from the Guardian UK:
Vince Cable has warned that the political class has not yet prepared the public for the scale of the underlying problems facing the UK economy and the coming squeeze on living standards.
In a frank interview with the Guardian the business secretary repeatedly referred to the time and pain that will be needed to restructure what he regards as a broken economic model.
"It is a challenge to us to communicate it better. I don't think it is understood that the British economy declined 6 or 7% –
10% below trend," Cable said. "We are actually a poorer country, mainly because of the banking crash, the recession that followed it and partly due to the squeeze we are now under from the changing balance of the world economy."
He argued: "Britain is no longer one of the world's price setters. We take our prices from international commodity markets driven by China and India. That is something we have got to live with and adjust to. It is painful. It is a challenge to us in government to explain it. The political class as a whole is not preparing the public for how massive the problem is." ...........(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/may/20/vince-cable-economy
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