So, we’ll be dead, so what?

So, we’ll be dead, so what?

by digby

Oh my goodness, who could have ever predicted?

Britain had a larger budget deficit than economists forecast in May as the recession depressed tax receipts and government spending surged.

The shortfall, which excludes government support for banks, was 17.9 billion pounds ($28 billion) compared with 15.2 billion pounds a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said in London today. Economists forecast a deficit of 14.8 billion pounds, according to the median of 16 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Spending jumped 7.9 percent and revenue rose 1.6 percent. Income-tax receipts fell 7.3 percent.

So slashing the government during a recession in order to lower the debt actually creates more debt? Shocker.

I would imagine that none of the Austerians will lose any sleep over it, however. When faced with the human suffering they’ve caused and shown the proof of their folly they will simply say, as these sorts always say, “things will get better eventually and that will prove that in the long run we were right.” And you know what they say about the long run …

Update: Also too, this.

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