I’m not an economist so I can’t even pretend to debate the maths, but every fibre of my being tells me that what George Osbourne will announce tonight is wrong. He arrogantly plans to enshrine his greedy, selfish politics into law by making it illegal for governments to spend more than they receive. While on the face of it, that might sound like a good idea, it effectively makes austerity permanent. We would no longer be able to borrow, so, given that any government will be reluctant to raise tax too far*, it will lead to deeper and deeper cuts. The welfare state will be ransacked; the NHS unsustainable. As noted here it returns us to a victorian mindset, and we all know how much the Victorians cared about the less fortunate in society. Thus, by passing this law, Osbourne imposes his greedy worldview on us all; he would make it normal to see things his way, criminalise trying to care for others. As wise as it may seem, this law will alter how we think by making frugality a norm. If government and the state shrinking, we’d withdraw into ourselves, care only about ourselves: upon seeing a suffering person, we’ll no longer think ”I hope they get help soon” but simply ”tough shit”. By enshrining these ideologically-inspired cuts into law, Osbourne makes tory greed permanent; what that insult to humanity is doing is utterly, utterly evil.

*unless our collective attitude to tax changes and we become more tolerant of contributing to society, which I’d see as a more mature worldview but which the greedmotivated tories no doubt have ruled out.