As we’re coming to the end of 2024 let’s look back at some of the best articles of the year – this one highlighting the nonsense we are told about public borrowing and the national debt.
Don’t listen to scaremongering about government debt. It might be at its highest since 1962 but most of it is owed to the Bank of England – which is owned by the government.
This means that most of the government’s debt is owed to itself; it’s a financial fiction.
So This Writer gets annoyed when news stories come out that make it seem as though the UK is living beyond its means; it is impossible for the UK to get into a debt it can’t bail itself out of.
That being said, the national debt can be an indicator of how well or badly the government is managing itself.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
So £14.5 billion of borrowing in June being more than economists forecast, despite being the lowest total for that month in five years, may be considered a black mark on the last Tory government’s copy book – the last in a long line of black marks.
It indicates that they failed to run government services in a proper, businesslike manner.
I could point to the sale of government assets that have made it more expensive to run public services as an example of financial stupidity, along with the failure to tax the super-rich adequately, considering the huge benefits they receive from the UK economy.
But you should know all that.
The best way to look at this figure now is as a gauge of what the current – Labour – government is doing.
Will it be able to improve public services while reducing the amount of borrowing?
That is the big test.
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Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
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Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
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Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
Top articles of 2024 – July: Don’t listen to scaremongering about government debt
As we’re coming to the end of 2024 let’s look back at some of the best articles of the year – this one highlighting the nonsense we are told about public borrowing and the national debt.
Don’t listen to scaremongering about government debt. It might be at its highest since 1962 but most of it is owed to the Bank of England – which is owned by the government.
This means that most of the government’s debt is owed to itself; it’s a financial fiction.
So This Writer gets annoyed when news stories come out that make it seem as though the UK is living beyond its means; it is impossible for the UK to get into a debt it can’t bail itself out of.
That being said, the national debt can be an indicator of how well or badly the government is managing itself.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
So £14.5 billion of borrowing in June being more than economists forecast, despite being the lowest total for that month in five years, may be considered a black mark on the last Tory government’s copy book – the last in a long line of black marks.
It indicates that they failed to run government services in a proper, businesslike manner.
I could point to the sale of government assets that have made it more expensive to run public services as an example of financial stupidity, along with the failure to tax the super-rich adequately, considering the huge benefits they receive from the UK economy.
But you should know all that.
The best way to look at this figure now is as a gauge of what the current – Labour – government is doing.
Will it be able to improve public services while reducing the amount of borrowing?
That is the big test.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Join the uPopulus group at https://upopulus.com/groups/vox-political/
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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This is a great way of looking at the National Debt – as an ASSET
Don’t listen to scaremongering about government debt