Sir, – The letter of Barry Walsh (March 4th), blaming banks for the austerity we are facing, repeats a mistake made by several letter-writters over the last few weeks.
There is a difference between the debt and the deficit. The “austerity” we are facing, otherwise known as balancing the books, is to try to eliminate the deficit.
The national debt has increased dramatically in the past few years, and that part of the debt attributable to the bank bailouts does represent a significant part of the overall debt. However, even if all our bank-related debt was wiped out overnight, we would be still borrowing several billions per year to run the country.
The main reason that the books are so out of balance is that during the boom times, the previous government increased public spending enormously because there was a temporary increase in revenues.
We can blame the banks for a significant part of our national debt, but the blame for our deficit, and the subsequent austerity, lies with the previous government. – Yours, etc,