Can the private sector mop up the slack after the Government cuts?

It’s the big questions. The cuts will reduce the deficit but will they stall any chance of getting back to a growth economy and land us in a “double-dip”? Far better economists than me disagree on the outcome. But one thing is certain, and on this the British Chancellor agrees, if anything is going to get the economy steaming again it has to be the private sector.
In mid October I went on a most inspiring business trip to Småland, where I visited a Goodwille client, Axelent. What got my head spinning, considering the current economic climate and the strength of global competition, is just how they manage to succeed internationally. Axelent AB manufactures machine guards and warehouse partitioning –nothing particularly complex or sophisticated, but very useful. Their competitive edge is to be the quickest to act and deliver, even to Australian clients!
George Osborne has just delivered his spending review. According to the BBC’s Robert Peston the private sector had shed surprisingly few jobs through the credit-crunch recession, given job sharing, part-time working and so on – solutions the public sector may now need to adopt. The private sector, according to some analysts, needs to pick up ‘just 2%’ to absorb all the public-sector job losses – not unfeasible as long as economic recovery is sustained.
After my nearly 30 years in the UK I am confident that the Brits will reinvent themselves yet again. The Uk’s economic problems are somewhat different to those of Southern Europe and especially the Eurozone countries.
When you look at the success of a modestly sized company like Axelent, operating from the depths of the Småland forests, in the land of IKEA where you are used to looking after the pennies, you can see imaginative enterprise has been necessary for sheer survival. In Anderstorp, another small town in Småland, with only 5,000 inhabitants, they have 140 companies! I do hope that the spirit of enterprise will once more flourish in the UK and, as the saying goes, ‘Get going when the going gets tough!’.