman from on (#53V3V)
Even avid free-marketeers see that only state money can get growth going, but the chancellor is suddenly running scared
A consensus has emerged that the only route out of the lockdown is with government cash. From across the political divide there is support, offered reluctantly in some quarters, for the idea that only state-funded agencies will have the financial muscle and the will to put the wheels of the economy in motion once the pandemic has receded.
Private-sector companies emerging from the deep freeze will need to tiptoe before they run, hence the Royal Society of Arts and Manufacturing's proposal of an initial three-day week. Theirs must be a slow re-emergence, observing physical distancing.
This is a Tory government, so the best Sunak can do is still worth something
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