to tell you that £1trillion of national debit equals £35,090 for every person in employment?

[TheRealTillyMinto]

We owe £16,059 for every man, woman and child
That's more than £35,090 for every person in employment
Every household will pay £2,108 this year, just to cover the interest

This interest is taxes that dont get spent on the NHS, welfare or anything useful.

AIBU to say did you have any idea the debt this big? because i didnt. we are all in this together and we are all f**ked:

• if 2 people work in your household, your share of the debt is £70k.
• if you are a high rate tax payer, how much of the debt do you think is your fair share?

(& this isnt supposed to be a benefits thread, so if you dont want it to be about benefits, please dont make it about them. it doesnt have to be that way.....)

Tilly
I quite agree that you buy the bond back - but what with and at what premium?
Which is why in the real world they tend to to run to the end.
Also, interest tends to crystallise on maturity - all traded premiums are on unrealised interest
and what is there to invest in in Norway that would cope with such a mahoosive inflow of capital ....

we are still triple A so the spread is low.

there is a buy price and a sell price for any financial product (including UK govt debt). if the product is risky the difference between the two prices is larger. this is the spread.

UK is lowest risk level so the difference between the buy and sell is small.

Tilly
and its interesting that some countries - Ireland in particular - have kept their spreads pretty low despite the drop in rating

Norwegians are lovely - I agree with that!

isnt ireland seen to be 'taking its medicine?'

large spread = high risk
small spread = low risk

you cannot argue against that ....unless you would like to buy this brdge i have for sale upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Tower_bridge_London_Twilight_-_November_2006.jpg.... ????

i make you veeery special price....

Hedgeblog, thank you for your teachings. I understand and appreciate your 'the economy for dummies' lesson.

Tilly, I'll have that bridge. It'll look lovely in my fforjd.

isnt ireland seen to be 'taking its medicine?'

If they were smart they'd do an Iceland and default.

The British people have been truly shafted and are being shafted as we speak.

Well the tax I pay this year will exactly cover my share. Sorted. [Refills glass.]

but they dont write it down in a little book do they....

tinkertotonk - national debt - tick

we could of course divide it by salary?

Salary Share of debt
20,000 26,923
30,000 40,385
40,000 53,846
50,000 67,308
60,000 80,769
70,000 94,231
80,000 107,692
90,000 121,154
100,000 134,615

what do you think is fair?

They don't? Bugger I thought there might be a snag but I couldn't see it. [Empties glass in thoughtful fashion.]

yep - keep looking in the bottom of the glass for the answer

i do actually want to know what posters think about what is fair...so if you could keep drinkingthinking?