Dave's cuts are going be deep and they will hurt

[FellatioNelson]

I've been hearing this all day on the radio. I can't take the suspense any longer. They are going to affect the lives of 'every one of us'

I feel like a person wincing and clenching my teeth in anticipation of the big fuck-off needle the school nurse is wielding, and I'm next in the queue....

Come on then, what's it going to be?

Sorry mint cross post.

That is all true, but I still find the constant 'blame Labour' a bit gallin as it really isn't that black and white.

The trouble is, so many people have come to feel 'entitled' to a standard of living that was never sustainable.

How about re-nationalising all the natural resources in this country? So we all get a share of the oil, leccy, gas etc. If it belonged to the country rather than shareholders, wouldn't life be cheaper for us all?

The Fatcats can still run them (bless 'em - don't want to sack anyone ) but their salaries can be capped.

The thing is though, if you're in debt, you don't stop eating for a month to try and pay it off, do you? You make sure you have food/rent/utilities and you give everything left over to your creditors, having told them of your planned repayments.

Shiny Hammy Dave seems to be trying to pay back so much in one go that he's actually going to cripple the country.

Look children, we're out of debt! Oh, you're all dying in the streets. Never mind, doesn't it feel good to be solvent?

It's worrying that the markets are dipping because of the fear of a 'double dip'.

Good point, FreshHell.

Good name, too.

And whilst we're dying, he'll still be blaming Gordo.

I'm not saying don't make cuts. Cuts need to be made, clearly.

I just worry that they're going in so hard and so deep that it's going to put millions of people into penury.

Second home owners should pay double council tax on the second home. If they don't even stay there on any kind of regular basis (unless they are maybe doing it up I suppose) then they should pay triple. Too many people are desparate for decent housing in this country for houses to be sitting around empty.

There should be a law that, when a council house is bought by the tenants, the money HAS to be used to buy a new council house in the area, on normal streets (I imagine the council would put in low offers on houses for sale, some people would sell, better for them than not being able to sell an empty house and the country gets a new asset which can be rented out to families that don't have to be ghettoised on council estates. It would take the fear and messing about of being a private tenant out of peoples lives, energise the economy a bit and stop people leaving houses empty)

LadyBlaBlah - I did not insinuate anything. I simply stated the facts. You stated that the "£4 for every £3" figure came out of thin air. It didn't. It was the actual outcome for the last financial year. Even if you remove the stimulus the government would still have spent substantially more than its income. I did not suggest that the deficit was routinely that big. But it is simply not true that the figure was conjured up out of thin air as you stated.

Some more facts for you from Alistair Darling's budget.

For 2010/11 the government planned to spend £704 billion against income of £541 billion, so the deficit was due to rise to £163 billion. This meant it was planning to spend over £3.90 for every £3 income. I could add that most experts viewed the governments forecasts for growth as optimistic. If growth was indeed lower than the government predicted, income would be lower than predicted and expenditure would be higher.

The government spent more than its income every year since 2001. Government debt more than doubled in that time, even if we exclude the stimulus. If we take the stimulus into account government debt has nearly trebled. Either it was a deliberate policy to spend more than its income or the government was economically incompetent. Given that every single budget the government produced in that time showed a deficit, I would suggest that it was indeed government policy to spend more than its income, apparently in the hope that continuing economic growth would eventually resolve the problem.

If things get bad I will have to go bankrupted as I wouldn't be able to pay my debts off as well as feed my family, am hoping that as parents of disabled kids we are kinda safe, but don't trust Dave at all.

I don't really get this whole global recession. If almost every country has a deficit, then who is lending the money? Who exactly do we owe money to?

The government borrows money primarily by selling bonds, commonly known as gilts, to investors such as banks, wealthy individuals, pension funds, etc. The government pays interest to the holders of these bonds every 6 months at a fixed rate and at some date in the future has to pay back the capital. So, for example, a 5% Treasury Gilt 2055 will pay interest at 5% with the capital being repaid in 2055.

If investors think there is a risk that the government will not be able to pay its debts they won't buy gilts as they will be seen as too risky. The government then has to increase the rate of interest offered in order to sell the gilts needed to finance its deficit. This in turn results in interest rates generally going up.

Ahh I see, thanks ph47.

I think Dave's cuts are going to be rather too shallow. Budget deficit will be around £160bn. Cuts will be around £6.2 bn. We'll still be carrying the largest deficit in Europe, won't we?

Is it time to insist that the Royal Family be televised weekly? Bits of it can be scripted and bits freeflowing. Queenie in her nightie and curlers. DofE cursing immigrants. Everyone groaning and hiding behind the sofas when Dave comes round. Plots to get the corgies to bite Fergie. Syndicate it and make billions. Easy.

Oh and axe all the final salary pension schemes. For MPs as well.

Your figures are relative to GDP. In simple terms however, ie in absolute numbers, Britain does have the biggest deficit. Greece has a bigger deficit as a proportion of gdp, but then its gdp is not very large.

TheCappster - We are paying off old gilts all the time. Some of the new borrowing is to pay off old borrowing. Of course, if we weren't running a deficit we could pay off some of the borrowing out of the government surplus.