HOW MUCH ?!?!

[vampyrefate]

Watched Question time after the debate, and Janet Street Porter knocked out some stats that she said she'd pulled from Radio 4 on the "true size of the deficit".

iplayer link (starts at about 51.00, gets interesting at 54.00

Comments

[davywavy]

I've spent a while quietly acquiring physcial precious metals. I don't think they can tax those yet, and they increase in value in a declining economy.

[vampyrefate]

This is a common practice in Africa, and other countries. Wealth that one can wear!

[davywavy]

And if you pay cash for it, it's an untraceable asset.

[nigelh]

I've spent a while quietly acquiring physcial precious metals. I don't think they can tax those yet

Unless you're planning on fibbing to the tax man then AFAIK any profits made would be subject to Capital Gains Tax in more or less the same way as shares, property, etc.

[soul_rider]

Maths isn't my strong suit, and I couldn't understand how £776 billion of national debt costs £30K per household while £770 billion of public sector pensions costs £60K per household...

[davywavy]

It's £776 billion of national debt PLUS £770 billion of public sector pension liabilities. The pensions have been removed from the debt figures you're presented with by the government - it's a practice which has been going on for decades.

PFI was removed from the books by Brown in '97, to make his spending figures look better than they were.

[soul_rider]

I totally get that part, it was just that J S-P was listing the cost per household, which was £30K for national debt, £35K if you include PFI and then suddenly jumps to £90K if you include public sector pensions. I wondered why the cost to each household was almost double for £770 billion of public sector pensions vs £776 billion national debt.

Also, over what period? Do we owe £90K per household now, or is that spread over x years?

[davywavy]

Ah, sorry, I misunderstood

[vampyrefate]

I think there's some truth in that Angyl. Might be why the Gov is trying to make us all scared of the internet.

[springmaker]

I knew about PFI but didn't realise how much this was. Likewise for the public sector pensions. I suppose my question is how can you run a pension scheme for millions of people and not have to account for it. Do governments not have to follow the same rules as private companies on this. Is this the kind of thing the national audit office is supposed to highlight?