Does austerity work

Jokester · 28 Aug 2017 at 21:41

stewski said:
I will say if we are after national examples of economies performing better than the U.K. over the last 10 years under George Gideon Osborne (your preference to Cable) and Phil Spreadsheet Hammond, at this point it's the whole G7 with a bunch of other interesting cases.
Something not working for sure!

Well we did go from top performer to bottom as a result of Brexit I think didn't we?

https://www.libdems.org.uk/uk-growth-now-highest-in-the-g7

Slam62 · 28 Aug 2017 at 21:42

Went to see a comedian the other night, one of his lines ( with regard to the political situation) was ' I don't know what's going on, do you know what's going on?' and a reference to the DUP telling May it's their turn to have a go.

Jokester · 28 Aug 2017 at 21:44

stewski said:
From that source.

An admission that the ONS fudges GDP figures?

Slam62 · 28 Aug 2017 at 21:48

stewski said:
From that source.

LOL what the hell has 'free lunch' got to do with (a dig at the journalist not you) it's just a number , it means nothing to anyone except a load of bureaucrats, oh and apparently gave the EU an excuse to grab more money.

stewski · 28 Aug 2017 at 21:48

Jokester said:
An admission that the ONS fudges GDP figures?

Not sure that's my takeaway, not that I advocate the inclusion of illegal economic activity estimates.
They suggest it will be levelled to fit historic spending/gdp figures.

stewski · 28 Aug 2017 at 21:49

Slam62 said:
LOL what the hell has 'free lunch' got to do with (a dig at the journalist not you) it's just a number , it means nothing to anyone except a load of bureaucrats, oh and apparently gave the EU an excuse to grab more money.

That quote is talking specifically about preventing the issue claimed on this thread.

Jokester · 28 Aug 2017 at 21:51

stewski said:
Not sure that's my takeaway, not that I advocate the inclusion of illegal economic activity estimates.
They say it will be levelled to fit historic spending/gdp figures.

The disturbing thing was that they would revise up our debt to match the increase the revised GDP figures - hang on, surely they should know how much the government actually owes?

I agree, I'm not sure measuring the black economy has any real benefit in terms of GDP, is it taxable?

stewski · 28 Aug 2017 at 21:51

Jokester said:
Well we did go from top performer to bottom as a result of Brexit I think didn't we?

https://www.libdems.org.uk/uk-growth-now-highest-in-the-g7

You think?
Almost certainly had an effect but when did the spiral begin and will it end?

Slam62 · 28 Aug 2017 at 21:56

stewski said:
That quote is talking specifically about preventing the issue claimed on this thread.

The thing is GDP is a number which can be manipulated at will, debt is debt. I would have thought.

Slam62 · 28 Aug 2017 at 21:58

stewski said:
That quote is talking specifically about preventing the issue claimed on this thread.

Hmm did they take into account the prostitutes and drug dealers contribution to government debt or did they find some more debt down the back of the sofa.

stewski · 28 Aug 2017 at 22:02

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator...2016&locations=GB-PT-US&start=2005&view=chart

Useful graph widget here for gdp growth by country.
In the 2005 -2016 period there is a sharp dip for portugal (during austerity) other than that performance looks similar in parts across the three.

stewski · 28 Aug 2017 at 22:03

Slam62 said:
The thing is GDP is a number which can be manipulated at will, debt is debt. I would have thought.

We actually pay interest on that debt, our ability to service the debt affects the cost, we were never Greece!