British Tea Party?

Well who would have thought it? First the Greeks go in for some austerity, then the Irish, French and now the Brits? The country that was the object of a rebellious party in 1773, is now on the bandwagon? From the UK Financial Times.

The UK’s Conservative-led coalition has announced the most drastic budget cuts in living memory, outstripping measures taken by other advanced economies which are also under pressure to sharply reduce public spending.
. . .
The UK cuts of £81bn ($128bn) over four years are the equivalent of 4.5 per cent of projected 2014-15 gross domestic product. Similar cuts in the US would require a cut in public spending of about $650bn, equal to the projected cost of Medicare in 2015.

What the heck is happening to Europe? Simple, reality is setting in. Things that can't go on, don't. One must ask if U.S. politicians that are elected this November will show similar fortitude and rise to the occasion. I especially like the way the spending cuts are being handled:

Declaring that “today is the day where Britain steps back from the brink”, George Osborne, the chancellor of the exchequer, revealed dramatic reductions to core departments over the next four years, a £7bn fall in welfare support and 490,000 public-sector job cuts by 2014-15.

All of the inchoate hatred inveighed against the Tea Party fails to respond to our central question: How is the current path of spending and deficit sustainable? Where is the plan to change the shape of this curve?

Even the rosy picture painted by the White House shows a deficit far worse than any ever produced by George W. Bush for every year in perpetuity after Obama was sworn in. How much more damage to the economy do we want to allow?

Note to Republicans, you better start showing you are as serious as David Cameron, or the Tea Party will be coming after you.