Obvallated oakus: oppignorating ourselves...

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2.5 trillion. Two point five TRILLION. That is now the UK national debt. No matter that we see chronic wastage everywhere: on Net Zero (Milliband brothers clown show), IT failures, Quantative Easing, Bank bailouts, HS2, Furlough (yes, we won't forget), Track and Trace, (is Hancock in gaol?), more levels of government, more expenses, more overpaid shysters, etc, etc...etc (and NO it has nothing to do with Liz ousted-in-a-soft-coup Truss). [edit: Every WEEK the interest is 100 billion...Every. Week. ] Sorry: Last year debt interest was 100 billion. 

"In the time it takes you to read this sentence, the national debt has increased by more than £20,000."

Or almost 16 million quid per HOUR. The UK debt clock can be see HERE and I recall when it passed one trillion; yes, at 16 minutes past five in the afternoon of 17th Jan 2011 to be exact; how can I be so sure? Because I blogged an update back then. 

The Tax Payer's Alliance have relaunched their "ticking debt clock! 15 years after our original ground breaking campaign publicising the extent of the UK’s national debt." Yippee! 

Searching through the archives it isn't hard to see where the problem began to skyrocket, although to be clear it is decades of red and blue and all governments are to blame. It is just a shame The Guardian have removed all the comments (OK, it is 11 years ago - ahem - but I would have liked to have reread an Old Ows opinion and my 'highly recommended' points: presumably NOT as petty as this: 

"What irritated me was that in the image [...] they had squeezed the picture of [Gordon] Brown far to the left making him appear over only those 'good' years of surplus (which was when, as we all know, he followed Conservative spending plans) and have the picture of Darling spread over most of the Crash Gordon years and we ALL now know, and it isn't hard to see, that Britain's debt soared from 2000 and Brown was to blame. It is petty things like the positioning of the Chancellors' pictures that annoy me (yes, yes, OK, I'm small minded and petty when it comes to Gordon Brown). 

Yes, despite the Conservatives not helping (Blue Labour) I still blame New Labour (Blair, Brown et el...) and you won't change my mind.

Anyway, you may have heard of the Big Mac Index, well the UK national debt (at this moment in time...on no, now it's gone up...and using the World Population Clock) could buy 72 Big Macs, for each and every single living person on the planet...yes, that's the reason for the image above :-) 

Obvious onslaught on one's oakus...

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BoJo seems to have gone stir crazy, a sort of demob happy in reverse. The overbudget, behind schedule, no business case, no environmental case, unwanted and unneeded HS2, the Huawei bullet (now dodged maybe), possible fuel tax rises, green zero carbon eco-lunacy etc. money money money.



The graph highlights the good work done (slowly but surely) over the last decade to reduce borrowing (spending!). Now it is all set to go pear shaped. That said, the graph really does pop the bubble and highlight the lies of the 'austerity' screamers* (quadruple, triple and double the 2007 borrowing from 2009-2016...and they didn't hide it under the mattress). Spending has been more than income since 2002.

Graph hat-tip: Guido.

Full info debt, deficit, borrowing, receipts etc: UK Gov ONS Public Sector Finances.



* It may have been just a 'vote for me' gimmick but BoJo was wrong to say "austerity" was 'not the way forward'.

Obvious onslaught on one's oakus...

---

BoJo seems to have gone stir crazy, a sort of demob happy in reverse. The overbudget, behind schedule, no business case, no environmental case, unwanted and unneeded HS2, the Huawei bullet (now dodged maybe), possible fuel tax rises, green zero carbon eco-lunacy etc. money money money.

The graph highlights the good work done (slowly but surely) over the last decade to reduce borrowing (spending!). Now it is all set to go pear shaped. That said, the graph really does pop the bubble and highlight the lies of the 'austerity' screamers* (quadruple, triple and double the 2007 borrowing from 2009-2016...and they didn't hide it under the mattress). Spending has been more than income since 2002.

Graph hat-tip: Guido.
Full info debt, deficit, borrowing, receipts etc: UK Gov ONS Public Sector Finances.

* It may have been just a 'vote for me' gimmick but BoJo was wrong to say "austerity" was 'not the way forward'.

Outstanding Osborne...

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It looks a bit blurred; click to enlarge for clearer view...

Britain is now running a current budget surplus. OK, I know it wasn't all George Osborne but credit where it is due. An outstanding achievement, albeit slightly later than originally forecast. And guess what, the BBC are actually reporting it, although not on their Home Page, nor main News page and already a long way down the list on the UK Politics page. And, as it is the BBC, with the twist of the knife in the headline link "Cameron and Osborne hail austerity plan" giving it the 'evil' look that allows Labour fools in with such ridiculous comments: "Labour accused them of 'egotistical boasting' while families suffered." FFS, can't think why cuts in spending were necessary, can you, Labour Party? And the plan was NEVER 'austerity' anyway, merely cutting back gross excess and trimming. And when they claim local authorities are closing libraries due to nasty Tory austerity cuts ask them why the same Councils have gambled with public money (hundreds of millions in savings in Icelandic banks revealed after the crash, by 2014 they had most back) and are currently spending hundreds of millions on "punting like drunken sailors" on "hedge fund-style activity". [2017 FT, requires registration]

Anyway, [edited] research published by the International Monetary Fund "Climbing Out of Debt, A new study offers more evidence that cutting spending is less harmful to growth than raising taxes" [LINK] [PDF] said Britain set an example for other countries to follow in slashing the deficit by cutting public spending, rather than raising taxes. [DT] "Our conclusion runs against the basic Keynesian message, which implies that spending cuts are more recessionary than tax increases"... "On the contrary, our study confirms that expenditure-based plans generally were less harmful to growth than tax-based plans.".



Well done David Cameron, well done George Osborne and team. Well done the Conservative Party.



Despite Brexit :-)

Outstanding Osborne...

---

It looks a bit blurred; click to enlarge for clearer view...

Britain is now running a current budget surplus. OK, I know it wasn't all George Osborne but credit where it is due. An outstanding achievement, albeit slightly later than originally forecast. And guess what, the BBC are actually reporting it, although not on their Home Page, nor main News page and already a long way down the list on the UK Politics page. And, as it is the BBC, with the twist of the knife in the headline link "Cameron and Osborne hail austerity plan" giving it the 'evil' look that allows Labour fools in with such ridiculous comments: "Labour accused them of 'egotistical boasting' while families suffered." FFS, can't think why cuts in spending were necessary, can you, Labour Party? And the plan was NEVER 'austerity' anyway, merely cutting back gross excess and trimming. And when they claim local authorities are closing libraries due to nasty Tory austerity cuts ask them why the same Councils have gambled with public money (hundreds of millions in savings in Icelandic banks revealed after the crash, by 2014 they had most back) and are currently spending hundreds of millions on "punting like drunken sailors" on "hedge fund-style activity". [2017 FT, requires registration]

Anyway, [edited] research published by the International Monetary Fund "Climbing Out of Debt, A new study offers more evidence that cutting spending is less harmful to growth than raising taxes" [LINK] [PDF] said Britain set an example for other countries to follow in slashing the deficit by cutting public spending, rather than raising taxes. [DT] "Our conclusion runs against the basic Keynesian message, which implies that spending cuts are more recessionary than tax increases"... "On the contrary, our study confirms that expenditure-based plans generally were less harmful to growth than tax-based plans.".

Well done David Cameron, well done George Osborne and team. Well done the Conservative Party.

Despite Brexit :-)