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Debate House Prices
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EU debt and deficit league tables
Comments
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Rochdale_Pioneers wrote: »
Anyone looked at the deficit interest payments as a percentage of GDP figures? Interesting that as a percentage of our now shrunken economy, we're paying out less of our economy per year than Major did....
The trouble with this analysis is that we are not anywhere near the worst point in terms of interest payments, either nominally or as a % of GDP
in 1997, interest was 3.3% of GDP, in Fiscal 2011 it will be 2.8% - by 2015 it will be back to 3.3%.
So we have fairly vicious cuts in real spending just to get us back to where we were.
In addition debt to GDP last exceeded 50% in the early 1970's.
It will take a couple of decade to get it back to 40% (was this not Browns golden rule?)0 -
Looking at these objective figures of three - four months ago: Why has Cyprus suddenly gone from relative Hero to Zero and is being touted as the first block in the wall round Greece that will fail catastrophically?
Ah I know, the Irish government nationalised their banks and every thing nasty within and are now up the proverbial creek. Meanwhile the Greek banks of Cyprus holds lots of those Greek "sub prime" (junk) mortgages; so it is a bit as though Iceland had financed all the Irish property bubble?
Enosis here we come?0 -
It is not all doom and gloom :beer:
"With around 26.2 million households in the UK, this comes to more than £276,000 per household, which puts Brits among the world's wealthiest folk. Surely that's something to be grateful for, agreed?"
No.
If we had £276K per household tied up in oil reserves, mineral deposits, or a business sector worth that much, then I think it is something to be grateful for. High house prices, fueled and supported by high levels of personal debt are not a sure sign of a nation's wealth.
However, I suppose if we get close to needing a bailout, we can just sell our houses.
30 Year Challenge : To be 30 years older. Equity : Don't know, don't care much. Savings : That's asking for ridicule.0 -
No.
If we had £276K per household tied up in oil reserves, mineral deposits, or a business sector worth that much, then I think it is something to be grateful for. High house prices, fueled and supported by high levels of personal debt are not a sure sign of a nation's wealth.
However, I suppose if we get close to needing a bailout, we can just sell our houses.
It is slightly more accurate than analysing the debt and ignoring the assets which appears to be the norm for the doomers amongst us 'Just think for a moment what a prospect that is. A single market without barriers visible or invisible giving you direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of over 300 million of the worlds wealthiest and most prosperous people' Margaret Thatcher0 -
Rochdale_Pioneers wrote: »So after all the bigger-in-the-UK bailouts, the QE, and a deficit big enough to destroy mankind, we still have less debt than France, Germany, Italy. As we had before all this started. And before anyone starts whining about off-books debt, Eurostat has always included it. These figures are real world like for like comparisons, not the fag-packet Daily Mail numbers used by some.
And in another year the UK will have leaped over France almost certainly and Germany pretty much without doubt.
I'm not sure why you seem to think that borrowing such huge sums of money is a good thing.Rochdale_Pioneers wrote: »Anyone looked at the deficit interest payments as a percentage of GDP figures? Interesting that as a percentage of our now shrunken economy, we're paying out less of our economy per year than Major did....
Compare and contrast the base rate in the early-mid 90s with today and you will go a long way to seeing why! If you think a negative real base rate of -4.5% is a sign of economic strength you should brush up on your economics.0 -
The Turks may have an issue with that last query! Other than that I'm in complete agreement. Ireland was in a good fiscal position akin to Cyprus before it (arguably forced by Brussels) supported its banks, a heck of a poison pill that is.Mary_Hartnell wrote: »Looking at these objective figures of three - four months ago: Why has Cyprus suddenly gone from relative Hero to Zero and is being touted as the first block in the wall round Greece that will fail catastrophically?
Ah I know, the Irish government nationalised their banks and every thing nasty within and are now up the proverbial creek. Meanwhile the Greek banks of Cyprus holds lots of those Greek "sub prime" (junk) mortgages; so it is a bit as though Iceland had financed all the Irish property bubble?
Enosis here we come?
I believe 1/3rd of Cypriot bank assets are Greek in origin so they were always in a lot of trouble before the recent power plant explosion and political instability. If Cyprus left the Eurozone and then let its banks fail they'd be in a better position imho.
Since Cyprus is only 0.2% of Eurozone GDP the country is not going to make many headlines when its leading bank warns the country may need a bailout, unfortunately.
UK depositors may start to fret if the Bank of Cyprus collapses given some very competitive interest rates offered by the bank recently. Icesave 2.0?"The state is the great fiction by which everybody seeks to live at the expense of everybody else." -- Frederic Bastiat, 1848.0 -
damn, Ireland are f$#*!dFaith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.0
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I'm not sure why you seem to think that borrowing such huge sums of money is a good thing
That way you can spend it now, and claim you are "investing" in Britain, and some other !!!! has to pay it all back, and you can claim they that they are destroying the economy :eek:'In nature, there are neither rewards nor punishments - there are Consequences.'0 -
It is slightly more accurate than analysing the debt and ignoring the assets which appears to be the norm for the doomers amongst us
Houses aren't exactly liquid assets. Anyway, let's say that house prices were double what they are now, would that mean that the UK was doing great, or would it mean that the general public/banks had got a lot more invested in bricks and mortar ?
Anyway, it wasn't so long ago that Ireland's assets might have looked quite good on paper (high property prices). Not looking quite so healthy now, eh ?30 Year Challenge : To be 30 years older. Equity : Don't know, don't care much. Savings : That's asking for ridicule.0 -
Houses aren't exactly liquid assets. Anyway, let's say that house prices were double what they are now, would that mean that the UK was doing great, or would it mean that the general public/banks had got a lot more invested in bricks and mortar ?
Anyway, it wasn't so long ago that Ireland's assets might have looked quite good on paper (high property prices). Not looking quite so healthy now, eh ?
It is not just houses, in fact it is not just the UK, business and individuals have maintained assets overseas that have been more than a useful contribution to our invisible earnings. BTW I own my house not the banks, and it means I don't have to pay any rent - yippee.'Just think for a moment what a prospect that is. A single market without barriers visible or invisible giving you direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of over 300 million of the worlds wealthiest and most prosperous people' Margaret Thatcher0
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