Good news? Bad news? Or just news?

[meridian]

So you are saying that neither Labour nor the Conservatives, and possibly the Liberals as they are partly responsible when in coalition with the Conservatives are fit to govern the country. How exactly would you have govern the country out of interest.

I didn’t say that at all (although that is fairly close to what I suspect a lot of people think....)

I simply asked if it was consistent to assign some responsibility for the increased debt on the party in power.

Is it?

[Old Greg]

I assume you are more than happy to claim that the garden will be full of Roses and the national debt rising at a much slower rate under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.

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Does anyone want to guess why he assumes this?

[Old Greg]

It’s very different to any business. Primarily the ability of governments to raise income through taxes, and to print money if they need to.

Was the UK ever on the verge of no longer being able to make payments, or to maintain cash flow?

Even a debt default by a sovereign nation is not bankruptcy.

[Yorkie62]

I didn’t say that at all (although that is fairly close to what I suspect a lot of people think....)

I simply asked if it was consistent to assign some responsibility for the increased debt on the party in power.

Is it?

Party or parties in the case of a coalition government. Yes. Basically successive governments gave not been taking in enough tax. We as a country have been living beyond our means for many years. Either public spending needs to be cut or taxes in general right across the board need to go up.
Ask your accountant he'll explain it to you.

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[Yorkie62]

Does anyone want to guess why he assumes this?

Because my mental capacity for logical reasoning goes far beyond what your feeble brain can handle.

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[Old Greg]

Because my mental capacity for logical reasoning goes far beyond what your feeble brain can handle.

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At least you can see the funny side of your stupidity.

[malvolio]

Party or parties in the case of a coalition government. Yes. Basically successive governments gave not been taking in enough tax. We as a country have been living beyond our means for many years. Either public spending needs to be cut or taxes in general right across the board need to go up.
Ask your accountant he'll explain it to you.

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No,income from tax revenues needs to go up. That is not achieved by increasing taxes, as has been amply demonstrated by the cut in CT rates bringing in another #20bn a year

[meridian]

And your point is?

That continuing to blame Labour for our national debt without apportioning any responsibility to the party that’s actually been in Government for the past 10 years is partisan and not balanced.

If you break the fundamental basis of your economy, and kick off a regime that establishes committed 20-year debts and guarantees your interest payments will outstrip your earnings, it's going to take a long time to get back to where you were before the wrecking crew did their thing.

I agree, sort of. Continuing that same path without doing much about it (while still blaming your predecessors) is just as culpable.

A drop in net borrowing is a good measure of progress in the right direction, unlike headline PR like unemployment rates

Again, I agree that the reduction in borrowing is better than an increase. It’s still more borrowing though.

[Old Greg]

No,income from tax revenues needs to go up. That is not achieved by increasing taxes, as has been amply demonstrated by the cut in CT rates bringing in another #20bn a year

You need to be careful about applying learning from corporate taxation to personal taxation.

[malvolio]

You need to be careful about applying learning from corporate taxation to personal taxation.

I am, thanks. It's not me failing to make the distinction between macroeconomics and corporate economics