UK Debt - Where did all the money go?

EU
Quangos (these are basically gov funded start-ups that do no real work nor offer any ROI)
Social housing and benefits
NHS
IT projects, only 10% of which actually offer a ROI due to mismanagement
Iraq war and other defence projects, all of which have been mismanaged
Millenium Dome
MP expenses
Councils and generally lazy and out-of-touch public sector workers
 
I say we give Prince Charles a metal armour suit, a sword, shield and a kings crown, give him a small army. Get him to kill all the creditors and wipe all records.
 
Dont know if it's been said, but many 1st world countries are in debt. For instance the U.S owes China alone almost $4 Trillion. And $14 Trillion total to other countries.

The U.K's debt was £0.89 Trillion at the end of April 2010.
 
MR.B said:
Dont know if it's been said, but many 1st world countries are in debt. For instance the U.S owes China alone almost $4 Trillion. And $14 Trillion total to other countries.

The U.K's debt was £0.89 Trillion at the end of April 2010.
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Most of what the US owes is to itself and its citizens in the form of treasuries and social obligations. Only something like 4% of US debt is to China. They owe China about 800 billion.
 
Ivan Drago said:


It is completely absurd that a sovereign nation should be in debt to private creditors. That's what happens when the creation and control of money is almost entirely privatised.

This can't last forever though.
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Why is it absurd?

Say you are the PM today with authoritarian control. It is currently t = 0 with d(t) = 0 where t is time and and d is stock of debt at t.

You have the choice of running a budget deficit and borrowing money or running a balanced budget (or even running surpluses to accumulate assets). Which would you do given the current climate?

Secondly, if you do run the deficit, and it is private institutions and people offering to lend you that money, why would you refuse?

Finally, a government can actually have nominal and real debt forever. There's something special about countries that allows this. Debt is passed between generations indefinitely (rather than private debt being restricted to an individual or entity for as long as it or they survive).

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As for the OP, borrowed money isn't earmarked for anything. You have a expenditures and income with the difference doing one of 2 things. Adding to the stock of debt or reducing the stock of debt*.

*Debt usually has to be a liability and so a better word would be to use is assets. So you can have both positive and negative assets rather than with debt referring to just the negative side.
 
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britboy4321 said:
No, I'm saying debt is not a bad thing if the chances are it, including any interest, it will give you more benefit than pain.

Another example for clarity. If it costs me £1000 a month, so £12000 a year to get the train to work,

or £5000 to run a car for a year to work all in ..

if you can't afford it currently, it's worth borrowing £5000 to get the car, even if I pay back a total of £8000 after interest on the 1 year loan. It effectively makes me a £4K profit after I've paid the debt with interest, though would incorrectly be classed by some people simply as 'OMG he has put himself into £8000 of debt what a stupid head he is debted to the eyeballs NIGHTMARE ..' .. who would be right?

So your 'I'll never ever have debt EVER' policy could well in some circumstances cost you more money than opting for the debt! Could be a bad economic policy that costs you dearly ..

The same kind of principles work on an international scale ..
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Yeh, I know what you were saying. I no debt isn't a bad thing aslong as it can be managed. In this case theres a crisis going on. It's too big and not healthy for the country.

Yes, I can understand how people can live their life of creaming interest of others but what I am saying is that if there was a limit to how much debt people could get into then this issue would be a lot smaller and a lot less to worry about. Hell there might not even have been an economy crash.

In my eyes I think if the UK people never got into debt they couldn't payback and get black listed there wouldn't have been this major issue going on now. I just don't get why people would do it. Bad choices in life maybe? Banks been too greedy and taking high chances? The government allowing such thing to happen? e.t.c.

I am just a tad confused to why this has come about and why us as humans has let this happen. I don't get into debt because I know that it's not me that has contributed to it and the end result is I have everything paid for in my pocket with no risks attached. I'm sorry but theres a lot of people who do get into debt big style and I question why... I can't get answers to specific reasons behind why someone would do it.

I'm not a person to want to gain from other peopless loss so there you have it. I don't borrow money to people. I do help my family out and that's it. Not even friends. I tell them simple no, sort it out yourself.

I could understand millions for the government to be in debt.... but trillions I mean come onnnnn!!
 
iDroid84 said:
Yeh, I know what you were saying. I no debt isn't a bad thing aslong as it can be managed. In this case theres a crisis going on. It's too big and not healthy for the country.

Yes, I can understand how people can live their life of creaming interest of others but what I am saying is that if there was a limit to how much debt people could get into then this issue would be a lot smaller and a lot less to worry about. Hell there might not even have been an economy crash.

In my eyes I think if the UK people never got into debt they couldn't payback and get black listed there wouldn't have been this major issue going on now. I just don't get why people would do it. Bad choices in life maybe? Banks been too greedy and taking high chances? The government allowing such thing to happen? e.t.c.

I am just a tad confused to why this has come about and why us as humans has let this happen. I don't get into debt because I know that it's not me that has contributed to it and the end result is I have everything paid for in my pocket with no risks attached. I'm sorry but theres a lot of people who do get into debt big style and I question why... I can't get answers to specific reasons behind why someone would do it.

I'm not a person to want to gain from other peopless loss so there you have it. I don't borrow money to people. I do help my family out and that's it. Not even friends. I tell them simple no, sort it out yourself.

I could understand millions for the government to be in debt.... but trillions I mean come onnnnn!!
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Greed.

One of our most basic evolutionary instincts.
 
Judgeneo said:
If we went bankrupt we'd loose our AAA credit rating. Which wouldn't be good news at all.

Where the money went? I have no idea, its probably just 'small' borrowing every year to cover against budget miscalculation/fulfil promises without understanding the powerful force of

COMPOUND INTEREST
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lol stop spurting nonsense. When if ever did anybody even know about triple AAA rating and other rating agencies before the recession? Nobody; all this crap has just been used for political purposes, if we dont pay of all this debt then the credit agencies will stop lending us money and the whole country will go to the wall!! A load of crap. Governments do not go to banks and say lend me money please; governments tend to raise money by issuing long dated gilts usually to large pension providers and other institutions. These institutions buy these pieces of paper as a government IOU at a fixed interest rate which the government buys back on the date the gilt matures. If you look at the uk bond/gilt market over the past 2 years it has exploded where institutions have been buying these pieces of paper; the uk government is a very safe bet when it comes to paying money back; please don't listen to the financial fascists any more then you need too they have their own interest at heart not the interests of the people of this country.

Governments always run debt; it is part of what government does to pay for wars, schools, hospitals and other capital projects. Most of the extra debt came from bailing out the banks full stop.
 
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dazzerd said:
lol stop spurting nonsense. When if ever did anybody even know about triple AAA rating and other rating agencies before the recession? Nobody; all this crap has just been used for political purposes, if we dont pay of all this debt then the credit agencies will stop lending us money and the whole country will go to the wall!! A load of crap.
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You've misunderstood. If we lose the AAA rating, then the pension funds et al. will expect a higher rate of interest. That is not good news.
 
wordy said:
On my over inflated public sector wages and gold plated pension, according to some in Speakers Corner.:rolleyes:
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I wouldn't take it too seriously as some have been getting their ideas from the real place. Whether knowledgeable or not it’s just a debate and nothing to fret over.
 
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