France votes for Socialism over austerity

[donkey]

So naive. Governments always spend more than they have. Show me a government that doesn't, or a country that has no national debt.

 

One result of the credit crunch has been a raising public awareness of how the global economy has become reliant on cycles of incrementally increasing debt followed by collapse, in order to function at all.

[donkey]

Its not naive, its what I want the governmnet to do no matter the concequeces.

 

Liechtenstein

 

Lichenstein is a tax haven. If every country in the world became ...does this really need explaining to you?

[andyofborg]

Are you suggesting the very best economists of Europe (well, Germany mostly) have it all wrong ?

 

pretty much

 

though of course germany developed and invested in it's manufacturing industy which is why it is doing so much better than the rest of europe at the minute.

 

it's just a shame that none of our governments for the last 60 years have done the same

[I1L2T3]

Its not naive, its what I want the governmnet to do no matter the concequeces.

 

Liechtenstein

 

Haha, I'll give you that one. Hardly a good comparison is it. I'll rephrase the question. Show me a country of any meaningful size with no external debt.

[andygardener]

So naive. Governments always spend more than they have. Show me a government that doesn't, or a country that has no national debt.

 

Some debt is not in all cases a bad thing, if it's being spend sensibly to finance capital projects which will in the long term delivery significant extra revenue more efficiently than by encouraging investment rather than debt. However can you honestly say that the situation Brown left us in where we pay more in debt interest than we do on defence is sensible, and we're adding to this every day, albeit more slowly as the cuts start to bite. The deficit must be wiped out sooner rather than later and then we can begin to pay down the debt to manageable levels. Pretending this does not need to happen is head in the sand politics.

[I1L2T3]

Some debt is not in all cases a bad thing, if it's being spend sensibly to finance capital projects which will in the long term delivery significant extra revenue more efficiently than by encouraging investment rather than debt. However can you honestly say that the situation Brown left us in where we pay more in debt interest than we do on defence is sensible, and we're adding to this every day, albeit more slowly as the cuts start to bite. The deficit must be wiped out sooner rather than later and then we can begin to pay down the debt to manageable levels. Pretending this does not need to happen is head in the sand politics.

 

Without the banking crisis the challenges we face now whould be a fraction of what they are. You really need to understand that.

 

The problem is that the current Tory plans risk increasing the deficit and debt. We have no growth. We can't pay off debt and reduce the deficit if we are not growing. In the current environment austerity is self-defeating becuase it will increase government expenditure and debt.

[MrSmith]

Lichenstein is a tax haven. If every country in the world became ...does this really need explaining to you?

 

I would imigin this help too.

 

in 2009 the country’s exports totaled $2.83 billion, while its imports were just $1.77 billion, mostly in raw materials and food.

 

Low business taxes 20%, high output, high exports and low imports seem to work.

[andyofborg]

The deficit must be wiped out sooner rather than later and then we can begin to pay down the debt to manageable levels. Pretending this does not need to happen is head in the sand politics.

 

the only sustainable way to do both of those is through growth and the coalitions plans have destroyed any chance of that.

 

consumers aren't going to provide the demand that will cause growth, the private sector isn't providing the demand that will cause growth, the only place where demand can come from is from the government. that may cause a bit of an increase in borrowing, but that's not going to be much of a problem.

 

greece has done nothing but cut and where is it now? in a far worse situation than it was before with no hope of salvation.

[I1L2T3]

I would imigin this help too.

 

in 2009 the country’s exports totaled $2.83 billion, while its imports were just $1.77 billion, mostly in raw materials and food.

 

Low business taxes 20%, high output, high exports and low imports seem to work.

 

You can't compare the UK with Liechtenstein. It's ridiculous to even try.

[andygardener]

Without the banking crisis the challenges we face now whould be a fraction of what they are. You really need to understand that.

 

The problem is that the current Tory plans risk increasing the deficit and debt. We have no growth. We can't pay off debt and reduce the deficit if we are not growing. In the current environment austerity is self-defeating becuase it will increase government expenditure and debt.

 

The banking crisis was a result of too much lending, the credit crunch was a result of too little lending, so a happy medium needs to be achieved. Neither of which absolves the government from not spending vastly more than it earns. Two totally different issues.

 

Cut taxes for businesses making investment in creating jobs, I'd agree with that. Cut the top rate of tax to encourage job creaters to invest in Britain, that's been done, and obviously the insane policies of Hollande way well help us greatly in attracting medium sized French businesses to move skilled opperations to Britain. Flexible labour laws that allow companies to react to market changes and not have employees in "jobs for life" like in France. That's the sort of thing that drives growth. Not ******* away £150 billion more than we actually have every year on public sector non-jobs that we cannot afford in the hope the recipients of this largesse from the taxpayer and our creditors will at some point buy a new sofa and thus save the economy.