Congratulations, your household owes the government £65,000

[Vague_Boy]

Soon to be £90,000.

 

These figures are taken from a BBC Radio 4 program broadcast on Tursday, 29 April 2010 (link).

 

The pertinent bit starts at 50min 50sec into the program. Note the way the "official" debt/deficit figures ignore all those off-balance sheet costs and unfunded liabilities.

 

Also notice how small a proportion of the overall debt the bank bailouts actually account for.

 

Cuts per household per year:

 

£1,350 from the Lib Dems

£1,700 from Labour

£2,000 from the Conservatives

 

Deficit = Annual borrowing

Debt = Stock of all the money that the government owes, on-balance-sheet.

 

Official National Debt = on-balance-sheet

Off-balance-sheet "debts" (obligations) : PFI + Public Sector Pensions.

 

National numbers:

776 bn - National Debt (official, "on-balance-sheet" debt)

almost 20% more - PFI (off-balance-sheet)

770 bn - Public Sector Pensions (off-balance-sheet)

 

Per household:

£30,000 - National Debt

£5,000 - PFI

a few hundred pounds either way - Banks Bailout

£30,000 - Public Sector Pensions

£65,000 - Total Now

 

£25,000 - Borrowing in the next 4 years

£90,000 - GRAND TOTAL

 

 

(Off-balance refers to the sort of accounting legerdemain that governments can get away with, but that you and I would go to prison for. For example, in the U.S., the entire second Iraq war is "off-budget" (link). It really helps to make those debt figures look healthier than they really are.)

[Vague_Boy]

Addendum: The BBC made a mistake. They divided the national numbers by the total number of households in the country, and not by the number of tax-paying households in the country.

[HeadingNorth]

Addendum: The BBC made a mistake. They divided the national numbers by the total number of households in the country, and not by the number of tax-paying households in the country.

 

Every household in the country pays tax. It's simply not possible to run a household and never buy anything which is subject to VAT.

[MAMALOCHA!]

i haven't got it can i claim bankruptcy