It got off on a macho, but false, premise: that the path out was by mutual pain: raising taxes and cutting entitlements.

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But a report for the FPI by the Institute of Fiscal Studies has suggested that families with children have borne a disproportionate share of the pain from measures aimed at cutting the deficit.

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The U.S. Federal Reserve has tried to cushion the pain of the Great Recession by cutting interest rates to zero.

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That'll be Carwyn Jones , leader of Labour in this neck of the woods, where the Labour line is that universal, rather than means-tested services, are a key part of progressive politics (and that cutting universal benefits brings you relatively little cash but a whole lot of political pain).

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