What if. . .

"The banks’ raid on the Treasury will lead to the gutting of social programmes and welfare payments, the loss of hundreds of thousands of public sector jobs and the introduction of widespread user charges for public services. This will be accompanied by tax increases on working people on a massive scale."

or

"The public finances were already under increasing pressure from a deteriorating economy but today's £500bn of public support for the banking sector could have surprisingly little impact on the figures." The piece oes on to say that money has been paid back from Northern Rock.

The Guardian can always be reliedon to calm things down. Don't believe it. The piece states blithely that " Taxes are expected to rise and spending will be cut" irrespective of the bailout. The system could still collapse and that would cost us dear anyway and we're all going to make a profit on the deal; It's a desperate mess of an article, and sounds like some WWII cover piece for an enormous defeat that is being presented as a moral victory.