The sad truth is, we will never pay that off and are forever doomed.:( Regardless of who wins in may.
I don't mind being forever doomed as long as the nation can afford the interest payments and the country never financially collapses under a mountain of debt, if the doom never befalls us then we are not really doomed.
Yeah we created money out of thin air and used it to buy £375 billion of our debt and then decided we would forgive ourselves the interest payments on that debt. Once the structural deficit is under control I expect we will write into existance money to pay off that debt we owe our selves and then once paid write the money back out of existance.
Also one might ask how much money is the UK owed, as we have also lent money to other nations in £'s at higher interest than we pay on the money we owe.
Back in 2011
The US owed us 834.5 billion euros, France owed us 227 billion euros, Germany 141.1 billion euros, Ireland 104.5 billion euros, Japan 101.8 billion euros http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15748696
The sad truth is, we will never pay that off and are forever doomed.:( Regardless of who wins in may.
It does not need to be paid off. What needs to happen is to balance the budget, grow the economy by approx 3% per year and have inflation at 2% per year.
This will reduce the national debt as a percentage of GDP to more normal levels. Hopefully one day it will get below 40% of GDP again.
If growth and inflation rise to high above those levels (say 3% for each) then that will be counterproductive and should be avoided.
Ideally we need 10 years of steady growth and inflation (after we have got rid of the budget deficit) to achieve this.
The UK National debt is the total quantity of money borrowed by the Government of the United Kingdom at any one time through the issue of securities by the British Treasury and other government agencies.
Funny how the Tories don't mention debt so much now.
Even funnier that they still accuse Labour of being "the borrowing party" when they've borrowed more in 4 years than Labour did in 13 and the debt has actually doubled since 2010.
And yet there are some people on the left who want to reintroduce the free bedroom subsidy. Which will add yet further to the debt.
Not really. The spare bedroom subsidy saves about £2B/yr off the budget (tax payers' money) so it can be spent on something else instead...
Instead of punishing the most vulnerable in society (the disabled, sick, unemployed, and poverty-stricken) who don't have the money to pay for their rent, wouldn't it make more sense and be fairer to promote the living wage instead, so that people in work actually receive a decent wage and therefore no longer qualify for/need to claim in-work benefits?
Other than pensions, the biggest part of the benefits bill comes from in-work benefits (working tax credits, housing benefit etc) because thousands (maybe millions?) are on extremely low incomes.
This is what happens when you fiddle the unemployment figures by moving/forcing people off job seekers' allowance on to workfare / training schemes / self-employed / zero hour contracts etc (on top of sanctioning thousands of people as well).
All the cuts have actually knocked very little off the overall benefits bill.
Germany is doing very nicelym but since the whole continent is run for their benefit, no suprise really
Germany has a massive economy yet even they have only just managed to balance their budget this year and that's with a £260bn trade surplus.
That's why we haven't got a hope in hell of trading our way out of this problem, it can only be fixed by population reduction and and/or spending cuts.
Germany has a massive economy yet even they have only just managed to balance their budget this year and that's with a £260bn trade surplus.
That's why we haven't got a hope in hell of trading our way out of this problem, it can only be fixed by population reduction and and/or spending cuts.
Or better still, the people of this country learning to live within their own means.
So rather than banging on about the tories why aren't the usual suspects on here questioning why Labour:
a) talk about creating a surplus as if it's a bad thing and
b) have a relaxed attitude towards bringing down the deficit because they want to do it "fairly"
Germany has a massive economy yet even they have only just managed to balance their budget this year and that's with a £260bn trade surplus.
That's why we haven't got a hope in hell of trading our way out of this problem, it can only be fixed by population reduction and and/or spending cuts.
Any non authoritarian suggestions for population reduction?
Even funnier that they still accuse Labour of being "the borrowing party" when they've borrowed more in 4 years than Labour did in 13 and the debt has actually doubled since 2010.
It's all one big Con.
