Why the Tories could even make the debt worse

[happikidz]

Interesting to see so many posts saying only the Tories can be trusted on the economy. The argument goes that the government is just like a household or small business. If households can and must make savings when times are tough then so should the government. This ignores the fact that the government, unlike a household, is a major driver of the economy. It is precisely when households and businesses are cutting spending that the Government needs to keep spending so that we don't have a vicious circle of unemployment, repossessions and business failure. All of those would add to the debt. This was precisely the mistake that was made in the 1930s when governments responded to the financial crisis by cutting spending which turned it into a decade long depression. Cameron wouldn't have stopped the banks collapsing and would have been a dreadful disaster on a global scale.

It wasn't so much the cutting spending that exacerbated the Depression but the global protectionism that most countries undertook.

"Interesting to see so many posts saying only the Tories can be trusted on the economy."

And who was it that saved our collective bacon the last time Labour did this? Oh yes, those lovely conservatives.

GB doesn't have a clue.

VC thinks he can pay for a replacement trident and a £10,000 tax break and all his other goodies out of the money saved from trident.

DC at least has a will, a way and an inclination to save the economy and my grandchildren from footing GB's bill.

Business should be the major driver of the economy, not the Government. The amount spent on Government drives up the debt and makes it less likely that it will be paid back.

My kids will be leaving here rather than work so that DC and his cronies can lord it up over them.

Whatever party is managing the economy they will have to make some nasty choices on spending. Currently the spending exceeds the national income by some 29% .... It's simply not sustainable to keep borrowing & spending at that rate unless everyone's tax bill is massively hiked. Tax people a lot more and they have spend less. Tax business more and they employ fewer people. There goes your economy, just the same.

The Tory plans at the moment show a smaller increase in tax than Labour but a higher increase in spending cuts than Labour. That would be true to type. Labour go for 'tax and spend', Tories go for 'tax less and spend less'. The LD's are closer on the numbers to the Tories than Labour. All of them are a long way short of what's needed... be under no illusion about that.

What would have happened if DC had been PM in 2008 can only be theoretical.

It also depends on what the books really show after the election. I have a sneaking suspicion it is much worse than we have been told.

I would agree with that assessment scary. I don't, for a minute, believe that we have been told the whole truth. Which is patronising and frightening.

Don't forget all those lovely shiney hospitals and schools done through PPI don't even appear on the UKs balance sheet.

We have truly fucked over our grandchildren's generation as it will take decades to pay this ginormous debt off.

There do have to be substantial cuts but we do not have to panic and pull the plug too early out of fear or an aversion to public sector activity. The necessary cuts are not so terrible if we keep reasonable growth. Growth will be the biggest driver of debt. By saving 700,000 jobs this year through labour's fiscal stimulus we have saved 15billion in borrowing. If we secure they recovery we can have sustainable, fair and sensible reductions in debt. The timing is the issue.