We have a national debt of about £1.5T

[dingodan]

If we aren't bothered about a £1.5T debt, would we care if it was £3T? why don't we just make it £6T? We could have a big splash on everything we like, NHS can have £500B, we could give benefits to everyone, maybe even just give everyone £1M, that would be a massive stimulus to the economy.

We seem to fret about our debt but it keeps rising anyway, so why fret? Doesn't seem to have any consequence.

We might as well just spend and enjoy it, right?

Who's with me?

 

[Prince Monolulu]

I agree, Spend, Spend Spend. What's the worst they could do, come and take our telly away?

 

[TomandJerry]

We can end up like Greece and have loads of bailouts!

 

[gregbrighton]

It's about the interest payments, silly.

I think dingodan wants us to end up like Argentina.

 

[fat old seagull]

It's about the interest payments, silly.

I think dingodan wants us to end up like Argentina.

Okay, put me down for your share.

 

[Horses Arse]

Good going to halve the debt from 750bn to 1.5bn. Labour only managed to reduce the debt they inherited prior to the banking crises leading to it increasing. How utterly incompetent of them to do so whilst building up schools and hospitals.

The Tory's really are at the forefront of economic prudence. Cant see how you could vote for anyone else..... All hail Cameron and co

 

[happypig]

It's about the interest payments,

Nationalise the banks then. There, that's sorted. Now I recon if we up it to a conservative £2.1 Trilion, that gives us 600 billion extra, split 60 million ways thats £10000 each.
Everyone's a winner.

 

[Mr Bridger]

We can end up like Greece and have loads of bailouts!

Don't forget, smash plates as well

 

[ewe2]

The interest on that debt ,takes the money,we would all like to pay for social issues.

 

[Prince Monolulu]

The interest on that debt ,takes the money,we would all like to pay for social issues.

Don't pay the interest either

 

[gregbrighton]

I have a better idea. Let's tax everyone at 95% for one year. It will kill off those mostly reliant on public services, i.e. the elderly It will wipe out the national debt and we won't need so many hospitals and day centres as a result.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

How about going into administration and reforming as UK (2015) ? National debt would be virtually wiped out.

 

[spence]

Just do a Palace and go into admin and wipe the slate clean.

 

[janee]

We were just as in debt after WWII yet paid it off slowly over time. It just suits the rich to scare everyone and demand cuts for the majority and especially the poor.

 

[RexCathedra]

At the end of the Napoleonic wars, the UK's debt was in excess of 225% of GDP.
This debt overhang crippled the UK, leaving it unable to participate in the industrial revolution, build railroads, or obtain an empire.

 

[Hampster Gull]

We were just as in debt after WWII yet paid it off slowly over time. It just suits the rich to scare everyone and demand cuts for the majority and especially the poor.

The UK lost much of its wealth, empire and some of its global stature as the price of (by necessity) financially over reaching itself in WWII.

 

[RexCathedra]

Government debt seems to be the one thing for which the free-market-olaters aren't content to have the market set the price.

Ten-year UK bonds are at 2.95%. The Market, blessed be It, has spoken.

Why is it wrong? Imperfect information? Illiquid asset? Small market?

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Just do a Palace and go into admin and wipe the slate clean.

It's what Greece along with most of the EU are PRAYING for. And even if it never happens, they can all welcome tourists for six months of the year, stick all the profits under their mattress and close up shop and go work in Athens for the winter months. Same as it ever was.

On a more serious note, there MUST be a huge number of corporate debts that could be cross-charged and written off shirley?

 

[e77]

Depends on what you are spending it on. We do need to spend a lot of money on infrastructure in the next 30-50 years as we let it slide from about the time of Beeching until the mid 1990s. Within reason spending it on education should pay dividends.

We have a way to go with Pensions and care for the elderly but at long last we have made a start. Social security needs to be re-tooled as when it was though up hardly anyone who ever used it had a mortgage and in-work benefits would have been seen as a contradiction in terms.

 

[Prince Monolulu]

Shirley a detailed comprehensive breakdown of our overdraft must be on a computer somewhere. Couldn't we just turn it off and back on again? Might work.