AIBU to not know the answer to this question

[bumpsoon]

Ok economics has never been my strong point ,but when ds1 asked me last night how much the country had given to the banks and what % that was of the current deficit , i honestly didnt have a clue . All i could say was it was an immense amount of money . Can anyone help me out before he gets back from school ? as i played the 'its too late and i have a fractious baby' card last night .

How old is DS? Sounds like a lesson in googling could be imminent.

Tell your DS there's a difference between 'debt' and 'deficit' for a kick-off. Debt is an amount you have to pay back over time (think 'mortgage'). Deficit is the ongoing difference between what you spend month to month and what you have coming in (think 'overdraft'). The country invested an initial £37bn in 2008 and I think that £50bn was the top limit we would have been prepared to go to. The national debt at the moment is about £927bn. The difference between what we get in and what we spend is about £149bn (12.6% of GDP).... some of that is made up with interest on the national debt. So the amount given to the banks affected the £927bn but it's the £149bn that everyone's trying to bring down....

Oh and YANBU to not know the answer. In fact, it's a racing certainty that somewhere in my answer I've got the wrong end of the stick. :) BTW... the amount given to the banks in exchange for shares could potentially generate a profit once the finance industry recovers.

The last Labour government overspent every year for its entire term so every year we built up more debt. Even without the bank bailout we'd be in a real mess now.

What about telling him : "Nobody knows. This is why it is so important for you to become an accountant and FIND OUT." After all, accountants were the heroes of the Enron saga, weren't they?

thankyou chil ,that makes alot of sense , the smug little git did infact know the answer ,he is doing a'level economics ,he just wanted to see if i knew . He did have the good grace to laugh when i suggested we move our national debt to an interest free credit card for 12 months ,im sure barclays would be up for it