Originally Posted by Superwomble:
“The facts regarding the deficit were that Gordon Brown kept two of the biggest factors - PFI and the public sector pension requirement - completely off the books to make the figures look way better than they really were. Along with that, the Labour party employed almost a million people in public sector 'non jobs' to disguise the fact that they were haemorrhaging private sector jobs abroad, paying for it by borrowing one pound in 4.
Thats why the debt grew - and also why it was always going to continue to rise massively whichever party got in in 2010. They called that borrowing 'growth' and 'investment' whereas in reality it was neither, and was completely unsustainable without the rebalancing of jobs to the private sector which is what generates export revenues, and proper taxation revenue for the country.
A little reminder of the importance of genuine economic principles has already been felt by the markets in the form of a mild drop in the value of Sterling over the past 2 weeks or so, as any holidaymaker will tell you. Foreign investors are already beginning to be spooked by the possibility of a return to the kind of Fisher Price economics espoused by Ed Balls and those to the left of him, but this mild run could easily develop into a full scale gallop to leave Sterling if we get a minority government which is both weak and also paralysed by the ideology of the Scots Nationalists.”
“The facts regarding the deficit were that Gordon Brown kept two of the biggest factors - PFI and the public sector pension requirement - completely off the books to make the figures look way better than they really were. Along with that, the Labour party employed almost a million people in public sector 'non jobs' to disguise the fact that they were haemorrhaging private sector jobs abroad, paying for it by borrowing one pound in 4.
Thats why the debt grew - and also why it was always going to continue to rise massively whichever party got in in 2010. They called that borrowing 'growth' and 'investment' whereas in reality it was neither, and was completely unsustainable without the rebalancing of jobs to the private sector which is what generates export revenues, and proper taxation revenue for the country.
A little reminder of the importance of genuine economic principles has already been felt by the markets in the form of a mild drop in the value of Sterling over the past 2 weeks or so, as any holidaymaker will tell you. Foreign investors are already beginning to be spooked by the possibility of a return to the kind of Fisher Price economics espoused by Ed Balls and those to the left of him, but this mild run could easily develop into a full scale gallop to leave Sterling if we get a minority government which is both weak and also paralysed by the ideology of the Scots Nationalists.”
PFI wasn't public debt it was private financing, mechanism to get public investment without adding to public debt. It wasn't a good idea but it wasn't public debt.
There were no million of "public sector non jobs". The jobs I think you mean were those that Cameron cut when he came into power, in some cases closing down essential and vital services such as The Forensic Science Service which has damaged the criminal justice system in this country.




I do agree that Labour should have built more social housing . They should also have kicked Right to Buy firmly into touch. But there again, they would have fallen foul of the house price scam that seems to rule all of our governments.
