Deficit Reduction and Budget Surplus

george osborne: In 2010-12, Osborne decided to press for speedy deficit reduction even though there was neither any economic case nor any pressure from financial markets, according to The Guardian. However, in 2012 he wisely decided against doubling down on this error and executed a partial U-turn, which helped to support the reasonable, albeit sluggish, recovery that was then beginning. So while George Osborne is likely to be remembered as the austerity chancellor, the story is a bit more complicated than that, with a number of twists and turns along the way. Perhaps rendered overconfident by this success, he then set out an objective – of achieving an absolute budget surplus – that had no economic rationale, and which was never likely to survive either political adversity or even a modest economic downturn. After the referendum, it was jettisoned in days. Even before the referendum, he'd already conceded that it would only be met by some very creative accounting. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.