How long to pay it all back? 2070?

JayScottGreenspan

Rochdale_Pioneers wrote: »

1. What would be the cost to the economy of drawing out the recession? You say spending is unsustainable, I say we can't afford not to spend it. Again, the Tory position you're parroting is not being copied by any finance minister in recession. Especially not by the ones with economies contracting faster and debts higher than the UK. What does Osborne know that no other finance minister doesn't know? For your argument to be right everyone else has to be wrong.

There is a genuinely important question here about striking the correct balance between:
a) the need to spend to stimulate the economy,
b) controlling debt.

In order to strike the correct balance our leaders need to be honest about likely GDP, and put the best interests of the UK before their own careers.

In other words, we're stuffed.

davem7

Wookster wrote: »

It is simply unsustainable. Who is going to lend the UK Government all this money?

I have to say, this is a good point. We are planning on taking a very, very large amount of debt on over the next two years, which will only increase if we find out that the Chancellor's growth forecasts are - as everybody expects - bogus. If we hit a snag in raising this capital - such as credit ratings being downgraded or the gilt markets taking a hit - then potentially we are in a lot of trouble, and even more ruthless public spending cuts are going to have to be made in a very short amount of time. It would make far more sense to start culling our expenditure down now and hopefully reduce the amount of borrowing we need to make.