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British budget cuts announced in Parliament by Britain's Finance Minister, George Osborne. About 83 billion pounds in cuts by 2015 were announced. But Joseph Stiglitz, writing in The Guardian, argued that the plan was a big gamble, as declining tax revenues with lower growth, would lead to smaller deficit reductions. The gamble is that the private sector will pick up, and make up for the reduction in public outlays. If this does not happen, this risks sending the economy into a tailspin. Osborne said that 490,000 jobs will be lost over the next 4 years, some from attrition. Payments to the long term unemployed will also be cut for those who fail to seek jobs, saving $11 billion a year. A new 12 month limit will be imposed on long term jobless benefits. Increase in the retirement age will start in 2020, from 65 to 66 years. At the same time free eye tests, prescription drugs and bus passes remain. Premier Cameron promised not to make cutbacks in health care in the period before the election. This was his way of helping the Conservatives make a comeback to power....

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This Buttonwood column in the Economist after the British 2015 general election says the election results show serious dissatisfaction with the political class. Labor was never forgiven for the 2007-2009 financial and economic crisis, and the "lost decade" in terms of decline in real wages and no improvements in the standard of living since then. The SNP because it is not tainted by these actions did better as a fresh face and authentic voice in Scotland. The Liberal Democrats suffered from their participation in the coalition government and the austerity years. The Conservatives benefitted from the problems and the crisis of confidence faced by the other major parties. The column asks the question about whether austerity can ever be a vote winning strategy. And it points out that the Conservative party won 37% of the vote compared to 36% in 2010. Labor went from 29% in one of the worst results ever in 2010 to 31%. UK Independence Party gained 13% vote share with increase in English nationalism. Behind all this it says is the general disillusion with the political class in Europe. And the Conservatives should take care lest the dissensions in the party with the EU referendum lead to a divided party. ...

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More than one in four houses in Australia have solar panels on the rooftops. In Queensland and New South Wales half of homes have solar panels. This includes Sydney. This is more than most places, including California, Germany, U.S. Britain, France. In California less than 10% of utilities customers have solar panels in their homes. Rooftop solar provides 5% of its electricity in Australia, compared to 1% in the U.S. 

Much of this is because of states offering incentives and it saves money for homeowners. Australian conservatives see this as a way to promote their rugged individualism.

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Britain has missed 400 billion pounds of growth as a result of Conservative governments spending cuts since 2010, says this TUC report cited in The Guardian. The Institute of Fiscal Studies and other reports also support this- that the income from work has fallen behind the income from owning assets in Britain- benefitting only the top 10% of households, hurting the rest and and creating a socially split and fragmented society. This has hurt Britain's economy. If the pre 1979 growth rate was maintained Britain's GDP would be 2 trillion pounds higher says this report citing the TUC. It has not improved the public finances as weaker growth means lower revenues, has weakened growth of the whole economic potential of the economy. At fault are institutions the IMF and the OECD and others that created a culture of misinformation that government spending gives only a modest spurt to growth so that austerity cuts can be prolonged with little impact on GDP. These institutions have later revised their analyses but the cultural impact of such perceptions has led to austerity cuts being accepted way of operating without thinking of the damage being done to the economy and to society. US president Biden has moved firmly to make the kind of targeted investments in infrastructure and to cut inflation that yield results and create a sense of optimism for the country. ...

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This BBC report gives the reasons for the success of the Leave campaign getting 51% of the vote- the votes of older voters particularly in the south, southwest, Midlands and the north east with 78% of people over 65 voting and 54% of 25-34 year olds voting in the 2015 general election. Three of five voters over 65 wanted to Leave, and voters over 55 favored leaving the EU. Other important factors was the voter discontent, the failure of the message on the economy of the Remain campaign, the 350 million British pounds that the Leave campaign said Britain would have extra to spend on the NHS every week as this was what Britain could free up by leaving the EU was the best remembered number in the campaign.  Another important factor is the failure of Labor Party supporters to come out to support the Remain campaign in large enough numbers for an effort led by Conservative party leader Cameron. 

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When George Osborne took over at the British Treasury the deficit was 10.2% of GDP. Osborne's hope in 2010 was that the budget could be balanced by 2015, now it looks like this will happen in 2019 or later.The forecast for the end of the 2015 fiscal year is a deficit of 5% of GDP. Lower than expected tax receipts are a big reason for the difficulty in lowering the deficit. The Office for Budget Responsibility, the budget agency, has reduced the forecast for tax receipts for 2015-2019 by 87 billion pounds. This means further spending cuts will be needed, according to OBR. Budget surplus is not expected before 2019. This is happening even though lower inflation and lower market interest rates have helped reduce outlays to service the debt. OBR assumes productivity will increase to 2% for the budget to be balanced in 2019. At the average productivity growth rate of 0.5% seen since 2008, the budget deficit will still be 2.2% in 2019, in another scenario of numbers run by OBR.

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Adam Davidson of the NYT's interview with American economist Posen, a member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England. Posen says austerity measures have a negative effect on the British economy with high unemployment and lack of economic growth.

