What caused the UK to be in so much debt?

[I1L2T3]

People do forget things easily.

 

Brown when labour got into power told us that we'd never had it so good then apparently did his best to screw that up. He raided pensions giving the excuse that there was too much money in the pot.

 

Then his real crime against the country when gold was a low price ke announced that we did not need so much gold reserves and then to force the price down further announced to the world that he would be selling some off.

 

Then after they blew the money they had raised through mismanagement they started borrowing.

 

Opened the door to mass immigration and (admittedly like the present set up) failed to close the door and even financed encouraging more potential labour voters to come here.

 

And how much did our (many say illegal) involvement in the middle east cost us financially ... not forgetting for one moment the human costs?

 

All that labour 'acheived' cough cough during their last time in office and still no really sincere apology to the UK. Now they are lead by a man that stabbed his own brother in the back and who will form a coalition with anyone at any price to attain power over us for his party; presumably so they can crap all over us and our opinions again.

.

 

As for blaming the banks... blame their owners instead... it is the people that control the banks that sanction the big pay awards and bonuses to bank employees which they do because the employees did what the bank owners wanted them to do' and 'as it seems' to hell with anyone else.

 

.

 

Think you are being a bit hysterical there. Labour's overspending didn't cause the crisis in 2008. The massive increase in public spending in 2008-9 was a response to the crisis caused by the banks. Even the OBR has made this point very clear in a report last year:

 

“Looking back to the pre-crisis period it is hard to argue that the tax and spending policies implemented in the early and mid-2000s were in themselves an important cause of the crisis, or the recession.”

 

The gold sell-off lost less for the country than the amount lost when Osborne OK'd the tax write-off for Vodafone in 2010.

 

As for pensions Brown simply extended the policy started by Lamont in 1993, when the first raid on pensions funds took place. And given that the changes Brown made were nearly 20 years ago you have to question the role of companies, pension funds and individuals in not doing anything in response. To put things in perspective yes you could claim £100bn was last from pension funds but weigh that against the total value of all pension funds in the UK: over £2trillion and the second biggest pension market in the world.

[Anna B]

People do forget things easily.

 

Brown when labour got into power told us that we'd never had it so good then apparently did his best to screw that up. He raided pensions giving the excuse that there was too much money in the pot.

 

Then his real crime against the country when gold was a low price ke announced that we did not need so much gold reserves and then to force the price down further announced to the world that he would be selling some off.

 

Then after they blew the money they had raised through mismanagement they started borrowing.

 

Opened the door to mass immigration and (admittedly like the present set up) failed to close the door and even financed encouraging more potential labour voters to come here.

 

And how much did our (many say illegal) involvement in the middle east cost us financially ... not forgetting for one moment the human costs?

 

All that labour 'acheived' cough cough during their last time in office and still no really sincere apology to the UK. Now they are lead by a man that stabbed his own brother in the back and who will form a coalition with anyone at any price to attain power over us for his party; presumably so they can crap all over us and our opinions again.

.

 

As for blaming the banks... blame their owners instead... it is the people that control the banks that sanction the big pay awards and bonuses to bank employees which they do because the employees did what the bank owners wanted them to do' and 'as it seems' to hell with anyone else.

 

.

 

On the other hand you could ask what Thatcher did with the money she got from selling off British gas, ('Tell Sid'... remember?) and all the rest of the family silver, (which didn't belong to her in the first place,) which has left us with very little infrastructure left which is actually British.

 

And then she deregulated the banks, turning them into one big casino, where they get massive bonuses when they win and pass the losses on when they lose. Nice.

 

As for the people (shareholders) 'owning' the banks and having control over bonuses etc, tell that to the shareholders of ..... who objected to Martin Sorrell paying himself a bonus of £23Million and got a 60% majority vote to that effect, only for him to go ahead and do it anyway.

 

This year he paid himself £45 million.

