Deficits and football

We look at media comment on Britain’s deficit-cutting efforts and at South Africa’s economy as the 2010 FIFA World Cup opens.

Pride in South Africa

South Africans have many reasons to feel proud of what they have accomplished, The Economist writes, but corruption, unemployment and HIV/Aids remain serious problems.

… South Africa boasts private companies, banks, financial markets and auditing standards that are as good as any, anywhere. It is Africa’s largest economy (and the world’s 24th-biggest), accounting for 40% of sub-Saharan Africa’s total GDP. … As the anthems draw to a close and the players take their positions to start football’s great tournament, South Africa can allow itself a moment of satisfaction. But a daunting amount of work lies ahead.

Cameron and the economy

A serious plan for reducing the deficit would include measures to speed a recovery as well as raising taxes, according to The Guardian. That isn’t happening, however, and following the Canadian economic model could be politically dangerous, the newspaper writes.

… Accept for a moment the line from No 10 that the deficit needs to be cut, and cut now (noting, just for the record, that economists tend to disagree). The prime minister … has stressed that the pain will be shared and established an Office for Budget Responsibility … to assess just how big public debt is likely to get over the next few years. … A lot has been said about Canada's fiscal restraint in the early 90s — what has been less frequently mentioned is that it took a decade for the public to come round to the idea, and that the first blast of austerity had previously led to the electoral annihilation of Brian Mulroney's Conservatives, eventually leaving the party with only two seats in parliament. …