Not only Commerce, but the government is now enlarging the ranks of the unemployed. Anyone who ever had any dealings with the Civil Service, would have been aware that it was top heavy, due to the Mandarins having great influence, and being bent on empire building, their own empire.
The management of a budget, be it large or small, is basically the same. One has income and outgoings, and obviously, for stability, they have to balance, or the income may be larger than necessary. Germany, who maintained its manufacturing, is recovering faster than the other EU members through income from abroad. Some of our manufacturing of goods we need or trade, like our services, such as call centres, are based in the Sub-Continent or the Far East. The financial saving of this ploy is not for the Exchequer, but the individual company exploiting this system, and the rest of the savings is born by the tax payer in unemployment benefit to the people who would have been carrying out the manufacturing and services in this country. It would not surprise me if Government departments were also buying from abroad. It seems that, today, buying manufactured products is buying imports. I am therefore, not surprised our recovery is slow, and the taxes for everyone are rising. Why is there not a commensurate tax on services and products from abroad which truly reflects the cost of the unemployment payment this practice induces, unless import duty is in fact commensurate?