Great work from the coalition

[Westdene Seagull]

Yes but you have to remember that these basic facts do nothing to pander to the angry simpleton.

Angry Tory boy does not want to hear or even care that benefit fraud amounts to a tiny fraction of the money handed over to the banks in recent years. It is far more important to Tory Simpleton to correct the "wrong" that the woman he doesn't even know at the end of the road with 3 kids is living in a house almost as nice as his. She should be in the gutter and so should her kids.

That graph is all well and good but what it doesn't say is that the bailout money will be ( and is being ) repaid. Lloyds and RBS have both paid back billions so far and are on track to pay it all back over the next few years. Benefit fraud is rarely recovered.

*** EDIT - beaten to it ***

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

I don't care how miniscule they are. As a taxpayer I have no desire to bankroll people on benefits who decide to have large families.

In fact, given the option, I would prefer that taxpayers did not stump up for any kind of benefits. Leave it to charities,

Steady on old chap. Having worked since leaving school at 17 (did a year at college) and now 40 means I have contributed to my NI therefore god forbid if I needed benefits thru illness or sickness then I would say that was ok because I have contributed via NI for 23 years.

 

[Dover]

I am a Labour voter. Always have been and always will be. Raised on a council estate, lucky enough to have attended a grammar school, which I was a failure, but was lucky enough to complete an access course some years later, in my twenties.

Due to that access course I have become a registered nurse, and had the good fortune to move to this, my adoptive home of Brighton. Now here is the crux. I now pay more tax than at any time of my life. Most band 5 nurses who work shifts, will fall into the next tax bracket, with that and any overtime is treated as a second job and I pay 40% on those earnings.

Now, please don't get me wrong. If I earn it, I have to pay the tax on those earnings, but that tax band has, and will do next year, been lowered. Not by much, but enough.

So instead of the big boys not paying their tax in the high street, the hard working, little person is the one being hit in the pocket. And that dear people is you and me.

 

[severnside gull]

I put it in quotation marks as it's a thread title that was used on this very board.

It's certainly true of my adult life however, having known only three chancellors, of which it is staggeringly obvious that Osbourne is the weakest

I go back much further than you and I studied economic history but I still can't come up with a Chancellor who inspires less confidence and displays greater ineptitude than George Osbourne

 

[Westdene Seagull]

I don't care how miniscule they are. As a taxpayer I have no desire to bankroll people on benefits who decide to have large families.

In fact, given the option, I would prefer that taxpayers did not stump up for any kind of benefits. Leave it to charities,

Clearly you've never lost your job then ?

 

[Triggaaar]

If the growth expected does show, it'll be in spite of the "worst chancellor in living memory". I think even his own party know that

How old are you, 1?

 

[Colossal Squid]

Of course you are aware that this money that the banking system borrowed, is being paid back to the government, with interest, as the banks recover performance. In the case of LBG, that I happen to know a bit about,.. the current forecast is that they would have paid all those billions back in 2-4 years from now.

....unlike of course, the billions paid out on benefits, often to those not entitled, or frittered away in well publicised wastage in the public sector. Not much of that is ever recouped is it.

Well the money all goes back into the economy. Benefit claimants pay private landlords and housing associations rent and pay for their beer and fags which are heavily taxed. As opposed to the banks whose profits are whisked away to offshore holding companies, attracting no tax. This does our country no good whatsoever

 

[goldstone]

Steady on old chap. Having worked since leaving school at 17 (did a year at college) and now 40 means I have contributed to my NI therefore god forbid if I needed benefits thru illness or sickness then I would say that was ok because I have contributed via NI for 23 years.

Apologies. Let me clarify. If you have contributed, then you have earned benefits. No contribution, no benefits. Let charities pick up the slack.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

I am a Labour voter. Always have been and always will be.

I really don't care who people vote for but this kind of attitude really pisses me off !!!!! It's a moronic, braindead way of voting. At least take the effort to balance each parties policies etc and then make a decision rather than follow a party slavishly because "you always have".

 

[severnside gull]

the bailout money will be ( and is being ) repaid. Lloyds and RBS have both paid back billions so far and are on track to pay it all back over the next few years.

................... but menwhile when the money is desperately needed elsewhere in our ailing economy it is still in the banks' coffers



which reminds me - I really must change my signature to promote the boycotting of Starbucks who reportedly pay approximatey 19% less tax on their earnings than I do on my income as a pensioner

 

[Westdene Seagull]

................... but menwhile when the money is desperately needed elsewhere in our ailing economy it is still in the banks' coffers

Agreed but I think the option of not bailing out would have been worse for everyone.

