UK posts biggest budget deficit since WW2

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=a2WPb0dCaqQU

152.8 billion-pound ($234 billion) deficit for year ended in March
Deficit = 11.6% of GDP
Total net debt = 62% of GDP

Yikes! Puts the current UK situation in perspective. Previously it took a massive, world war to reach such spending levels. What's the excuse today?

 

Conservative economics spokesman George Osborne yesterday warned that Britain could be forced to appeal to the IMF for help if voters choose a parliament where no party has overall control.

“If markets feel we don’t have the confidence to deal with our debts, then we’d have to call the IMF in, and that is a statement of fact,” Osborne said during a debate BBC television debate. “We’ve got to be aware in this country of the consequences of political instability.”

:eek: :eek: :eek:

 

He's probably just trying to scare people contemplating voting for the Liberal Democrats into voting Conservative. Thoughts?

 

Most likely. But the current conditions in the UK enable him to make such comments.

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=a3CziXMGujDA

"UK posts record April deficit"

"10 billion pound ($14.4 billion) shortfall, up from 8.8 billion pounds in 2009."

"The report sets the scene for what economists say will be the sharpest cuts in public spending for a generation."

"This is a hole that they’ll have to fill not just by spending cuts but also by tax rises"

 

The UK's welfare culture is legendary, and so are the resulting problems. Economic as well as social.
US is heading down the same road.

 

but the UK is not really considered that heavy a welfare state in Europe. many other european countries are much much more dependent

 

It took a war this time too! -Iraq-Killing folks using high tech weapons is very very expensive -- roughly 7 million US dollars per body. That's based of the Hopkins study which gives a conservative estimate of 400,000 to 500,000 excess deaths in Iraq due to the war divided by economists estimates of total war cost of approximately 3 trillion (low end) to 4 trillion (high end). These cost estimates include interest, veterans benefits, etc. I would assume British costs per body to be similar. These figures are several years old, so the actual numbers now are somewhat higher.

The US spends a little over 4k$/per person/year on "defense". Germany spends about $268/per person/year. I don't know what the UK expenditure is but it is definitely much higher than Germany.

The best way to get the costs down of course is to kill more people with less effort. Poison gas, or hydrogen bombs perhaps !!!

The insanity of this should be rather obvious to any educated person.