UK State Shrinking, U.S. Not So Much

By Greg Scoblete
October 26, 2010

British state is shrinking while America's grows.

Neil O'Brien notes a narrowing of the gap between the size of the UK and American governments:

'In the UK, the year the state spent the least of our income was in 1999-2000. In that millennial year the government spent a bit over a third of GDP (36.4%). Next year the US Government will be spending more than that â?? 36.5%.

In other words, if Tony Blair rather than Gordon Brown had dominated the last government, then Britain might already have a smaller state than America.

While the current forecasts donâ??t end up with smaller government on this side of the Atlantic, the gap between the two will be the smallest since records began within five years.

'

Meanwhile, ComRes has a poll out gaging British sentiments for the coalition's spending plans. If you prefer a more dramatic take, ITV News is following a number of Britons for their (somewhat overwrought) series "Life Under the Cuts."

(AP Photos)

View Comments

you might also like
Tech Wars Are Complicated and Hard to Win
Greg Scoblete
The U.S. campaign to isolate Huawei isn’t quite going according to plan. Last week, the U.K. and the EU both defied U.S. pressure by...
Popular In the Community
Load more...