Cure The Deficit In One Year?

[SarahBell]

Could the govt clear it all if they stopped all schools, hospitals etc for a year?

(I have no concept of how big the nation's budget is or how big the deficit is)

Ok it'd be crap if you had kidney failiure in the next year or needed exams but ... one year.. lots of pain and it's over?

[Once in a lifetime]

I could pay my mortgage off in a year if I didn't buy food for my family.

[Battenberg]

I could pay my mortgage off in a year if I didn't buy food for my family.

Sounds good. You'd have alot more space to bimble around in too.

[Once in a lifetime]

Sounds good. You'd have alot more space to bimble around in too.

and I'd be slimmer too.

[Laughing Gnome]

Could the govt clear it all if they stopped all schools, hospitals etc for a year?

(I have no concept of how big the nation's budget is or how big the deficit is)

Ok it'd be crap if you had kidney failiure in the next year or needed exams but ... one year.. lots of pain and it's over?

Apart from all the people dying, which might be considered a bonus, what about the regularity of the workforce?

With the state babysitting service closed for the year, there would be a huge rise in absenteeism at work, and that's serious!

[Blue Nose Bear]

Could the govt clear it all if they stopped all schools, hospitals etc for a year?

(I have no concept of how big the nation's budget is or how big the deficit is)

Ok it'd be crap if you had kidney failiure in the next year or needed exams but ... one year.. lots of pain and it's over?

Yea, considered this myself, what would it take?

Probably 5 years to get rid of the total debt, so would probably be a bit unpleasent by then

Didn't bother starting a thread on the thought as I thought I'd get hammered.

Brave move Sarahbell, good luck

[SarahBell]

what about the regularity of the workforce?

With the state babysitting service closed for the year, there would be a huge rise in absenteeism at work, and that's serious!

But all the jobs are govt jobs - so there'd be no jobs for ayear to be absent from

(Ok 40% in wales, 30% in england)

[The Floating World]

How about compulsory euthanasia for anyone over the age of 60. They'd save £100 bn p.a. in pensions and £50 bn p.a. on the NHS cost. Redistribute all their assets to the next generation down - everyones a winner, apart from pensioners of course. Of course the makers of Worthers Originals will see a large decline in profits but thats acceptable for the good of the nation, reducing the National Debt is a patriotic duty after all.

[Goat]

Could the govt clear it all if they stopped all schools, hospitals etc for a year?

(I have no concept of how big the nation's budget is or how big the deficit is)

Ok it'd be crap if you had kidney failiure in the next year or needed exams but ... one year.. lots of pain and it's over?

The total deficit (not debt) is £160bn of which about £80bn is "structural" - i.e. the amount you'd be borrowing if you weren't in recession. It's the structual element you really need to clear.

Government spending is about £700bn p/a so realistically what your talking about is tax rises of about £20bn plus spending cuts of £50bn.

£50bn is only about 7% of total spending - from a private sector point of view not a huge challenge, especially given the well reported levels of waste throughout the public sector.

It could be done - whether it would be politically acceptable is another question.

Edit: with RPI running at >5% you could actually get most of the spending savings just by keeping the nominal departmental budgets fixed.

Edited May 27, 2010 by Goat

[Lord Lister]

hmmmm 50% unemployement overnight, what would all those people do for food, money etc?

[Lord Lister]

In that case I suppose we could just sell the $300+ billion of US treasuries we hold and clear the lot in one fell swoop!

The total deficit (not debt) is £160bn of which about £80bn is "structural" - i.e. the amount you'd be borrowing if you weren't in recession. It's the structual element you really need to clear.

Government spending is about £700bn p/a so realistically what your talking about is tax rises of about £20bn plus spending cuts of £50bn.

£50bn is only about 7% of total spending - from a private sector point of view not a huge challenge, especially given the well reported levels of waste throughout the public sector.

It could be done - whether it would be politically acceptable is another question.

Edit: with RPI running at >5% you could actually get most of the spending savings just by keeping the nominal departmental budgets fixed.

[SarahBell]

hmmmm 50% unemployement overnight, what would all those people do for food, money etc?

Be innovative for a change.

It all falls down if you sack the police for a year though

[thecrashingisles]

and I'd be slimmer too.

Eat the family.

[Lucifer]

Could the govt clear it all if they stopped all schools, hospitals etc for a year?

(I have no concept of how big the nation's budget is or how big the deficit is)

Ok it'd be crap if you had kidney failiure in the next year or needed exams but ... one year.. lots of pain and it's over?

Are you joking, a murderous fascist, or just both?

[replicon1]

Every worker in the UK earning over 12k a year gives up a months wages. One months hardship is probably worth paying off a good chunk of the debt.

The national outrage could be tempered by throwing a few fun events like putting Gordon Brown in the stocks and letting us throw things at him for a quid-a-go.

We could legalise prostitution for the month and collect a percentage of the profits, a sort of shag for Britain campaign.

[SarahBell]

Are you joking, a murderous fascist, or just both?

Mostly joking.

But it's been a bad week.

[Lucifer]

Mostly joking.

But it's been a bad week.

Phew...thats a relief!

How about instead we nationalise all the banks without compensation, wait a few years, sell them and use the profits towards the debt

and hit bankers, hedge fund managers etc with a massive 99% retrospective tax on thier last 10 years earnings, and confiscate any assets (i.e property!!) they might have. They made the mess, they can pay to clean it up.

