To think there is no more money?

[Rainbowsponge]

And Labour have admitted this.

So many threads saying X or Y needs to be ‘properly funded’ (even though most of the time our spending is actually in line with comparable countries), but no acknowledgment of the fact there’s no money to spend.

And when you bring it up, posters completely ignore you or accuse you of being Jacob Rees Mogg

Wouldn’t the quality of debate be improved if we stopped burying our heads in the sand?

@Hedgeoffressian completely agree.

We can't afford the public services that we want right now. We need to streamline & prioritise.

The economy is many times worse than Labours joke about no money being left - its like this after every Tory government (facts can be found in gov stats if anyone doesn't believe me).

But we need to invest to get a return so we can kick start the economy.

Gordon Brown was a brilliant Chancellor of the Exchequer and Rachel will follow him to be a great Chanceller because she has experience as well as heart. She is prioritising on the basis of value and returns so not everything will get all the funding it needs right away.

Sometimes we need to trust the process. This is one of those times.

Is that based on having children and associated benefits? I don’t have children (although I’m on MN!) and can’t work out why I wouldn’t be a net contributor? Very interested to hear if I’m not!

I think the MPC set the interest rate. You can auction government bonds but the international money markets influence their value, plus such borrowing has to be paid for.

Imo, fuck Ukraine. People are starving and dying of cold ffs.

You may not like vanity projects although bear in mind that the dome is now used for events that attract a lot of visitors and if you want to have a vibrant tourism and entertainment industry then you have to make a certain amount of investment. But vanity projects are a red herring compared to public services.

The NHS costs over £200 billion a year. Pensions over £130 billion. Other benefits £130 billion.

So if you're saying you don't want to pay taxes because it will just go towards vanity projects then you're lying to yourself.

Or we could increase taxes on richer old people and their estates when they die.

Taxes need to be spread better and not just forever increased only on workers.

I agree inheritance tax makes sense.

Duh! Some of that is because of Ukraine, hence why we need to help sort it!

No. I don’t believe this.

Some types of spending by the state are investments that will
pay off in the long run though.

More decent council housing should lead to less housing benefit payments for extortionate private rents.
Investment in things like Sure Start and decent provision for young people can have long lasting positive impacts, less cost from antisocial behaviour and better/higher paying jobs for children who received solid foundations and a positive start in life.
Good, reliable infrastructure and services attract businesses and investors.
Investment in repair and maintenance of buildings and infrastructure avoids catastrophic failures, crumbling schools etc…

That’s why austerity was such a costly mistake. “Saving” money in the wrong place ends up being incredibly expensive!

@Towelmode I'm a pensioner and DH and I pay quite a lot of tax on our mainly public sector pensions, as do most of the people we know. Just like the rest of society some of us contribute financially and some of us don't . I just wish the ageist assumption that we are all in the same boat once we are past 66 would change.

I’m not in the UK but it’s the 6th largest economy in the world. There’s money,

Encourage young people to only have children once married / stable with a suitable spouse. Contraception isn't difficult & is free so there's no excuse for having 5 children by 5 different useless dads by the age of 20 (obvi exaggerating!!!)

Then, when sadly relationships break down, the NRP needs to work + pay a substantial amount. Taxpayer shouldn't be subsiding lazy parents.

Explosion in single parent families is a tragedy on an individual, emotional, financial & societal scale.

see my 2012 link upthread. But yes of course it depends on how much you use public services. You were educated, you use the NHS, you drive on the roads, you will draw a pension.......

Oh please do @FictionalCharacter ... would love to know ...

Thank you!

And what a nasty bout of inflation we suffered as a result!

THIS!

…because we were faced with a serious infectious disease that was sweeping the world. We had to borrow to pay for the medical, social and economic deficits it caused. So we borrowed. That’s why we have had to do something about the debt since.

Do you not like facts? Best not to just believe the Tory spin.

And once we get some of the billions back from Dido, Mone et Al we will have a bit more money in the pot.

To be honest, assisted dying will become law in the foreseeable and from there, it will a slow slide towards June being euthanised at say 82. When she has enjoyed her fixed term on the state pension of however many years. We just have to hope that we aren’t shuffled off to the wilderness earlier, fed insects, etc because we have used up our lifetime carbon allowance.

Who is starving in the UK?

When was the last time somebody in the UK starved to death unless there were extremely unusual circumstances at play?

oh my good Lord 🙄

this is why the country is bankrupt and those that pay lots of tax will start leaving in droves, if they haven’t done so already

That just means a lot of people live here, now look at per capita that is what people notice.