Dear George Osborne.....

[localzuk]

Except that there haven't been massive cuts because government expenditure has risen under the Coalition government.

 

[Citation Needed]

[Flatpackhamster]

Can you back that up with facts???

 

UK Central Government and Local Authority Public Spending 2013 - Pie Charts Tables

 

2008: £576.0Bn

2009: £621.4Bn

2010: £660.8Bn

2011: £681.3Bn

2012: £688.0Bn

2013: £676.6Bn

2014: £715.3Bn

 

Obviously the 12-14 figures are projected.

 

Government is spending more than ever. It seems to me that some people could do with broadening their news consumption beyond the Guardian and BBC.

[localzuk]

UK Central Government and Local Authority Public Spending 2013 - Pie Charts Tables

 

2008: £576.0Bn

2009: £621.4Bn

2010: £660.8Bn

2011: £681.3Bn

2012: £688.0Bn

2013: £676.6Bn

2014: £715.3Bn

 

Obviously the 12-14 figures are projected.

 

Government is spending more than ever. It seems to me that some people could do with broadening their news consumption beyond the Guardian and BBC.

 

Let's adjust those figures for inflation shall we.

 

2008:£622.08bn

2009:£646.26bn

2010:£693.00bn

2011:£~715.37bn

 

Projections ain't any use.

 

Now, lets look at tax receipts, inflation adjusted:

 

2008:£548.64

2009:£496.91

2010:£555.35

2011:£578.13

 

So, yes, overall spend has increased, but so have tax receipts. Remember - the government has said its aim is reducing the deficit, it hasn't said it intends to stop spending... Cuts in one area can lead to increases in others.

 

Also, take into account that over those couple of years that the government has been in power, there are lots of short-term costs involved when cancelling projects/contracts, which still comes out of the expenditure.

[Flatpackhamster]

Let's adjust those figures for inflation shall we.

 

2008:£622.08bn

2009:£646.26bn

2010:£693.00bn

2011:£~715.37bn

 

Projections ain't any use.

 

Now, lets look at tax receipts, inflation adjusted:

 

2008:£548.64

2009:£496.91

2010:£555.35

2011:£578.13

 

So, yes, overall spend has increased, but so have tax receipts. Remember - the government has said its aim is reducing the deficit, it hasn't said it intends to stop spending... Cuts in one area can lead to increases in others.

 

Also, take into account that over those couple of years that the government has been in power, there are lots of short-term costs involved when cancelling projects/contracts, which still comes out of the expenditure.

 

Cybernerd was claiming that cutting government expenditure led to the double-dip recession. Expenditure clearly hasn't been cut. Nor has borrowing - in fact borrowing is larger than ever and makes up the £100Bn+ shortfall between tax receipts and expenditure.

 

So if there's one thing that the government hasn't done, it's spend less. There are plenty of things that caused the double-dip recession, but the GuardianWorld view that it's cutting expenditure which has done it has no basis in reality.

[SYNACK]

So if there's one thing that the government hasn't done, it's spend less. There are plenty of things that caused the double-dip recession, but the GuardianWorld view that it's cutting expenditure which has done it has no basis in reality.

The main thing that has no basis in reality is the banks and accountants deciding that the resession was over and the economy everywhere was getting itself out of trouble.

 

All I hear on the news about the economy is how the figures show that it has been saved, then in trouble, then saved... this ontinuous cycle of BS is the really disconnected point of view. Unfourtunatly these people that sit about with their calculator trying to decide if they have made up enough money for that day or not are the ones running things. In their world the global economy seems to go from saved to in trouble three or more times a day. With this kind of insanely short term thinking at the top of the chain is it any wonder that things are still a mess.

[Flatpackhamster]

The main thing that has no basis in reality is the banks and accountants deciding that the resession was over and the economy everywhere was getting itself out of trouble.

 

All I hear on the news about the economy is how the figures show that it has been saved, then in trouble, then saved... this ontinuous cycle of BS is the really disconnected point of view. Unfourtunatly these people that sit about with their calculator trying to decide if they have made up enough money for that day or not are the ones running things. In their world the global economy seems to go from saved to in trouble three or more times a day. With this kind of insanely short term thinking at the top of the chain is it any wonder that things are still a mess.

 

Absolutely. There were ongoing, systemic problems and the short-termist attitude of the politicians was "We can spend our way out of this and everything will return to normal." Sorry, but it won't. We have a decade or more of zero-growth while we start to pay off our debts. Then we can return to an expanding economy - if we deal with the debt and the welfarism and entitlement culture and so on. But we have a huge mess to deal with and it was very foolish (IMO) for the coalition to pretend everything was going to be fine. It smacks of an intellectual poverty that one would hope that a government as well-educated as this wouldn't be suffering from.

[localzuk]

Absolutely. There were ongoing, systemic problems and the short-termist attitude of the politicians was "We can spend our way out of this and everything will return to normal." Sorry, but it won't. We have a decade or more of zero-growth while we start to pay off our debts. Then we can return to an expanding economy - if we deal with the debt and the welfarism and entitlement culture and so on. But we have a huge mess to deal with and it was very foolish (IMO) for the coalition to pretend everything was going to be fine. It smacks of an intellectual poverty that one would hope that a government as well-educated as this wouldn't be suffering from.

 

Pretending its all fine does a few things:

 

1. Increases confidence in the stock market

2. Increases consumer confidence, and therefore spending

3. Gets people to vote for them