Question Why aren't the politicians talking about the national debt levels?

[cHodAX]

£1.3 trillion in the hole according to Institute of Fiscal Studies and rising by about £80 billion a year, we are paying nearly £50 billion a year just making the interest payments on the debt. Yet all we keep hearing from the talking heads is how they will add 1% to national insurance raising £7 billion a year. £7 billion??? For fucks sake that is a drop in the ocean and won't even be going towards clearing the national debt either.

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How can we justify spending £100 billion on a new nuclear weapons program with those debt levels?

Many of you will probably disagree but the only way to sort these problems is to start making massive savings raising tax and slashing spending. The current financial model we are running is going to see this country bankrupt within a decade because the interest payments end up so high that even massive taxation will not be enough to service the debt nevermind reduce it.

 

[Ch3tan]

because they are scared of risking votes by being honest.

 

[cHodAX]

Basically this country is fucked then, we will all ignore the debt until the lights go out because we couldn't pay the electricity bill.

 

[Ch3tan]

The problem is, Clegg and Cameron are talking about it, but they have to be cautious. By pointing out what needs to be done to control the debt and actually rescue the country they will lose votes from those that rely on the spending. High interest rates and higher taxation do not get you votes.

It's the same reason Labour have given us this false dawn of "the recession is over", when they have simply thrown money at it to temporarily make it look better.

 

[Job]

Were talking about a country where an obscure political party rose to the
top just because the public thought 'He was a nice bloke who talked sense'

Of all the bolaks talked in that debate his was the most benile, just a bunch of Daily Mail happy statements and the whole thing is descending politics even furhter towards
'You the voting public decide, the lines are open now'

That's why they don't mention it, because most voters don't want to hear it and will put the X in the box of the politician who makes them feel all warm inside.
We deserve the the politics we get.

 

[Helme]

Because democracy is a flawed idea. The majority of the population is utterly retarded and make their decisions based on totally irrelevant information.

Being honest or saying that we need to raise spending to avoid a bankruptcy is a sure way to lose an election nowdays.

The reality is that the western worlds goverments don't care what happens after their term, they don't look to the future at all. It's the same with most corporations, the onlything that matters is now.

Perfect example: the tea party movement in the US demanding lower taxes, ironically the US hasn't had as low taxes as they have now under the Obama administration since 60 years back.

 

[Corran]

Basically this country is fucked then, we will all ignore the debt until the lights go out because we couldn't pay the electricity bill.

We are fucked anyways, our government writes of every fecking debt we are owed by other countries "because they are poor", forgetting that we are in massive debt ourself that will not be written off because no other country is full of morons!

 

[Hawkwind]

labour are just waiting for the cons to get in and pay it all back, just like they did in the eighties! Twice now in my lifetime they have financially f*cked the UK over! Tax cuts paid for by a mountain of added debt. 2nd largest ower to the IMF! Only Pakistan owes more! Well done Gorden, twat!

 

[Raven]

Basically we have had 13 years of wasteful spending of money we don't have, the hole created by Labour is so vast that nobody can sort it out. We are fucked regardless of who gets in. Not voting is exactly what Labour want though, a non vote won't help remove them.

 

[old.Tohtori]

You should start moving to europe now, choose a nice immigration target and settle in before the UK is closed in.

*prepares alcohol and cookies*

 

[Jiggs]

I'll try and explain it as I see it.

"Business" in the UK revolves around one thing - the fact that we have a housing shortage. It is how banks make money, it's what people invest in and it's what those of us who do an honest days work spend most of our money on.

House prices are dictated by the availability of credit from banks. No credit, no mortgage = house prices plummet and the assets of banks, pension funds and property owners become worthless leading to the downward cycle we saw last year.

The Bank of England pumped billions into the banks so that they could start lending again. This happened and surprise, surprise houseprices jumped back up 10% If you want to check this just go to the land registry - I've attached Merton's (A SW London borough) house price and sales volume graph so you can see what I mean - the number of sales plummeted in 2009 and then bounced back a bit when the money was pumped in.

Which brings us to where we are - at the end of a mini-bubble brought about by the pumping in of cash. Who knows how long until the lending dries up? Could be this year, could be next - but at that point house prices crash again and then it's game over - welcome to Japan in the 1990s.

Contrary to popular belief we do make a decent amount of stuff in the UK - cars, ships, plane wings, military shit etc. But the debt situation is all about housing.

No politician wants to tell you that what you worked all your life for is worth sweet f.a. and no politician wants to solve the UK's housing shortage by building a lot of new houses because it has been such a money spinner historically and will bring about point 1 faster.

I'm not a property expert and may well be wide of the mark on some of these points. I'd be interested to hear different opinions, that is just how I have seen it play out over the last few years.

 

[Hawkwind]

Contrary to popular belief we do make a decent amount of stuff in the UK - cars, ships, plane wings, military shit etc. But the debt situation is all about housing.

Slight Correction:

Cars, yes some cars are still designed and manufactured in the UK. There is now only 1 UK owned Car company in the UK. 1 house point for naming it?

Airplane Wings - BAe Filton making Wings for Airbus makes virtually no money. 90% of BAe's income come from the defence industry. In fact BAe wanted to offload Filton and the Airbus wings but the Government stepped in and stopped them.

Ships: The Ship building industry in the UK is almost dead. Vospers still gets Navy work but a vast majority of all ships registered under UK are built abroad. Refits we still do, building is a thing of the past!

Military Shit: Yep, the UK is a big arms supplier. Around the fourth biggest in the world, just ahead of France.

The UK changed from an industrialised manufacturer in to a service industry supplier. Money from financial transactions and Insurance makes up something like 15-20% of the GDP. Oil and Gas is also big.

 

[Kronic]

Correct me if im wrong, but I believe a large chunk on the government debt went to borrowing funds to bailing out the banks in exchange for an ownership stake in them. When the share value recovers the govenment will sell and clear some of its liabilities by repaying what its borrowed.

 

[Ch3tan]

LOL Kronic, what the government spent on banks in return for ownership is a drop in the ocean compared to our current debt level.

Also it is very hopeful of you to think that our government is smart enough to sell at a profit. Look what happened to our gold reserves.

 

[Raven]

The interest on the loans eclipses any money they will make when/if they sell the shares.

 

[Golena]

As has been pointed out Democracy is flawed beyond belief.
I won't vote, simply because I don't have the time or the energy to work out which party is actually going to run the country the best. Most people unfortunately don't do this and instead just vote or the person who appears to make it sound like everything is going to be ok. As such all politics is about working out how to make it sound ok, instead of actually making it ok. Getting your vote is way more important than actually fixing anything!

I really wish I couldn't say this, but I actually honestly believe that if Cheryl Cole ran for prime minister, she'd win by an absolute landslide. Says it all really!

 

[Toggers]

I really wish I couldn't say this, but I actually honestly believe that if Cheryl Cole ran for prime minister, she'd win by an absolute landslide. Says it all really!

id vote for her, or the other one....the one with the big forehead...shes fit + she would be handy to put post-it notes on

and /wave dej.....damn boy i thought u were dead!