Over the past three years economic and political gurus have been counselling us to be austere, how many times has the chancellor talked about “Time for Austerity”? I wonder if what they meant by this, the dictionary defines austerity as “severe simplicity”, being morally strict and harsh and stern with consumption. I have no doubt that with a huge national debt this is the best policy, however I worry that we are not too serious about it both as individuals and as a nation, I do not see any signs of simplicity in our lives or that of our institutions, making people redundant is not the way forward, we need to cut costs by cutting waste. The government both central and local are the biggest wasters of resources, initiators of mega projects that cost far more than the budget from projects at NHS to new high speed rail projects.
A measure for adopting austerity policy is how much have I reduced my consumption of valuable natural resources – like petrol, food, gas and electricity. The economic policy of austerity could prove to be a saviour of our environment if only we were serious about it. For me this means cutting down my food consumption and reducing my utilities bills and not using the credit card very cautiously if at all.
