How miserable are you that the Tories are in power?

[sundayrose10]

I feel tense and twitchy. I used to enjoy reading the politic section/ other political forums, but I fear if I keep on going there and reading more and more about Tory plans, I will give myself a heart attack.

I loath them but worst I fear them. I am anxious for this country and the ordinary man and woman.

Dave makes me feel insane with hatred.

I have a colleague who is in love with the Tories. I don't share biscuits with him any more.

Dave makes me itch. All over.

"claig- The cuts that are being implemented are to reduce the deficit, the current budget deficit was not caused by the banking crisis contrary to Labour Party propaganda"

There was an ongoing structural deficit before the crisis which sadly Osborne and Co were in denial of too. To claim it wasn't massively exacerbated by the crisis and resultant recession is a bit disingenuous though.

I doubt that the NOW is the only paper doing such things. There is probably more to come. I am sure the papers knew but they didn't tell the public.

12bn is approx 10% of our deficit. That would be a huge cut, but it won't be made.

"But the deficit is not historically high."

excuse me?

currenty i often hear people claim ridiculously low levels as 'serviceable' - to claim, for instance, that someone can only afford 3* main salary where that would mean repayments about 1/2 of the average rent afforded round here over 20 years.....silly.

We've been through all this on other threads. I haven't got time to google the historical figures, I can't remember where they all are. But other MN economists found them and it is not historically high. It was much higher after teh war and we built the NHS and it has been higher since the war too.
I think HHLimbo might know where to find the historical comparisons, I can't remember.

claig- The current budget deficit is the highest since the war so I don't know where you're getting these figures from. This country is a bond market confidence loss away from an economic catastrophe.

Is this yet another Tory / Daily Mail article of faith on which you and the Daily Mail / Conservatives disagree?

Do you agree with them on anything?

I don't believe we are in the state we are in because of Labour spending. It was a global crisis caused by speculative, gambling derivatives dealing which inevitably collapsed like a pack of cards. It wouldn't have been so much different under the Tories. The Tories had their own financial crises like our exit from the ERM. They all called Gordon Brown, Prudence, they bigged him up. He wasn't as good as they made out, but nor was he as bad.

'Do you agree with them on anything?'

I agree with them on more than I agree with Labour/The Guardian.

'This country is a bond market confidence loss away from an economic catastrophe.'

I don't believe that. If it was they would cut teh foreign aid budget, but instead (as we all knew they would) they have increased it and reingfenced it. If it was as bad as you say then interest rates would have to go up to 15% like they did when Lamont put them that high during the Tories' ERM crisis.

Claig, why do you keep mentioning the foreign aid budget?

Why should that be cut instead of something else?

claig- If interest rates on Government bonds spiked then this country would have an enormous problem and would more than likely require external assistance from the IMF, the situation is that serious

Because it is approx 10% of teh deficit and if the country was close to collapse, then that would be the first thing to be cut rather than essential services like life support machines. The fact that they have increased it shows that we are not really close to economic ruin.

Ah ok, so foreign aid isn't important and the only alternative to cutting that would be to turn off life support machines?

So long as we've got that clear, eh?

Don't forget Denis Healey once called the IMF in. We are not even at that stage. If we were then just like the United States has already done, we would be cutting our foreign aid budget until we were in a better financial position.

Yes, ShellyBoobs, foreign aid to India with its space programme and more billionaires than we have in England is less important than our essential services.

No we're not at that stage because the Governmnt with its deficit reduction programme has maintained the confidence of the markets.

By what percentage has it reduced the 147bn deficit?

The entire deficit will be eradicated by the end of the Parliament. They haven't had chance to reduce it much yet as their spending plans only came into force in April

Good, let's hope so. When was the last time that we did not have any deficit?

Next you'll be telling us that the UK tops the tables for foreign aid spending.

The UK spends more than any other G8 country as a percentage of GDP

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1391334/Britain-doles-aid-country-despite-savage-cutbacks-home.html

Despite the fact that we are in a worse financial state than any other G8 nation.

"The UK spends more than any other G8 country as a percentage of GDP"

No it doesn't.

Just because the Mail says so, doesn't make it true.