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David Brooks of the NYT describes the approach taken by British prime minister David Cameron and his Conservative Party government to help the working class poor in Britain, and tackle the social roots of poverty. He says an American adaptation similar to this is badly needed in the Republican Party, with the candidates in the election providing solutions from an old rulebook. Only after Trump's popularity with appeals to less educated older Americans has the Republican leadership responded, with Speaker Ryan helping organize a forum on poverty under the Jack Kemp Foundation- emphasis was placed on education, work, opportunity and accountability for anti-poverty programs in the discussion moderated by Ryan and Senator Tim Scott. Less attention was paid to the other social aspects mentioned here by Brooks, and cited by Cameron when he described the inadequacy of traditional solutions from the right and left of the political spectrum. Cameron outlined the principles of his anti-poverty plans called "Life Chances Strategy," in a speech on Jan. 11, 2016, in north London, with the entrie transcript on the gov.uk website. Cameron acknowledged in the speech that social issues including single parent families, and other social problems such as long term unemployment, can make it harder for some people to use self-reliance and personal responsibility in a growing economy as a way to grasp opportunities. Cameron proposes a combination of economic, social and job growth strategies. His second term plans include 30 hours a week of free childcare for 3 and 4 year olds so both parents can work, parental maternity leave, expansion of Troubled Families Program, in addition to the introduction of National Living Wage, tax cuts, universal credit. In tackling social aspects of the problem Cameron cited the need for development in the early years of childhood, the huge importance of family, social connections and experiences, informal mentors, cultural experiences, broadenend horizons, that enable young people to acquire language skills, character and resilience. Second term projects include expanding reach of high performing schools to deprived areas, emphasis on core English, math, science, history, geography Ebacc skills, a 1 billion pound investment in the National Citizens Service by 2021, a plan to transform housing estates including rebuilding from scratch, additional 1 billion pounds to provide mental health treatment including treatment within 2 weeks in homes and communities. Throughout Cameron's "Life Chances strategy" is aimed at tackling not just the material dimensions of poverty, but also what he describes is broken in Britain- "the paucity of opportunity."...

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This editorial in the Economist says Britain's economic recovery will not be complete until interest rates are well above zero and productivity growth is established. Without productivity growth and growth in wages, both lacking in the economic recovery since 2009, tax revenues will not be enough to reduce the deficit, requiring more spending cuts. That means the Bank of England will not raise interest rates, keeping a situation of no rate changes prevailing since March 2009 when the central bank cut rates by 0.5%. In the current situation the Bank of England is not expected to raise rates till 2016, only after the U.S. Federal Reserve increases rates to avoid appreciation in the pound and further deflationary pressure, according to Goldman Sachs. With inflation currently at zero, following the drop in oil prices, and 10% appreciation in the pound since mid 2013 making imports cheaper, there is little pressure to increase interest rates. In 2011 inflation with rising food and energy prices reached 5.2% , but the Bank of England did not raise rates because of the eurozone economic crisis affecting growth. Only since 2013 has economic growth picked up with 1.2 million jobs created since the beginning of 2013, bringing unemployment down from a high of 8.5% in 2011 to 5.6% in May 2015. Throughout the recovery productivity growth is falling behind- 2014 productivity measured by output per hour worked was 1.3% lower than in 2011, and 14% below the pre-crisis trend, according to the Economist....

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Instructions in a 2012 law say the money from fines paid by banks for LIBOR related offenses should go to communities throughout Britain. A program in North Yorkshire teaches military veterans how to use "therapeutic baking" as a way to ease stress through cooking and by kneading dough. The same social housing charity, Riverside ECHG, says its focus is on making sure people are not sleeping in bushes or cars. A program in Harrowgate uses these funds to resurface tennis courts at a treatment center for injured police. British prime minister Cameron promised during the recent election to use 227 million pounds from fines paid against Deutsche Bank in April 2015 for financing 50,000 apprenticeships. Critics say the money should have gone to people who were harmed by the banks actions, yet in the case of LIBOR related offenses it is not clear who was harmed and by how much. The idea for the 2012 law come from Chancellor George Osborne. Osborne said about sending money back into local communities- "It is fitting that the money paid in fines by people who demonstrated the poorest values in our society is used to support those who demonstrate the very best."...

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Gordon Brown outlines Scotland's shared interests with the rest of Britain at the time of a referendum on Scotland's independence. He describes Scotland's key role in the shipping industry and the industrialization of Britain, the period since the loss of the shipping industry, and the search for alternative sources of employment and development in a period of globalization. A key figure for Brown is the average income of people in Scotland, which is similar to that of its neighbors in England, showing that development has kept pace with the rest of Britain. For Brown it is these social and economic rights that underpin the union of different ethnic peoples and heritage of Irish, Scottish and English origins.

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Britain's 2013 budget provides some benefits to home buyers. Chancellor of the Exchequer Osborne says the Bank of England will have more leeway with its inflation target to aid economic growth. Britain's Office of Budget Responsibility says growth will be down to 0.6% in 2013, and 1.8% in 2014. This is a result of weak exports to the eurozone and decline in consumer spending. The government now expects to borrow 240 billion pounds more than forecast for the 5 year period ending April 2016, as a result of the weaker economy. Debt as a percentage of GDP will not decline by 2015 as planned earlier, it will be 2018 before this happens. Osborne said: the plan "is taking longer than anyone hoped. But we must hold to the right track."

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Mike Pompeo, U.S. Secretary of State meets with Tory group of MP's that want to see other issues relating to China tackled following exclusion of Huawei from UK 5G networks, and suspension of the extradition treaty with Hong Kong. This includes 120,000 Chinese students attending British universities and many students involved in advanced scientific research. Both Labour party leaders and Conservative party leaders support taking action to protect British interests relating to sharing sensitive technology, and national security. The U.S. is moving forward with a decoupling of economic relations with China on issues of sensitive technology, transfer of technology,  ownership of American tech companies, manufacturing jobs and regaining industrial strength, and on trade that transfers wealth from America to China. Britain is having to restructure its relations with China based on the general trend in U.S. China relations. China is the UK's 6th destination for exports of goods and services, only 3.6%. U.S. is far larger about 14%. The UK also has one third of its investments overseas going to the U.S. The U.S. has total investments in the UK of 758 billion dollars in 2018, showing that Britain's relationship with the U.S. is very close. ...

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Britain's GDP declined by 0.7% in the second quarter of 2012.