For the...home owner with a mortgage, you've never had it so good. At this rate we can expect some tax cuts and a thumping Conservative majority at the next election, house prices and rent rates to rise, and an even larger gap between the haves and the have nots.
Quote from: Sloper on April 24, 2014, 01:37:48 pmFor the...home owner with a mortgage, you've never had it so good. At this rate we can expect some tax cuts and a thumping Conservative majority at the next election, house prices and rent rates to rise, and an even larger gap between the haves and the have nots.If I were Ed Balls that's where I would start.
Simples....'The real term cost of living has increased under the Tory government. People today have less money in their pockets than they did 5 years ago'
Why aren't the opposition pointing out that rather than reduce borrowing, this government has borrowed more in three years than Labour did in 13?I don't think that running a deficit is that important but seeing as reducing it was what they based their entire election campaign on, shouldn't somebody mention that they've actually failed miserably? Borrowing is still enormous despite the cuts (which have been proven to be ideologically rather than financially driven - see the tuition fees mess - as predicted).I thought that was the sort of thing the opposition was supposed to do? Miliband is fucking useless.
asuming the defecit was reduced by 20% per year (sic)
Debt will keep on increasing until we're in surplus.
Quote from: Sloper on April 25, 2014, 11:30:13 amDebt will keep on increasing until we're in surplus.perhaps someone could put this on a large sign in front of the speaker's chair
I think it's because despite the Guardian reader's ignorance as to the distinction between debt and deficit Labour know that the reason debt has increased is that they left office with an eye watering deficit, and that debt necessarily will grow until the deficit has been turned into a surplus.
I reckon you're right and Osborne will take the credit for the recovery and the Tories prospects will improve. I don't reckon you're right that they deserve it...
Jasper was making a general point about this government having to borrow more than expected. Your response was to blame the size of the inherited deficit. If the government had reduced the deficit as fast as they claimed they would, the debt would be smaller. Changing the argument to "but debt will go up as long as there's a deficit" isa) moving the goalposts,b) pretty insulting, given that you're talking to an accountant.You're right that Darling would have cut as much as Osborne but, againa) Balls is not Darlingb) Perhaps not in the same places. It's interesting - I think Labour have a good case to make that the Tories killed off a nascent recovery and prolonged the recession. I think Osborne silently acknowledged this when he made u-turns on everything in the 'omnishambles' budget and reversed cuts on capital spending - investing massively in road and rail projects amongst others. Krugman (ever the unbiassed commentator put it like this - ""So the UK government did a lot of austerity, then stopped doing more, and the economy began to grow thereafter". Even allowing for post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacies that's quite interesting. However, even if we accept the case that we could have recovered better, sooner, and it was only the quiet ditching of 'Plan A' that allowed the economy to return to growth I don't think Labour will make much headway with it as a political argument. Electorates have short attention spans and people are starting to feel more confident and better off. I reckon you're right and Osborne will take the credit for the recovery and the Tories prospects will improve. I don't reckon you're right that they deserve it...
OK, so this chart explains all of the above more clearly... (I think)Debt rising under both Labour and ConDems - but the rate of debt increase drops post 2012... So the 'deficit' is really the 'deficit' of what we need to pay in order to stop our debts growing...So instead of plugging the hole in the ship (thats up a creek without a paddle) we've managed to reduce the size of the hole slightly - but not managed to pump out any of the water yet And one of Slopers points is why didnt Labour reduce this towards zero during the good times of the early/mid noughties...