The British released their budget today and it was pretty much as advertised. George Osborne, the U.K.’s chancellor of the exchequer, announced VAT tax raises and other revenue enhancers in an attempt to trim the British budget. The discussion now turns to whether the budget will be too AUSTERE for the times. The fact that economic growth in the developed nations is anemic, at best, is raising concerns that the Brits and Europeans are removing fiscal stimulus at a time when the economic recovery is still too fragile.