Chancellor Alistair Darling delivered the budget yesterday. Not many people envy him his job these days, and not many people believe they can do a better job. That doesn’t mean people don’t criticize. City experts warns the Chancellor is being too optimistic when anticipating that the economy will grow by 3.5% in 2011 and continue to grow by 3% plus in the next two years.

The Treasury forecasts that Britain will bounce back rapidly from the worst one year performance since 1945. How can that be when 59% of the GDP is made up by debts, and this will rise to 79% by 2013. 79%! Making the rich pay more taxes and raise the duty on tobacco, alcohol and fuel will not pay this overdraft. So let’s hope Gordon Brown’s big gamble pays off.

The government has received a lot of bad press over the borrowing, bail outs and bank purchasing. Let’s not forget that they bought the banks on the cheap, and when the economy recovers, and it will, the banks value will increase and then the government can sell them off, at a profit. Probably quite a big one, which will help pay off the huge deficit. But that is in the future, and right now, Britain is in the red.

Mr. Darling’s budget is optimistic. But I think it needs to be.