Reply to: UK's debts 'biggest in the world

[Freamon]

The only solution is to go for growth. Cut red tape. Cut taxes.

Better than the existing "solution" of printing money and trying to inflate our way out of the debt mess.

The trouble is, the idea that the government can "promote growth" is actually a myth. The only thing the government can do to add to GDP is to borrow money and spend it. This mathematically increases GDP, but it's not productive growth.

[doodab]

When a tube worker earns £50K a year and a person collecting your garbage is way well off and gets free ipad and stuff. Sticky wages is making any government expenditure ridiculously expensive. This is increasing the actual debt required to do simple things like maintaing a station by a huge factor. Immigration, Education, DVLA appear to be the most profitable source of revenue atm. But looks like they are messing about with the first two already effectively creating a ditch for themselves.

Er, how is education a source of revenue? After the NHS, pensions and welfare it's the 4th largest chunk of what the government spends. I suspect immigration isn't terribly profitable either.

[Doggy Styles]

When a tube worker earns £50K a year and a person collecting your garbage is way well off and gets free ipad and stuff. Sticky wages is making any government expenditure ridiculously expensive. This is increasing the actual debt required to do simple things like maintaing a station by a huge factor.

There's a Plan B for someone who sets up another underground in competition, paying lower wages and not employing shifty layabouts like that Bob Crow or Red Robbo.

[pangeakiller]

You know your country is in trouble

When a tube worker earns £50K a year and a person collecting your garbage is way well off and gets free ipad and stuff. Sticky wages is making any government expenditure ridiculously expensive. This is increasing the actual debt required to do simple things like maintaing a station by a huge factor. Immigration, Education, DVLA appear to be the most profitable source of revenue atm. But looks like they are messing about with the first two already effectively creating a ditch for themselves.

[Ravello]

Record low interest rates and the creation of £275bn of new money through the quantitative easing programme have made it possible for us to live with our debts - cheap money has made the debts bearable.

This whole concept of "cheap money" is close to a complete nonsense.

i) Generating £275bn of new money has increased inflation to something like 5.5% - which is fantastic for servicing existing debts (particularly where the rate is <5.5%) ONLY if your income increases at the same rate, or greater than that of inflation. So in other words, unless you're on benefits or a pension in real terms you're probably worse off.

ii) "Record low interest rates" refers to the Base Rate of Interest, which yet again the average punter doesn't get a sniff of. Banks (for obvious reasons) are applying a more conservative approach to lending money which means people seeking to buy a house with a high LTV are penalised through interest rates, those who have a reasonable deposit (e.g. 20%+) can gain to some extent but even under these circumstances typical mortgage rates are 4.5% (4% above the current base rate).

By comparison, 15 years ago with the base rate at 2.5% I was able to secure a mortgage at 5.25% with a 10% deposit, I'd be hard pushed to find a similar deal now.

I'm not therefore convinced that personal debt is more easily serviced now than at any other point in the last 15+ years...

[BrilloPad]

Don't forget the Workhouses.

Stop giving SG ideas....

[Mich the Tester]

This thread enhancement brought to you courtesy of MTT Enterprises Inc.

[Arturo Bassick]

Actually he is a she.

She is German.

She wears kinky boots and skin tight trousies. Perhaps you should try it.

Will you lot ever learn!!! FFS. You cant make posts like that without pictures!

[scooterscot]

What a softie he is

Actually he is a she.

She is German.

She wears kinky boots and skin tight trousies. Perhaps you should try it.

[DodgyAgent]

I know crazy the agent takes the other €790

What a softie he is

[scooterscot]

So you are on €10 a day then

I know crazy the agent takes the other €790

[DodgyAgent]

Hold the phone, we could have Deutsch insurance companies operating throughout the land before the end of the decade.

I pay €575 for my families heath insurance every month. Get used to it, you get what you pay for.

So you are on €10 a day then

[scooterscot]

Agree that private parties can offer a good deal on the supply side of healthcare, but the set up over here with everybody getting private insurance plus considerable government subsidy is not going well; quite simply, insurers demand a say in how healthcare is provided and managed, and insurers don't know how to manage healthcare; they're making a big, expensive, bureaucratic mess which is much worse than when 90% of people had state health insurance.

Hold the phone, we could have Deutsch insurance companies operating throughout the land before the end of the decade.

I pay €575 for my families heath insurance every month. Get used to it, you get what you pay for.

[scooterscot]

The one thing I did not miss was your unwarranted aggressive attacks on all and sundry. A great pity really as 10% of your posts are absolutely brilliant.

That's deep.

[scooterscot]

Nope, should the triple A rating and the ability to service it though?

I wonder if Greece still had a triple A rating would have been able to service it's debts.

AA+

A+

Is it more important for an MP now to service that debt than the citizens who elected them?