Not Paying Down Deficit-Cons Think Voters Cant Understand Sums

PaulF81

Back to the op, half the electorate can't do sums. The half that vote labour.

CLAPTON

PaulF81 wrote: »

Back to the op, half the electorate can't do sums. The half that vote labour.

It's well known that there are three types of people; those that can do maths and those that can't.

DecentLivingWage

Here we go (this wouldnt fit in tiny title box - I precis'd it as best as i could for the thread title!)

'Britain runs two big deficits – a budget deficit and a trade deficit. Much is said about the former, too little attention paid to the latter.

It is clearly a worry for the chancellor that it is taking longer than expected to bring down the level of government borrowing, but the trends in the current account are more worrying. In the past, a 25% depreciation in sterling, of the sort seen in the first 18 months of the financial crisis, would have been sufficient to boost exports, limit imports and turn the trade figures around. Not this time. The current account deficit in 2012 was higher than it was in 2007.

Britain's poor record in exporting to the fast-growing economies of the developing world is said to be the reason for this weak performance. (contd with other views)

(Guardian)

DecentLivingWage

chewmylegoff wrote: »

You cannot "pay down" a deficit, although I don't expect you to understand why.

An explanatory paragraph wouldnt fit in the title box! see above

chewmylegoff

A deficit is an excess of spending over income. To pay for the excess of spending you borrow money, increasing your debt. Debt can be "paid down", a deficit cannot be. Given your choice of thread title it is somewhat ironic that you clearly don't understand this.

PS the deficit is lower that it was at the beginning of this parliament, and it would be higher under labour as they are advocating higher public spending.

ukcarper

chewmylegoff wrote: »

A deficit is an excess of spending over income. To pay for the excess of spending you borrow money, increasing your debt. Debt can be "paid down", a deficit cannot be. Given your choice of thread title it is somewhat ironic that you clearly don't understand this.

PS the deficit is lower that it was at the beginning of this parliament, and it would be higher under labour as they are advocating higher public spending.

that isn't necessary true the spending would be higher but the amount of money raised could be higher.

StevieJ

chewmylegoff wrote: »

A deficit is an excess of spending over income. To pay for the excess of spending you borrow money, increasing your debt. Debt can be "paid down", a deficit cannot be. Given your choice of thread title it is somewhat ironic that you clearly don't understand this.

PS the deficit is lower that it was at the beginning of this parliament, and it would be higher under labour as they are advocating higher public spending.

That may be the case but it is not a given, higher public spending may encourage more growth and thus more income.

DecentLivingWage

Cons themselves have likened it to an overdraft! cutting,paying off,back,down,up - terminology matters less than actually doing it, which osborne said he would and for all that pain for the least able to carry it - he hasnt,its grown.

Generali

DecentLivingWage wrote: »

Cons themselves have likened it to an overdraft! cutting,paying off,back,down,up - terminology matters less than actually doing it, which osborne said he would and for all that pain for the least able to carry it - he hasnt,its grown.

So neither of you know what you're talking about.

"Sometimes it's better to stay silent and risk looking a fool than to speak and remove all doubt" (Twain paraphrased).

Fella

Higher public spending may well have made things worse & not just in terms of how much we owe.

http://www.cityam.com/forum/the-real-world-high-taxes-restrict-economic-growth

Ed Balls would love everyone to be stupid enough to believe his garbage but thankfully most people remember he was the imcompetent who got us into so much debt & deficit to begin with, therefore his views are worthless.