Wednesday's budget was entirely predictable, being all too similar to so many other budgets since the beginning of the crisis - under the ConDems, but also under the previous Labour governments: a series of giveaways to companies, shareholders and the wealthy - and the promise of more of the same austerity against the working class.
But, above all, it was an opportunity for Osborne to make an election speech in the Commons, not on behalf of the ruling coalition, but on behalf of his own Tory party. So, all round self-congratulation was his main theme.
Serial lies
But, of course, given the mess caused by the capitalist crisis and the ConDems' systematic drive to make the working class pay for it, the only way Osborne could boast about his party's "achievements" was to lie through his teeth.
So, Osborne boasted that since 2010, "over 1.9 million new jobs have been gained. How many of the jobs are full time? 80%. How many of the jobs are in skilled occupations? 80%".
On which planet do these people live - or, rather, who do they think they can fool? The government's own statistics show that well over half of the so-called "jobs" which have been created over the past years have been non-skilled, low-paid and part-time, or casual. Not to mention the fact that, thanks to the ConDems' punitive harassment of the unemployed, the self-employed now make up 15% of the workforce - an all-time high - while their incomes have fallen so drastically that 80% among them live at, or under, the poverty line!
Nevertheless, this did not stop Osborne from claiming: "To the question of whether people are better off at the end of this Parliament than they were five years ago we can give the resounding answer 'yes'. You can measure it by GDP per capita, and the answer is yes - up by 5%."
As if GDP - i.e. national production - was distributed evenly in this society, where social inequalities have been increasing to such an obscene level since the beginning of the crisis!
But what do millionaire politicians like Osborne care for the truth? Didn't he go on to say: "Inequality is lower. Child poverty is down. Youth unemployment is down. Pensioner poverty is at its lowest level ever... Zero hours contracts are regulated." Every single statement in this passage of his speech was an outright lie!
Didn't he dare to claim that "satisfaction with the NHS is rising year on year". This, when, for months, the papers have been filled with scandals caused by the under-funding and under-staffing of NHS hospitals!
Why should we pay for the capitalists?
Of course, at a time when their position in office is under threat, the Tories had to offer some tax cuts - a rise in the tax band thresholds. According to Osborne, "It means the typical working taxpayer will be over £900 a year better off."
But either this is a Chancellor who cannot count or - more likely - he was once again lying. Indeed, the £400 increase in personal tax allowance over 2 years means that basic rate taxpayers will be just £40/yr better off at most! The fact that the self-employed will no longer pay Class 2 NICs, means that they will gain a grand £143/yr! However, someone earning the new higher tax rate threshold of £43,300/yr, will be £4,654/yr better off - not a small difference. As to the nearly 5 million workers who earn too little to pay income tax and could do with a wage rise, they did not even get a mention.
These miserly tax cuts for the low-paid majority should be compared to Osborne's handouts to the well-off - too many to be listed here. But let's take a few examples. Corporation tax is to go down as planned to 20%. Never mind that Osborne claims that lower tax returns are responsible for his deficit! The oil giant companies will be awarded tax cuts and new subsidies, under the pretext that oil prices have fallen. But what about the obscene profits they made when prices were high? Employers will no longer have to pay NI contributions for workers under 21, nor for apprentices - in addition to being allowed to continue paying them peanuts!
Finally, the real substance of Osborne's budget is summed up in just one single sentence: "£30 billion further savings are necessary by 2017-18... £13 billion from government departments. £12 billion from welfare savings. £5 billion from tax avoidance, evasion and aggressive tax planning."
In other words, if Osborne and his like - and in this respect, Labour is no different - have their way, those who own all the wealth in this society will pay peanuts, while the working class who produces all the wealth will foot the bill. No way.