Budget in two weeks time?

JasonLVC

whathavewedone wrote: »

Yes I listened to that interview yesterday. Utterly cringeworthy and the last caller who rang to say that she wanted to thank him for being Prime Minister because he obviously cared so much about the poor and needy was so obviously a fix. Might have been Islandannie actually, she sounded a bit emotional.

I was surprised that so many anti Brown callers got put through before the last one though. Maybe they lied to the researchers.

I did get the feeling that the whole interview was scripted. It felt like Vine had been given some 'probing' questions but you could hear him smirking as he read them out and on the question about UK debt Brown got all 'angry' and wanted to clarify the matter - right on cue, if you know what I mean;).

The other caller who asked Brown to resign now was quite a hoot too!.

If it was PR exercise then I think it failed. He did try to explain the collapse of the markets and I think that came across very well indeed, as was his explanation that the G20 was needed to get common agreement on a way forwards - I was almost agreeing with him....but that doesn't exonerate him of his own failings as Chancellor and PM and cannot excuse his view that the UK is now cheaper than ever to live in (not for long come the Budget I suspect).

whathavewedone

I missed that call. Bummer!

Guy_Montag

Generali wrote: »

The trouble is, if it's not banks then it's something else - look at what happened in the 1970s, the last time the UK ran out of money. If you run perpetual deficits (as Labour and Tory have done since the 1960s) then when things get really bad you've got no contingency.

Generally speaking, as a bare minimum the UK should have no net debt normally as right now, I can't see where the money to finance all these huge deficits is going to come from. Saudi and China (the obvious candidates) are running deficits so they're out.

Well yes, there is that. I would expect the govt. to generally run a surplus & only go into deficits when things go down the toilet. The problem is, at least with the last chancellor, they think they can outwit the markets & there won't be a problem in future, because by targeting CPI or monetary expansion or whatever they have found the golden bullet. (I'm not sure if they really do believe that or if they just come across that way, also it's not just Brown, Greenspan showed him the way).

So we need a complete change of style in government - we need to encourage central government & all agencies & departments below to put a little aside for a rainy day. An end to the "use it or lose it" waste in the civil service & the government to always spend a little less than they bring in - just like I do.:cool:

JasonLVC

would_be_FTB wrote: »

I couldn't see the lnked article does it gvie any clues as to what will be in the budget?

No, the article does speculate as to what the budget contains and I suspect it'll be drafted and written right up until the last minute to factor in any last minute fluctuations in GDP/output/other figures, etc.

Generali

Guy_Montag wrote: »

Well yes, there is that. I would expect the govt. to generally run a surplus & only go into deficits when things go down the toilet. The problem is, at least with the last chancellor, they think they can outwit the markets & there won't be a problem in future, because by targeting CPI or monetary expansion or whatever they have found the golden bullet. (I'm not sure if they really do believe that or if they just come across that way, also it's not just Brown, Greenspan showed him the way).

So we need a complete change of style in government - we need to encourage central government & all agencies & departments below to put a little aside for a rainy day. An end to the "use it or lose it" waste in the civil service & the government to always spend a little less than they bring in - just like I do.:cool:

It just seems amazing to me that the central point of Government policy from all parties is to pay interest on debt. Amazing.

PS Having a lovely time in Jervis Bay - white sand, dolphins in the Bay, possums and roos all around. Google it for images.

G

Martinslovechild

There's a note in The Times today which suggests that the number #1 target on the hit-list is the 40% tax relief on pensions for taxpayers in the higher-rate tax bracket.

If they reduce that to tax relief at basic-rate level, it's likely to net them billions of pounds, but is likely to be highly controversial.

Austin_Allegro

Still, look on the bright side. The Spring Bounce is getting underway and house prices will soon be shooting up again!

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

amcluesent

Rumours that Clown has made his sock-puppet chancellor go for a 'Tory lite' budget to show he's taking the global crunch seriously and doing what's right for 'hard working families'.

baby_boomer

Martinslovechild wrote: »

There's a note in The Times today which suggests that the number #1 target on the hit-list is the 40% tax relief on pensions for taxpayers in the higher-rate tax bracket.

If they reduce that to tax relief at basic-rate level, it's likely to net them billions of pounds, but is likely to be highly controversial.

They can kiss goodbye to a few more London seats if they do this. Are they doing the old trick of floating an idea first or, more likely, are the public finances so dreadful that they are prepared to ditch New Labour and go back to their core.

Such a measure would make Fred Goodwin (£21m pension at taxpayers' expense) even more unpopular - if you can imagine that. No doubt the government would blame him for our pain.

Jennifer_Jane

JasonLVC wrote: »

I'm not sure that the budget has been delayed again, it was supposed to be in March 2009 but now moved to April (post G20) - but correct me if I'm wrong on that.

For anyone who didn't hear Gordon Brown's interview with Jeremy Vine on BBC 2 yesterday afternoon, suggest you find the podcast and listen to it. He said, with TRUE conviction, that his policies had seen food prices come down, that petrol prices had gone down and that mortgages had gone down.

Not even the staunchest Brown fan can agree with him on this. Food prices are going UP, petrol is going UP (and going higher due to the fuel duty in April) - but I'll agree mortgages are coming down...for some people. Only Monday a charity was banging on about people not being able to buy food for their kids and how pensioners are having to reuse teabags and eat toast.

When asked about the VAT cut being a failure, he felt it was a success and that it put £5 a week in each persons pocket - despite several other fiscal surveys (albeit one of those survey's being a Tory one, granted) saying the opposite...not to mention savvy MSE'rs who've already noticed that following the drop in December, prices have kept back up to the old prices again.

Oh and he mentioned the word "global" so many times in one sentence, I thought I'd tuned into "Global FM" and was listening to a trailer.

I'm not posting to bash Brown, I am genuinely concerned now that the PM hasn't got a clue about the real pain being caused to vast swathes of the UK and to come out and state everything is cheaper now is just rubbish. I tried to buy a car last month and all the dealers were increasing prices!.

Well, we knew Broon was demented when he didn't understand the 10p fiasco. This confirms how out of touch he is. Time he got close to the real world.... talk about Nero fiddling while Rome burned.

Jen
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