Edited May 3, 2015 by Anna B

[I1L2T3]

On the other hand you could ask what Thatcher did with the money she got from selling off British gas, ('Tell Sid'... remember?) and all the rest of the family silver, (which didn't belong to her in the first place,) which has left us with very little infrastructure left which is actually British.

 

And then she deregulated the banks, turning them into one big casino, where they get massive bonuses when they win and pass the losses on when they lose. Nice.

 

As for the people (shareholders) 'owning' the banks and having control over bonuses etc, tell that to the shareholders of ..... who objected to Martin Sorrell paying himself a bonus of £23Million and voted

 

Not to forget the Tory governments used the revenue from peak oil and gas production in the 80s as a war chest to wage war on the unions, communities and our core industries. All wasted when it could have been used to establish a sovereign wealth fund that could be worth a trillion pounds now and be benefiting generations to come like the fund Norway set up at the same time will for citizens in that country. Next time anybody argues that Labour didn't save for a rainy day remind them what the Tories did with all that oil and gas revenue.

[Anna B]

You know, when you look at the record of both Tory and Labour over the past 50 years, you begin to see all the mistakes they've made, and realise what lousy governments we've had and why we're in the mess we're in now.

 

We need a much better system of government, and much better politicians. That's what we should be demanding in this election, not more of the same.

[loraward]

I keep hearing this rubbish. Doesn't everyone live beyond their means?

 

No........

 

---------- Post added 03-05-2015 at 18:24 ----------

 

I was with an Icelandic bank at the time and got all my money back.

 

---------- Post added 03-05-2015 at 14:41 ----------

 

 

I was with an Icelandic bank at the time, and got all my money back.

No problem.

 

RMBC didn't get our money back.

 

---------- Post added 03-05-2015 at 18:30 ----------

 

Not to forget the Tory governments used the revenue from peak oil and gas production in the 80s as a war chest to wage war on the unions, communities and our core industries. All wasted when it could have been used to establish a sovereign wealth fund that could be worth a trillion pounds now and be benefiting generations to come like the fund Norway set up at the same time will for citizens in that country. Next time anybody argues that Labour didn't save for a rainy day remind them what the Tories did with all that oil and gas revenue.

 

Peak oil occurred during labours term of office in 1999.

 

---------- Post added 03-05-2015 at 18:33 ----------

 

You know, when you look at the record of both Tory and Labour over the past 50 years, you begin to see all the mistakes they've made, and realise what lousy governments we've had and why we're in the mess we're in now.

 

We need a much better system of government, and much better politicians. That's what we should be demanding in this election, not more of the same.

 

But their overspending gave the majority a good standard of living, and government need to please the majority to get elected.

[Anna B]

We're always being told what a wonderful system of government we've got.

 

We haven't.

 

We need to look abroad more often to see what works in other countries.

[loraward]

We're always being told what a wonderful system of government we've got.

 

We haven't.

 

We need to look abroad more often to see what works in other countries.

 

Its a crap system but it's still better than the systems that most of the worlds population enjoy.

[I1L2T3]

Peak oil occurred during labours term of office in 1999.

 

Doesn't dilute the argument. The point is that no Tory can with a straight face argue that Labour didn't save for a rainy day (which I don't disagree with) when the Tories didn't save a penny of the 18 years of oil and gas revenue they received.

[Anna B]

Its a crap system but it's still better than the systems that most of the worlds population enjoy.

 

How do you know? Have you studied most other countries?

[loraward]

Doesn't dilute the argument. The point is that no Tory can with a straight face argue that Labour didn't save for a rainy day (which I don't disagree with) when the Tories didn't save a penny of the 18 years of oil and gas revenue they received.

 

In 1997 Labour inherited a budget that was actually in balance, but you are right that historically the government no matter which party it is spends more than they receive, if they hadn't we wouldn't have enjoyed the life styles we have enjoyed, but at least the debt would be lower for future generations.

 

---------- Post added 03-05-2015 at 18:49 ----------

 

How do you know? Have you studied most other countries?

 

Do you think I am wrong and if so which countries should we take after?