A simple graph that shows how the UK is becoming like the USA

The graph shows government spending as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product and you can view it – and the accompanying article by Aditya Chakrabortty – here.

Chakrabortty explains the messages of the graph as follows:

“Drawing on IMF figures published last week, the graph compares what will happen to government spending in Britain up to 2017 with the outlook for Germany and the US. And what it shows is that the UK will plunge from public spending on a par with Germany in 2009, to spending less than the US by 2017. Had France, Sweden or Canada been included on this graph, the UK would still come bottom. If George Osborne gets his way, within the next five years, Britain will have a smaller public sector than any other major developed nation.”

He concludes his piece:

“Prepare yourself for welfare to be downsized into American-style workfare, for public-sector jobs to be turned into a second-class employment and for services, from school to healthcare, to demand that users pay more to get something decent. The future is American.”


 




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