After all, that's what had happened the decade before. "Crowding out" is a major reason the UK suffered such a dearth of enterprise and investment in the 1970s, causing feeble growth and high unemployment. And of all the world's major economies, it's the UK that's now vulnerable to the same disease – given our massive fiscal deficit. The verdict on the UK's fiscal position was a mere footnote, though, among some far more grave IMF warnings.