Some of the pre-budget media commentary urged the outgoing government to add the practice of fiscal prudence to the rhetoric. But most of the print and broadcast outlets celebrated every spending promise, every tax giveaway and demanded more, inviting the political parties to compete on compassion as measured by the scale of future deficits. Meanwhile, a stream of documents and speeches from the Central Bank, the Fiscal Council, the Parliamentary Budget Office, the European Commission and the OECD, plus various economic commentators, sought to place a medium-term context around economic policy, unanimously urging fiscal caution on politicians. They perceive a…

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