Budget 2010: The days of spend now and pay back later are over. Later is now

Telegraph
"To appreciate the scale of Britain's economic problems, imagine what would happen if, over the course of five years, your expenditure went up by about 40 per cent but your income remained roughly the same. For many, the outcome would be unavoidable: an early appointment with the bankruptcy court.

This is the task facing George Osborne, as he prepares next week's emergency Budget. Since 2005, government outlay has ballooned from about £500 billion to £700 billion, while tax revenues (forecast to be £541 billion in 2010-11) have barely increased. We, as a nation, have lived beyond our means for so long – the last balanced Budget was 2001 – that spending more than we earn has become an accepted, albeit perverse, feature of public finances."