The French are right: tear up public debt – most of it is illegitimate anyway

[BrilloPad]

The French are right: tear up public debt

If only it were really going to happen.

[tractor]

The French are right: tear up public debt

If only it were really going to happen.

Oh No! Politicians lied to us...the banks lied to us.....

I really would love to know who owns the debt though. But like HMRC, the government will never tell (unless it suits them).

[MicrosoftBob]

Every leftie on FB seems to be spouting this drivel

[xoggoth]

Those with any spare money, both here and abroad, are always investing in this foreign country or that according to which are supposed to be the next "tiger" economies. Presumably, if they did know who owns the debt, a lot of it would cancel out.

[Zero Liability]

Every leftie on FB seems to be spouting this drivel

Well I'm not a leftie but I consider most "public" debt illegitimate. The only issue for these lefties is a) the systems they so love are dependent on it, without it taxation and/or money printing would have to soar and b) they have no better ideas. It is literally Rome being sacked by limp-wristed barbarians.

[xoggoth]

Every leftie on FB seems to be spouting this drivel

Some does look pretty drivelly, eg

This is plain false. In the past 30 years, from 1978 to 2012 more precisely, French public spending has in fact decreased by two GDP points. What, then, explains the rise in public debt? First, a fall in the tax revenues of the state. Massive tax reductions for the wealthy and big corporations have been carried out since 1980. In line with the neoliberal mantra, the purpose of these reductions was to favour investment and employment. Well, unemployment is at its highest today, whereas tax revenues have decreased by five points of GDP.

The fact that public spending has fallen does not stop debt rising if there is still a deficit. Reduction in tax revenues and increased unemployment might have just a little bit to do with the Eurozone crisis, largely due to overspending on distinctly leftist policies, like generous public sector pensions and early retirement, in Southern Europe. Reduced tax take may also be related to the fact that a Socialist government is driving many successful Frenchmen abroad.

Take a wider view. The most successful ever nation, the US, is the most capitalist. The least successful nations, outside of the third world, have been communist. Some, like China and Vietnam, have only started to be more successful when they embraced at least some of our market principles.

[Flashman]

The French are right: tear up public debt

If only it were really going to happen.

Yeah cancel all the debt.

Now what happens when you want to borrow some more money.....No one will lend it to you

[BrilloPad]

Yeah cancel all the debt.

Now what happens when you want to borrow some more money.....No one will lend it to you

Why would we need to borrow money? Can we not live within our means?

[Zero Liability]

That's the issue. The people most loudly agitating for the debt to be repealed certainly don't want to. Enter The Lib-dems (*insert French analogue*) and their snake-oil: soak the "rich" and make them pick up the tab (until of course they don't and just leave.) Governments seem to be run on behalf of toddlers, with all the common sense thereof. Not their problem, though. In a few decades (when they know full well they won't be in power), the deficit will be reduced. In the mean time, lets go tax us some contractor scum.

[tomtomagain]

Oh No! Politicians lied to us...the banks lied to us.....

I really would love to know who owns the debt though. But like HMRC, the government will never tell (unless it suits them).

Surely it's not really a mystery as to who owns the bonds issued by governments? I would have thought that most of it was bought by pension funds. They have to spend our monthly contributions on something you know.