British budget and German thrift

This week, we look at what the business press has to say about the proposed British budget as well as German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble's plans for a European Monetary Fund.

Brown’s error

The Wall Street Journal is sceptical about British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's plans for the budget, which will be presented on 24 March:.

Gordon Brown announced … that his government would lay out its budget plans on March 24. … “Do we too rapidly and recklessly put into reverse the exceptional fiscal and monetary policy measures of the last two years and risk driving our economies back in recession — or do we continue to support the private sector recovery until it becomes self-sustaining?” he asked. … [T]he question Mr. Brown should be asking is whether all that borrowing and spending is doing the British economy any good in the here-and-now. …

German thrift

Too much thrift could be worse than none at all, says the Financial Times. The largest economy in Europe, Germany needs to spend, not save, to avoid a prolonged recession:

Wolfgang Schäuble is keener on stability than growth. In response to the Greek debt crisis, the German finance minister wants to create new economic surveillance and co-operation structures to preserve “the internal equilibrium of the eurozone”. But what might look like a balanced European economy from Berlin looks like stagnation from anywhere else. … A scrimping Germany will be a greater burden for the eurozone than spendthrift Greece.