Ed Balls... Jesus wept

tartanterra

Borrow your way out of debt?

Ed Balls (just like his odious wife) is an expenses fiddling moron, and an architect of the current economic shambles we find ourselves in.

He is also clearly incapable of learning from previous mistakes.

globalds

Did we not just create another £50,000,000,000 of debt just a few weeks ago.

Isn't one debt the same as another ..

could we not have lent £51 billion( off ourselves) and achieved this tax concession ?

Or am I missing something startlingly obvious ?

Graham_Devon

chewmylegoff wrote: »

It's a shame that Labour didn't keep Darling on as shadow chancellor, in my view, he was one of a very small number of politicians who have gone a decent job in recent years.

I'm on record on this forum stating Alistair was a decent MP and cabinet member.

Even if he didn't do a good job (not saying he did or didn't) the main thing that drew me to him was he didn't play politics, and was pretty open and honest. Hence being involved in a few public telling off's and forced public apologies for telling the truth.

Alistair Darling probably made a bigger percentage of the population aware that problems were stored up appraching the 2007 crash than any newspaper did. For that, he was forced to apologise to us and tell us he was wrong. (He was of course right, we are living through the evidence).

Graham_Devon

CLAPTON wrote: »

Tell us what he really said.

OK...

Ed Balls:

Britain will borrow a "staggering" £158bn more than the government planned a year ago, Ed Balls claimed on Tuesday as he accused George Osborne of presiding over a "truly colossal failure" in his economic plans.

In his response to the chancellor's autumn statement, Balls accused the government of pushing up borrowing costs after choking off the economic recovery last year and pushing up unemployment.

Ed Balls:

Writing in the Sunday Times, Mr Balls said: "Some people may be surprised to see Labour prioritising tax cuts. But in a crisis there is a premium on what works effectively and quickly to get our economy moving."


He said that such a cut should be funded by borrowing, not more spending cuts.

AndyGuil

The UK has a southern European debt size, increasing borrowing more should be avoided. The ratings agencies are already hovering over head. The Eurozone is getting weaker and near collapse. Borrowing needs to be kept low for the UK not to be completely ruined when the Eurozone finally gives in.

Ilya_Ilyich

howee wrote: »

ummm, but we are nowhere near paying the one trillion, repeat 1 trillion back! Getting control of the nations credit card has to be the first move. Maybe when we have that level IE we don't run a deficit we can think of stimulating growth but when are we going to pay it all back?

If growth outstrips our borrowing costs then borrowing to increase growth makes our debt burden lower. If your credit card let you borrow at 2% over the next decade and you could invest for a return of 4% then you'd stand to gain from borrowing.

Thrugelmir

CLAPTON wrote: »

Do you think it is working in Ireland and Greece?

Yes. As difficult as it is to comprehend. In the West we are overpaid and value our assets too highly. Much of our wealth comes from historical sources. We did not earn it as such.

Eire and Greece are just the forerunners for an era of fundamental change.

PaulF81

Even as a dyed in the wool Tory, I can recognize Alistair not only as a decent Chancellor, but also a decent politician, for not only being honest with the electorate about the state we were in, but for managing the pathetic challenge Brown put up against him when Alistair spoke his mind.

lvader

You can't assume borrowing costs would stay low if the current prudent fiscal policy was abandond.

Graham_Devon

Ilya_Ilyich wrote: »

If growth outstrips our borrowing costs then borrowing to increase growth makes our debt burden lower. If your credit card let you borrow at 2% over the next decade and you could invest for a return of 4% then you'd stand to gain from borrowing.

But the credit card interest is variable. Upon borrowing more, you may find the lender jacks up the interest as you are now a higher risk.

If that effects your credit rating, and you need to find another source of credit, you could find yourself in a tricky position.

Credit agencies simply wouldn't be amused by your plan, and that would increase the costs of our debts.

Hello Greece.