The hair of the dog

So now we know the solution to the borrowing crisis, and it is... more borrowing. Yesterday the government announced that it would cut taxes and spend more public money in an attempt to kick start Britain's stalled economy. This will be funded by a massive increase in public debt, to be paid back in all probability after the next general election. Given that easy borrowing was one of the main causes of our current economic woes, this sounds suspiciously like offering a double whisky as a hangover cure.

There is a lot of talk at the moment about the mismatch between indivdual and collective wisdom. It's wise for individual banks to hoard cash and rebuild their reserves, but collectively this makes the credit crisis even deeper. It's sensible for companies to prepare for recession by cutting costs (and that often means jobs), but the collective result is to deepen the very recession they are trying to guard against. It's probably unavoidable for governments to offer a 'fiscal stimulus' (ie throw lots of public money at the problem), but this reinforces the addiction to consumerism that has led us here in the first place.

It is clear that doing nothing is not an option, and that whetever we do there is going to be pain (which means real people suffering in real ways). This offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make the transition to a saner, more sustainable, less de-humanised approach to creating and stewarding wealth. Which makes it all the more sad that our leaders seem dead set on finding a way back to 'the way things were before'.

One of yesterday's papers called this the 'spend now, pray later' budget. It is a shame that none of those responsible have the vision or courage to reverse that order.