 

[Triggaaar]

In the mists of time Gordon Brown will be thought of as a very good chancellor

I know you will point out selling the gold, but hindsight is a great thing

It wasn't hindsight that told us that was a terrible mistake, he announced the sale and watched the price plummet and then made the sale. It was stupid beyond all measure.

we still had 10+ years of good living while GB was chancellor and it was not his fault the worlds economy went pop!!

It wasn't to his credit that the world was riding high, and in that time how much did we save, how much of our debt did we pay off? None, it was party time and he partied.

BTW I have never voted Labour.

I have, and for that I apologise.

 

[ROSM]

Indeed, well done Dave and Gideon. Well done for clearing up YOUR recession caused by YOUR policies, during YOUR time in office. I am sure you will all heartily join me (and them) in thanking Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown for handing THEM an economy that wasnt in recession back in the q2 of 2010 and for giving THEM the ONE plan for helping THEM with THEIR recession, which was of course the Olympics. A triumph for the Brilliant if flawed political genius that was Tony Blair whose (and his wife's) schmoozing ensured we beat the plucky French to host the games.**

Now who says that big infrastructure projects dont rescue economies? ah yes that would be the current prime minister and chancellor

** all joking aside, Seb Coe actually credits Cherie with a significant role in securing the games as she went and met all the little country IOC members whilst Chirac ignored them and so when in Singapore she met them again as long lost friends and introduced them to Tony most of the hard work was done

 

[house your seagull]

Now who says that big infrastructure projects dont rescue economies? ah yes that would be the current prime minister and chancellor

 

[abc]

Forget the politics for a moment.

Bottom line this is good news.

End of.

 

[Dover]

I really don't care who people vote for but this kind of attitude really pisses me off !!!!! It's a moronic, braindead way of voting. At least take the effort to balance each parties policies etc and then make a decision rather than follow a party slavishly because "you always have".

I remember Thatcher far to well, and for me at the moment there are far too many shadows of hers lingering in the current government. So yes maybe I am a moron, but I know why I am a moron.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I really don't care who people vote for but this kind of attitude really pisses me off !!!!! It's a moronic, braindead way of voting. At least take the effort to balance each parties policies etc and then make a decision rather than follow a party slavishly because "you always have".

To be fair to Dover, every NHS worker I have ever spoken to is of the same opinion. Labour has always put more into the NHS than any other political party.

 

[Dover]

To be fair to Dover, every NHS worker I have ever spoken to is of the same opinion. Labour has always put more into the NHS than any other political party.

I remember very well on Kings ward at the William Harvey in Ashford, Kent, the outgoing John Major being driven away in the company car, and nurses crying. So not all vote Labour.

 

[Triggaaar]

Its common sense, in cash terms a millionaire's debt would be greater than most people.

But so would their assets. They have a net worth of over a million. To compare to countries, the overall debts and assets of all the countries in the world should balance out to zero, and having the largest debt is a bad thing, even if we have a reasonable GDP to try and keep up with the payments.

Finally, Labour in 1997 inherited a debt of 42% of GDP. By the start of the global banking crises 2008 the debt had fallen to 35%
... Surprisingly, a debt of 42% was not seen as a major problem and yet at 35% the sky was falling down?

Have you got a link to that? I don't suppose the sky was falling down when the debt was 35%, I suspect it was above that and rising when people began to panic.

In fact, can you post links to all you claims please

Thirdly, the IMF have also concluded the same. They reveal the UK experienced an increase in the deficit as result of a large loss in output/GDP caused by the global banking crisis

So? The IMF were looking to downgrade us for the first time, and wanted us to make cuts.

Finally, the large loss in output occurred because the UK like the US have the biggest financial centres and as this was a global banking crises we suffered the most. Hence, the UK had the 2nd highest deficit in the G7 (Not The World) after the US and not as a result of overspending prior to and after 2008- as the IMF concur.

Our deficit is a combination of both a fall in output and overspending.

in the end, elections are won and lost on economic credibility. Hence, as people believe Labour created the mess they won't be trusted again.

We can only hope you're right.

 

[somerset]

Well the money all goes back into the economy. Benefit claimants pay private landlords and housing associations rent and pay for their beer and fags which are heavily taxed. As opposed to the banks whose profits are whisked away to offshore holding companies, attracting no tax. This does our country no good whatsoever

Stop changing the point of the debate, either you want the money back to the government, with interest, or you are just bleating about banks or big business in general because your father his father etc etc were staunch labour out of some historical inbuilt snobbery about anyone who has aspired or actually achieved a decent lifestyle and has a different view of life and politics as a result.