[Goat]

Every worker in the UK earning over 12k a year gives up a months wages.

What? On top of the 6 months wages we give up each and every year!

[Dorkins]

Troops brought home from Afghanistan - good

Home-schooled kids - good

Zero regulation of utility prices - probably not good

No police - probably less of a problem than you might think

No fire department - might need some serious volunteering

Starving pensioners - have to sleep on the floor at the kids'

Starving single mums on benefits - Hobbesian humanitarian disaster in the making

Collapse of banks in absence of government guarantees - good

No NHS - care at home for the elderly, cash/food for a local medic/nurse if you break your leg

Bit of a mixed bag really

[The Floating World]

There is nothing new under the sun.

Jonathan Swift's Modest Proposal, has been here before.

"It has been argued that Swift’s main target in A Modest Proposal was not the conditions in Ireland, but rather the can-do spirit of the times that led people to devise a number of illogical schemes that would purportedly solve social and economic ills. Swift was especially insulted by projects that tried to fix population and labor issues with a simple cure-all solution. A memorable example of these sorts of schemes "involved the idea of running the poor through a joint-stock company". In response, Swift’s Modest Proposal was "a burlesque of projects concerning the poor", that were in vogue during the early 18th century.

A Modest Proposal also targets the calculating way people perceived the poor in designing their projects. The pamphlet targets reformers who "regard people as commodities". In the piece, Swift adopts the "technique of a political arithmetician" to show the utter ridiculousness of trying to prove any proposal with dispassionate statistics"

A great number of posters on HPC seem to countenance the material destruction of other people in the name of saving the nation. Of course I suppose these 'sheeple', welfare claimants, immigrants, young people, boomers are not deserving of respect unlike the rugged individualists of HPC who didn't get where they are today by giving a sh1t about anybody else.

[Lucifer]

There is nothing new under the sun.

Jonathan Swift's Modest Proposal, has been here before.

"It has been argued that Swift’s main target in A Modest Proposal was not the conditions in Ireland, but rather the can-do spirit of the times that led people to devise a number of illogical schemes that would purportedly solve social and economic ills. Swift was especially insulted by projects that tried to fix population and labor issues with a simple cure-all solution. A memorable example of these sorts of schemes "involved the idea of running the poor through a joint-stock company". In response, Swift’s Modest Proposal was "a burlesque of projects concerning the poor", that were in vogue during the early 18th century.

A Modest Proposal also targets the calculating way people perceived the poor in designing their projects. The pamphlet targets reformers who "regard people as commodities". In the piece, Swift adopts the "technique of a political arithmetician" to show the utter ridiculousness of trying to prove any proposal with dispassionate statistics"

A great number of posters on HPC seem to countenance the material destruction of other people in the name of saving the nation. Of course I suppose these 'sheeple', welfare claimants, immigrants, young people, boomers are not deserving of respect unlike the rugged individualists of HPC who didn't get where they are today by giving a sh1t about anybody else.

You're quite right...theres some really nasty, arrogant people on this site.

[babesagainstmachines]

To be honest, I'd prefer they did what they did last time and just print the money.

[HXO]

There is nothing new under the sun.

Jonathan Swift's Modest Proposal, has been here before.

"It has been argued that Swift's main target in A Modest Proposal was not the conditions in Ireland, but rather the can-do spirit of the times that led people to devise a number of illogical schemes that would purportedly solve social and economic ills. Swift was especially insulted by projects that tried to fix population and labor issues with a simple cure-all solution. A memorable example of these sorts of schemes "involved the idea of running the poor through a joint-stock company". In response, Swift's Modest Proposal was "a burlesque of projects concerning the poor", that were in vogue during the early 18th century.

A Modest Proposal also targets the calculating way people perceived the poor in designing their projects. The pamphlet targets reformers who "regard people as commodities". In the piece, Swift adopts the "technique of a political arithmetician" to show the utter ridiculousness of trying to prove any proposal with dispassionate statistics"

A great number of posters on HPC seem to countenance the material destruction of other people in the name of saving the nation. Of course I suppose these 'sheeple', welfare claimants, immigrants, young people, boomers are not deserving of respect unlike the rugged individualists of HPC who didn't get where they are today by giving a sh1t about anybody else.

Ser.3 Ep.1:

Reggie tracks down C.J. for his community project, but tells him he will have to 'be nice'.

"I didn't get where I am today by being nice."

Good post, welcome. I don't think anyone on here would seriously countenance the various suggestions seen in this post.

[The Floating World]

The national debt and budgetry deficit is a kind of sham issue, which can be used to justify all kinds of policy moves over the coming years.

OECD figues for the current years projected National Debt have it at 59% of GDP, which is lower than USA at 65.2%, France at 60.7%, Italy at 100.8% and Japan at 104.6%.

The annual deficit is projected to be high, but so was last years which came in £31 billion short of anticipated borrowing.

The business cycle moves on, people keep on living, the world turns.

The National Debt will return to being something of no interest to most of us.

[The Floating World]

Ser.3 Ep.1:

Reggie tracks down C.J. for his community project, but tells him he will have to 'be nice'.

"I didn't get where I am today by being nice."

Good post, welcome. I don't think anyone on here would seriously countenance the various suggestions seen in this post.

Thanks for the welcome. Glad to see somebody spotted the C.J. reference. Some of the most regular posters on HPC remind me of him.