Why we are not Greece.

[Tarquin Farquhar]

Because we had Brown and Darling.

Unlike Greece our accounts are accurate and every prediction for growth, borrowing etc Darling has made (and which has been abused as wildly optimistic) has been virtually spot on.

Brown's only mistake was to trust the banks. He should have trusted his own instincts, and kept even more control over the banking fraudsters. Unfortunately he bought the idea that a financial industry can make money.

Still, it could be worse. In fact if Cameron gets in, it will be worse. Happily, that is looking increasingly unlikely.

[suityou01]

Total bollocks, sorry.

Billions of bad debt was knowingly sold to the British public when taxpayers money was used to guarantee loans that were known bad. Brown and Darling knowingly did this.

The worst is yet to come.

[darmstadt]

How do you get 4 Liberals on a chair?

[AtW]

Because we had Brown and Darling.

You are not wrong here...

Unlike Greece our accounts are accurate and every prediction for growth, borrowing etc Darling has made (and which has been abused as wildly optimistic) has been virtually spot on.

You are also correct here - say publicly that you will borrow gazillion of dosh to spend and then your prediction comes true - masterclass of economics surely...

Brown's only mistake was to trust the banks. He should have trusted his own instincts, and kept even more control over the banking fraudsters. Unfortunately he bought the idea that a financial industry can make money.

Financial industry can certainly make money and lots of it, that does not mean everyone gets that money though...

Still, it could be worse. In fact if Cameron gets in, it will be worse. Happily, that is looking increasingly unlikely.

[Moscow Mule]

More tosh from the Champagne Communist

[realityhack]

How do you get 4 Liberals on a chair?

Turn it upside down?

[CheeseSlice]

Total bollocks, sorry.

Billions of bad debt was knowingly sold to the British public when taxpayers money was used to guarantee loans that were known bad. Brown and Darling knowingly did this.

The worst is yet to come.

It wasn't sold to us, we did what was necessary to plug the hole to avoid going into another dark age.

I don't disagree that Brown and Darling took on debt though. Bank bailouts aside, how did we ever manage to get in so much public debt anyway? During the boom times Brown and Darling just spent and borrowed and spent and borrowed and borrowed some more........

[expat]

It wasn't sold to us, we did what was necessary to plug the hole to avoid going into another dark age.

I don't disagree that Brown and Darling took on debt though. Bank bailouts aside, how did we ever manage to get in so much public debt anyway? During the boom times Brown and Darling just spent and borrowed and spent and borrowed and borrowed some more........

I must confess that I don't know (but I suspect that does not deter some...) but I have just heard BBC economics correspondent Stephanie Flanders on Today say that the good thing about our debt compared to Greece's is that most of our debt is old debt, which doesn't have to be rolled over with such urgency as Greece's.

Pardon my ignorance, but does that not imply that most of our debt was not taken on recently?

[Gonzo]

I must confess that I don't know (but I suspect that does not deter some...) but I have just heard BBC economics correspondent Stephanie Flanders on Today say that the good thing about our debt compared to Greece's is that most of our debt is old debt, which doesn't have to be rolled over with such urgency as Greece's.

Pardon my ignorance, but does that not imply that most of our debt was not taken on recently?

I didn't hear the piece but I suspect that the point that she was making was the British debt is long-dated so although the country pays interest, the principal does not have to be paid back for some time.

Greece's debt is all short term so they are continually having to pay back the lot and raise it again, the interest that they pay is lower that way. That was the model that Northern Rock used and look what happened to them.

[HairyArsedBloke]

Well, there is nothing like real data from the horses mouth.

Let us ask those that know, the UK Debt Management Office. You can get a report called "SIZE OF THE GILT MARKET"

2004 321.0
2005 355.5
2006 411.6
2007 422.9
2008 478.8
2009 713.3
2010 913.5

Now, I don't know what this 'old' meaning it doesn't have to be rolled over lark came from. If it is old then it is more likely to face being rolled over. New debt doesn't face that problem.