Deficit has become the word of the moment, but what does it mean? A gap between what we earn and what we spend or a deficiency in our ability to make things and sell them for more than they cost to produce. Umm. Possibly the key to the conundrum is productivity.
In the UK it doesn’t seem to strike the politicians, and/or especially us, as perfectly reasonable that the economy is going down the pan, or at least failing to grow, when our summer holidays started with the Royal Wedding in June and still don’t seem to have finished at the beginning of September.
If we all take time off, sanctioned by a chillaxed government, to wave flags and watch lots of sport, then is it a surprise that countries where people need to work to eat might just steal a march on us.
But then again, it’s been fun for most, and darn it if there’s no money in the pot and no sign of economic activity as the cold winds of autumn start to blow.
We’ll just have to borrow more, watch more sport and hope that someone who has the ability to make things and sell them for more than they cost to produce, bails us out.
PS. with that I’m gone fishing.