Innovative centrist solutions required to combat recession

The tired old policies of keynesian pump-priming of the Old left and severe retrenchment of the Old Right are no longer the solutions we need to combat today's economic woes. Borrow and hope policies cannot be a long term solution to today's crisis. But harsh cuts in social spending mean the most vulnerable are left to fend for themselves when they can least afford it. Perhaps the time has come to defer income tax cuts for the wealthy, for wage restraint for employees, and for significant State investment in infrastructure projects that will be of value to the nation long after the recession. Better roads, improved broadband, and large scale home insulation programmes would be welcome steps in the right direction.