Perhaps you'll tell us how they were supposed to stop borrowing when they came to office, given the legacy of their predecessors. Stop all benefit payments perhaps? Close down all public services?
Perhaps you'll tell us how they were supposed to stop borrowing when they came to office, given the legacy of their predecessors. Stop all benefit payments perhaps? Close down all public services?
That's what's happening, gradually anyway, and won't stop if Labour get in
Comments
We owe some of it to ourselves, strangely.
Well, there is no point talking about debt until the deficit is gone
as with all ponzis you eventually run out of suckers sorry investors
and all those at the top make all the money
and those at the bottom lose
Also one might ask how much money is the UK owed, as we have also lent money to other nations in £'s at higher interest than we pay on the money we owe.
Back in 2011
The US owed us 834.5 billion euros, France owed us 227 billion euros, Germany 141.1 billion euros, Ireland 104.5 billion euros, Japan 101.8 billion euros
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15748696
It does not need to be paid off. What needs to happen is to balance the budget, grow the economy by approx 3% per year and have inflation at 2% per year.
This will reduce the national debt as a percentage of GDP to more normal levels. Hopefully one day it will get below 40% of GDP again.
If growth and inflation rise to high above those levels (say 3% for each) then that will be counterproductive and should be avoided.
Ideally we need 10 years of steady growth and inflation (after we have got rid of the budget deficit) to achieve this.
http://www.nationaldebtclock.co.uk/
Though yeah, 1.36T here
http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/uk_national_debt
http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/334/uk-economy/uk-national-debt/
The UK national debt is the total amount of money the British government owes to the private sector and other purchasers of UK gilts.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_national_debt
The UK National debt is the total quantity of money borrowed by the Government of the United Kingdom at any one time through the issue of securities by the British Treasury and other government agencies.
Alas, the best explanation I've found so far is here.... I hate to have to link to this site though :-(
http://www.bnp.org.uk/news/whom-does-government-owe-all-money
Even funnier that they still accuse Labour of being "the borrowing party" when they've borrowed more in 4 years than Labour did in 13 and the debt has actually doubled since 2010.
It's all one big Con.
Q: What were the root causes and triggers of our current debt levels?
A: Screw that. Who is Driving the Car Right Now?
And yet there are some people on the left who want to reintroduce the free bedroom subsidy. Which will add yet further to the debt.
Not really. The spare bedroom subsidy saves about £2B/yr off the budget (tax payers' money) so it can be spent on something else instead...
Instead of punishing the most vulnerable in society (the disabled, sick, unemployed, and poverty-stricken) who don't have the money to pay for their rent, wouldn't it make more sense and be fairer to promote the living wage instead, so that people in work actually receive a decent wage and therefore no longer qualify for/need to claim in-work benefits?
Other than pensions, the biggest part of the benefits bill comes from in-work benefits (working tax credits, housing benefit etc) because thousands (maybe millions?) are on extremely low incomes.
This is what happens when you fiddle the unemployment figures by moving/forcing people off job seekers' allowance on to workfare / training schemes / self-employed / zero hour contracts etc (on top of sanctioning thousands of people as well).
All the cuts have actually knocked very little off the overall benefits bill.
It's all one big Con.
Germany has a massive economy yet even they have only just managed to balance their budget this year and that's with a £260bn trade surplus.
That's why we haven't got a hope in hell of trading our way out of this problem, it can only be fixed by population reduction and and/or spending cuts.
Or better still, the people of this country learning to live within their own means.
a) talk about creating a surplus as if it's a bad thing and
b) have a relaxed attitude towards bringing down the deficit because they want to do it "fairly"
Any non authoritarian suggestions for population reduction?
Come on we can't have that. Spending what we don't have on crap we don't need is what makes the US......sorry UK great.
Perhaps you'll tell us how they were supposed to stop borrowing when they came to office, given the legacy of their predecessors. Stop all benefit payments perhaps? Close down all public services?
That's what's happening, gradually anyway, and won't stop if Labour get in
Nothing will alter until the system is changed.