Osborne ' s emergency budget 5 months late?

[inbetween]

It's a strange one you would think those with the highest debt in relation to GDP would be badly run countries but the list shows some countries with low debt are proper basket cases and vice versa. Japan's is stupidly high for instance but plenty of African countries have low debt, maybe because no one will loan them anything.

That is exactly true, every country has a credit rating and higher risk lending is typically done at higher interest rates. Poorer countries also have typically poorer currencies so coupled with high interest rates it is extremely expensive for them to borrow against a foreign currency. More often than not instead of borrowing they just print more money. It is different when you have foreign currency on hand though which is why in many poor countries the Dollar is so widely accepted.

The biggest countries are most indebted because they can often afford it and have more capacity to control it. They also have access to reserves or funds at favourable rates when things do go wrong like with the IMF and others who pool resources. Poorer countries don't have any of this and I bet a portion of any money they do borrow or otherwise is syphoned off into someones Swiss account anyway..

 

[SWP's back]

That is exactly true, every country has a credit rating and higher risk lending is typically done at higher interest rates. Poorer countries also have typically poorer currencies so coupled with high interest rates it is extremely expensive for them to borrow against a foreign currency. More often than not instead of borrowing they just print more money. It is different when you have foreign currency on hand though which is why in many poor countries the Dollar is so widely accepted.

The biggest countries are most indebted because they can often afford it and have more capacity to control it. They also have access to reserves or funds at favourable rates when things do go wrong like with the IMF and others who pool resources. Poorer countries don't have any of this and I bet a portion of any money they do borrow or otherwise is syphoned off into someones Swiss account anyway..

A very good summation.

 

[hilts]

It's all a tad complicated for us simple folk just thought I would see how we are going to compare in the future with other countries when we hit that 90% of GDP mark, I noted that that this figure is high but not a disaster. Greece is at 177% and most would agree is in trouble whereas Japan is at 230% but dont seem to be in immeadiate danger. I read they have been borrowing, printing money and trying to create growth by basically buying their way out of trouble. This sounds awfully similar to what some want us to do.

I have read though that they aren't indebted to overseas financial organisations as much as us but they haven't been growing significantly for decades. This seems a bit like my interest free mortgage in that for the first 5 years the value of the house kept going up so in real terms the amount I had to pay back in the future would seem small, however the last 7 years everything has stagnated so the plan is looking a bit shaky.

 

[Vic]

You should write a new economic text mate.

The success of a nations wealth and economy is based on massively increasing the dole and housing benefit handed out to poor people because they spend it in their local Aldi and Greggs.

Give it a few years and God damm it we will all be rich and the roads nhs, armed forces, schools will all be rebuilt and be brilliant as well.

First question how do we pay for this?

First answer: tax, like we used to do before the Tories made taxation a bad thing.

No new text needed. Just read JK Galbraith. I think the quote in The Age of Uncertainty was "we have exchanged the certain spending of the poor for the discretionary spending of the rich".

I'm not sure the Trafford Centre is the best place to see poverty, unless it has a food bank.

That's the problem now with tax and spend socialism - Thatcher has made us all selfish so as the poor are now a minority it's not like Peterloo when "we are many, they are few" and threat of revolution brought reform and better distribution of wealth. It's like the success of the NHS - it's in crisis because people are living longer. Why are people living longer? Because of the NHS.

 

[smudgedj]

First answer: tax, like we used to do before the Tories made taxation a bad thing.

No new text needed. Just read JK Galbraith. I think the quote in The Age of Uncertainty was "we have exchanged the certain spending of the poor for the discretionary spending of the rich".

I'm not sure the Trafford Centre is the best place to see poverty, unless it has a food bank.

That's the problem now with tax and spend socialism - Thatcher has made us all selfish so as the poor are now a minority it's not like Peterloo when "we are many, they are few" and threat of revolution brought reform and better distribution of wealth. It's like the success of the NHS - it's in crisis because people are living longer. Why are people living longer? Because of the NHS.

No need, in 2 years and a few months the country will be 16 billion a year better off.

 

[kevin horlocks wand]

First answer: tax, like we used to do before the Tories made taxation a bad thing.

No new text needed. Just read JK Galbraith. I think the quote in The Age of Uncertainty was "we have exchanged the certain spending of the poor for the discretionary spending of the rich".

I'm not sure the Trafford Centre is the best place to see poverty, unless it has a food bank.

That's the problem now with tax and spend socialism - Thatcher has made us all selfish so as the poor are now a minority it's not like Peterloo when "we are many, they are few" and threat of revolution brought reform and better distribution of wealth. It's like the success of the NHS - it's in crisis because people are living longer. Why are people living longer? Because of the NHS.

Ok then

Second question: if rich people don't spend money like you said (only poor people) why are the expensive bars and restaurants in London , or locally in hale, wilmslow, didsbury? What do rich people do with money if they don't spend it , stick it in the local tsb earning 0.1%.

Also if the poor are now a minority as you say, isn't that a good thing? I am not saying they don't need help but the opposite of your statement means the majority of people in the uk are doing well.

 

[kevin horlocks wand]

There is a debate at the moment "why should I work when life is easier on benefits".

With attitudes like that the economy is going to BOOM.

 

[Len Rum]

There is a debate at the moment "why should I work when life is easier on benefits".

With attitudes like that the economy is going to BOOM.

Thought the Tories were supposed to have sorted that?
They've been in power over six years ffs.

 

[tshirtman]

It's absolutely ridiculous that the leave voters think we'll have 2 years of hardship then we'll go into Donald Trumps world where everything is great & amazing.

5 months since the referendum and the Torys still don't have a clue what there doing, yet within the next 19 months they will sort out a deal with Europe and negotiate bilateral trade agreements with the rest of the world, this is gonna take about 10 years to sort out.

It's also strange that we no longer hear the leave voters banging on about Europe giving us access to the single market because Germany will want to keep selling us there Mercedes & BMW's, must have heard that a thousand times during the campaign.

 

[kevin horlocks wand]

It's absolutely ridiculous that the leave voters think we'll have 2 years of hardship then we'll go into Donald Trumps world where everything is great & amazing.

5 months since the referendum and the Torys still don't have a clue what there doing, yet within the next 19 months they will sort out a deal with Europe and negotiate bilateral trade agreements with the rest of the world, this is gonna take about 10 years to sort out.

It's also strange that we no longer hear the leave voters banging on about Europe giving us access to the single market because Germany will want to keep selling us there Mercedes & BMW's, must have heard that a thousand times during the campaign.

Don't worry mate tony Blair is involved now, it's getting reversed.