There are never enough options. It's a curse we have to live with.

[andrewducker]

[Poll #1562813]

Comments

[chuma.livejournal.com]

Sorry but I would like to know how it is shifting blame to rightly point out someone failed to do something in 12 years. We had the longest period of growth in history and yet we have the biggest deficit and national debt even in real terms. I'd be interested to hear a pro-labour point of view beyond "bollocks".

[sigmonster.livejournal.com]

Easy! The deficit and debt are large in real terms because the economy is much, much larger in real terms than during the last recession. Brown's treasury ran three years of surplus, meaning we entered the recession with a very low national debt compared to the other EU nations and to the USA. We are also leaving the recession with low national debt compared to those same countries.

Right now the public sector is spending about 45% of GDP and taxing about 35%. (The long-run shortfall is much less, as corporation tax and VAT should recover.) That needs fixing, but it can be fixed over the next few years from 2011-12, as agreed by the Liberal Democrat's economy team (meaning Vince Cable), the IMF, and many other independent economic institutions.

[chuma.livejournal.com]

This:-

http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/downchart_ukgs.php?year=1900_2010&view=1&expand=&units=p&fy=2010&chart=G0-total&bar=0&stack=1&size=l&color=c&title=UK%20National%20Debt%20As%20Percent%20Of%20GDP

Appears to suggest you are wrong. From 2001 there is a steady increase in national debt as a % of GDP and then it sharply rises when the economic crisis begins. This doesn't strike me a good planning. Also, if my own spending outdid my income by 10% a year, I would be very VERY scared.

[sigmonster.livejournal.com]

Nope: I chose my words carefully, and I stand by them. And I don't think a graph showing increasing debt over 2001-2007 is a useful response to my claim that we had low debt compared to peer countries in 2007.

A government is not a household and comparisons based on personal income versus spending are ridiculous. Imagine you have accesible cash savings of perhaps ten years income, and your family are willing to loan you one year's income over a thirty year period: are you still worried about spending 10% above your income in any one year?

[chuma.livejournal.com]

When it is 2 years, and soon to be 3, and there is interest payments to be made on that 3x10% and I was already in debt to the tune of 30% before it began.. YES I would be worried.

I don't know how you don't think there is increasing debt when the graph clearly shows that there is an increase in debt even though GDP is also increasing rapidly ahead of inflation. Now if you want to correctly argue that some of that debt is due to funding an illegal war, then I will concur, but to deny it is fooling yourself.

[sigmonster.livejournal.com]

Of course debt is increasing! What I said was that debt was low relative to our peers in 2007, and remains low compared to those peers now. It is perfectly that debt is far higher now than in 2007 - but France, Germany, Italy, the US (and the individual states of the US)and Japan have all run their debts up as well, justifying my statement.