The austerity measures unveiled by the David Cameron’s conservative government in the UK are really brutal and certain to put a huge hurt on working families in Britain. But at least conservatives across the pond have the honesty to recognize that if deficit concerns are to be addressed, you can’t simply cut spending and not raise taxes. I don’t know enough about how the tax hikes are distributed, though it’s clear they will disproportionately hurt lower income Britons based on the hike in the VAT and the capital gains tax is still relatively low.

Nonetheless, deficits are not the problem when the economy is in freefall and unemployment is rising. I don’t think the conservative plan in UK will help solve their economic problems. But at least, and this really isn’t much but for the fact that conservatives in the US are so fundamentally dishonest and craven, they are willing to tax the rich more as well.