Reply #17: I wish I could recommend your post!

[LeftishBrit]

You have got to the heart of the matter, IMO.

And the same applies to a lesser extent to other countries with right-wing governments (I know that Obama is not right-wing - or by my standards very left-wing - but Congress is very right-wing). Our predominantly-Tory government is using the economic crisis as an excuse to cut whatever it can; but basically it is cutting for ideological reasons. The Thatcher government imposed cuts when there was no such economic crisis. By contrast, Attlee's post-war Labour government introduced the NHS and social welfare state *during a period of austerity, just after a WORLD WAR, when FOOD was still being rationed* - because it strongly believed in the necessity of doing so.