The magic ingredient driving last year's buoyancy in stock markets was, of course, quantitative easing.
UK bond yields are low because growth is so appalling that the markets have no expectation that the monetary policy committee will be able to raise interest rates for years, and because we have our own central bank that can initiate quantitative easing.
On growth, there was thin gruel indeed – the headline proposals on "credit easing" will require lots more explaining – and by announcing that Britain will cut carbon emissions "no faster" than any other European country, he has shredded the original Cameron slogan of "Vote Blue, Go Green" and surely picked a fight with the Tories' Lib Dem partners.
But the introduction of data-driven policies in 2007, backed by evidence-based probation and easing punishments for parole breaches, instantly proved a success.
The eurozone has regained some momentum this year, thanks in part to the European Central Bank's quantitative easing programme, but growth is unlikely to pick up much further as the initial boost from falling oil prices fades".
Among the proposals, which have clearly gone some way to easing some nationalist concerns, are plans to allow ex-paramilitary prisoners to sit on district policing partership boards, the closure of the Gough barracks interrogation centre, the phasing out of the full time reserve force and cutting the number of special branch officers by 50%.
Neugebauer says Congress didn't pass a bill for quantitative easing.
This must be soul-destroying for beleaguered permanent members of staff who find that, instead of easing their burden, their temporary colleague is an additional weight on their shoulders.
Rising welfare spending will be tackled through addressing root causes, it hopes: raising the minimum wage and banning zero-hours contracts to make working people less dependent on benefits, while easing pressure on housing benefits costs by kickstarting housebuilding.
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While cost of living pressures were easing in other parts of the family budget, the pain of these big lumpy bills was acute and remembered.
