One way being explored by some pension funds is a reduction of cost-of-living increases.
Instead, governments should consider building comprehensive vocational training schemes that could be funded through a reduction in the social costs ensuing from unemployment.
Reasons for the decline included the expansion of the road network, lack of funding, and a reduction in government staffing and official air charters.
Alex Salmond, Scotland's nationalist first minister, said the cut to Scotland's total funding (including a reduction in capital spending) of around £3bn over the next four years risks "ripping the social fabric of our nation".
So he said we should expect some kind of energy price cut, funded by a reduction in renewable subsidies, before the election, And that is the point.
This includes a £55m increase in 2013-14 and a £121m increase in 2014-15, coming from a £279m increase in capital funding, with a reduction in the resource budget by £103m.
Tensions were possibly further fuelled by the fact that introduction of caseload midwifery had been funded by a reduction in the permanent staffing of ward midwives.
Some sixth form colleges will have lost a third of their funding by the end of this parliament, according to the Sixth Form College Association (SFCA), because of a combination of cuts to entitlement funding, which provides tutorials and enrichment activities, a new 16-19 formula formulandand a reduction in funding for 18 year olds.
And weak home prices are likely to weigh on consumption, the fund said, forecasting a reduction in the house price-to-income ratio of 12 percent over the medium term.
(A plausible alternative explanation of why VCs backed out of seed stage investing is as a consequence of a growth in fund size, NOT a reduction in the number of compelling opportunities at the seed stages).
