The Shock Doctrine

The coalition government is constantly reminding us that vast and deep public sector cuts are the only viable solution to tackle the enormous budget deficit they inherited from the previous Labour government. What this article proposes to explore is whether these government policies are actually part of an ulterior far right political motive, and if the budget deficit is actually anything to fear at all.

This far right motive is referred to as the shock doctrine; it is a term used to describe where a government uses fear to quickly implement right-wing economic policies that people would not normally accept, such as the cutting of public services and jobs. Of course this is all too strangely familiar to the current government’s plans in the UK, using policies the population would never normally accept, from the amplified fear that the economy is close to failing from running up a large budget deficit.

Before this claim can be properly argued, it is important to understand what a budget deficit is, and why it is so important. It is simply when a government spends more than its current income – this has increased within the recession period in the UK, to try and turn contraction into economic growth. Now the coalition government wants to reduce this deficit, in what seems the quickest time possible, because it is apparently out of control; but this is not the case.

There is no problem with having a deficit, or borrowing credit, if you have a good credit rating and spend the money with good reason – for example, investing for future growth, which will reduce the budget deficit naturally. If we continue to proceed with cutting public services, just as we are fresh out of an economic downturn, there is a huge danger of a double dip recession. Indeed, with last quarter’s growth figures showing a contraction of the UK economy of 0.5 per cent, this is not a healthy sign of a ‘recovering’ economy.

The deficit, is therefore nothing to fear, in the extent that the government has been proclaiming – of course it is a big issue, but there are other, much fairer, ways of reducing it without this relentless intent on cutting and privatizing everything the government can see.

The budget deficit is not caused by too much government spending, but rather a long term shrinking of government income. Therefore, the most important factor is that the economy returns to strong growth as quickly as possible. More government income will equal the shrinkage of the deficit; as the economy grows, increased tax receipts will also naturally increase. Greater investment into public services continues to allow economic growth, not the opposite.

So how bold can one be to argue our current government is exercising the shock doctrine? Whilst it does appear strategies and policies seem fairly similar to what the doctrine suggests, it may be too extreme to state the government is fully carrying this out consciously. However, what this does highlight though, is how frustrating it is watching a government carry out their plans that go against the far greater, fairer policy choice. It appears that George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, fails to realize that the most important assets of recovering from a recession are the citizens of a country – and public services are one of the biggest investments to the people. The return on these investments will greatly outweigh any budget deficit at this current time.

The deficit is nothing to fear, and this state of apprehension needs to be removed from the eyes of the public, so they can see clearly the horrendously right wing ideological policies the government is carrying out – this is the only anxiety that the public need to worry about. The government may not know it is doing it, but they are subjecting the UK to the shock doctrine.