Re: Government borrowing for last year = £107,700,000,000
 

That's not a burn, just an explanation.

Government borrowing for last year = £107,700,000,000
 

What would happen if we just stopped spending money we didn't have?

Government borrowing for last year = £107,700,000,000
 

Unintentional (as in the case of DJ) burning is still burning.

Government borrowing for last year = £107,700,000,000
 

The economy and most business would grind to a shattering halt

Re: Government borrowing for last year = £107,700,000,000
 

We'd be bankrupt before the end of the year and lots of public services would shut down.

Plus if we paid off all debt and ceased issuing it there would be a large hole where the gilt market used to be.


The UK's never been in the position of having no debt and neither had England since (probably well) before the hundred years war.

Government borrowing for last year = £107,700,000,000
 

It really astonishes me that they said their strategy to reduce borrowing was to increase borrowing.

Re: Government borrowing for last year = £107,700,000,000
 

Huge borrowing...

Hmmm...

What to do...?

I know! Let's make some cuts - that'll be a popular way of easing the problem, no?

State spending = public money = taxes/borrowing.

A stunningly simple equation that too few people want to understand. Nothing is free, everything has a cost. The mindless, endless expectation of, and reliance on, state spending has the greatest price.

True - maybe it's become a bit of a problem now though?

Government borrowing for last year = £107,700,000,000
 

Legalise cannabis and tax similarly to cigarettes.

Instant billions.

Re: Government borrowing for last year = £107,700,000,000
 

Best way to reduce borrow is to make money. you need to spend money to make money. (is the play school explanation).

The problem isn't necessarily the headline borrowing figure, but what you do with it. If they use the increase in borrowing to help businesses hire apprentices or tax breaks for entrepreneurs who will spend the money hiring people or even certain types of investors, then more business is done. more business means more work need to be done, which means more people need to be hired, so fewer people on the dole.

To give an idea, most big companies will work with between 1 and 3 turns of debt, i.e. up to about 3 times as much debt as their Earnings Before Interest Tax Depreciation and Amortisation. Average government debt of about 1.3 times average earning per earner would not seem to unreasonable (but I could be wrong, I was a corporate banker not a sovereign banker).

Also there is nothing wrong with spending other peoples money. You use their money while they don't need it (i.e. I am 30 and won't need my retirement savings for about 40 years (probably)) in return you give them back a little more then they gave you. difference is what you spend it on.

Government borrowing for last year = £107,700,000,000
 

Also, stop building unnecessary railways!!! You don't need to get from London to Birmingham in 2 hours. We have skype, we have conference calling, we have the internet! What can a business person do in Birmingham that he can't do on the phone in London?

(I forgot where the train is actually from/to I just guessed)