Things can only get worse: a call for sustainable public finance.

Many people assume the proposed elimination of the budget deficit around 2019 will
mark a return to ‘politics as usual’. But the reality of the long term financial projections is
that policymakers, politicians and voters need to face up to profound choices. While the
government and political parties appear to have accepted the need to eliminate the budget
deficit, they are still not facing up to the urgent need for further reform to ensure public
finances are sustainable over the coming decades. Indeed they are making further fiscal
commitments which we ultimately cannot afford.