Brown Cost Taxpayers £3 Trillion
Discussion
From MSN news today, http://money.uk.msn.com/investing/news/article.asp...
Gordon Brown has cost taxpayers £3 trillion by mishandling the economy during his time as Chancellor and Prime Minister, it has been claimed.
Around £1.5 trillion of taxpayers' money has been squandered on an acceleration in Government spending fuelled by the economic boom, while another £1.5 trillion has evaporated in measures to tackle the recession, according to a new book.
The authors claim that Government spending has more than doubled in real terms since 1997, to the extent that even if the next government tries to trim spending by 5-10%, it will take years, probably even decades, to bring it back under control, and could cost upwards of a further £1 trillion.
Mr Brown has taken public spending to the level reached by Harold Wilson and James Callaghan in 1976 - when the country went bankrupt and needed the IMF to bail it out, they say.
One of the authors, Matthew Elliott, founder and chief executive of campaigning group the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "It would be easy to dismiss the figure of £3 trillion as being too big to contemplate or unreasonably high, but to do so would be to ignore the sheer scale of the financial disaster that 12 years of Gordon Brown's tax-a-lot and spend-more policies have done to the British economy.
"In the light of our analysis, £3 trillion is actually a best possible scenario and relies upon the UK making a far quicker recovery than most expect."
Mr Elliott and management consultant David Craig say that by the end of the 2009-10 financial year, the present Government will have spent almost £1.7 trillion more in cash terms (about £1.35 trillion when adjusted for inflation) than would have been spent had Mr Brown and his colleagues kept public spending at the levels inherited from the Conservatives.
"Adding in more than £150 billion in Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects and other schemes which the Government has kept off its balance sheet through various creative accounting techniques, you're almost up to £2 trillion in cash terms or £1.5 trillion after taking inflation into account," they say.
The value of UK shares has fallen by around £474 billion since 1997, which will seriously affect anyone with savings in stocks, unit trusts or a pension fund, they say.
Meanwhile, the estimated future costs of public sector pensions have risen from around £360 billion in 1997 to more than £880 billion, while "cautious estimates" suggest that of the total £1.227 trillion made available to the banks, taxpayers will lose at least £200 billion, they add.
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2009, All Rights Reserved.
Gordon Brown has cost taxpayers £3 trillion by mishandling the economy during his time as Chancellor and Prime Minister, it has been claimed.
Around £1.5 trillion of taxpayers' money has been squandered on an acceleration in Government spending fuelled by the economic boom, while another £1.5 trillion has evaporated in measures to tackle the recession, according to a new book.
The authors claim that Government spending has more than doubled in real terms since 1997, to the extent that even if the next government tries to trim spending by 5-10%, it will take years, probably even decades, to bring it back under control, and could cost upwards of a further £1 trillion.
Mr Brown has taken public spending to the level reached by Harold Wilson and James Callaghan in 1976 - when the country went bankrupt and needed the IMF to bail it out, they say.
One of the authors, Matthew Elliott, founder and chief executive of campaigning group the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "It would be easy to dismiss the figure of £3 trillion as being too big to contemplate or unreasonably high, but to do so would be to ignore the sheer scale of the financial disaster that 12 years of Gordon Brown's tax-a-lot and spend-more policies have done to the British economy.
"In the light of our analysis, £3 trillion is actually a best possible scenario and relies upon the UK making a far quicker recovery than most expect."
Mr Elliott and management consultant David Craig say that by the end of the 2009-10 financial year, the present Government will have spent almost £1.7 trillion more in cash terms (about £1.35 trillion when adjusted for inflation) than would have been spent had Mr Brown and his colleagues kept public spending at the levels inherited from the Conservatives.
"Adding in more than £150 billion in Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects and other schemes which the Government has kept off its balance sheet through various creative accounting techniques, you're almost up to £2 trillion in cash terms or £1.5 trillion after taking inflation into account," they say.
The value of UK shares has fallen by around £474 billion since 1997, which will seriously affect anyone with savings in stocks, unit trusts or a pension fund, they say.
Meanwhile, the estimated future costs of public sector pensions have risen from around £360 billion in 1997 to more than £880 billion, while "cautious estimates" suggest that of the total £1.227 trillion made available to the banks, taxpayers will lose at least £200 billion, they add.
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2009, All Rights Reserved.
mybrainhurts said:
And let's not forget his dogmatic error destroyed private pensions, despite warnings to him beforehand.
You can see the conversation now can't you?Gordon in 2007 said:
Oh there is a terrible problem, long term private pension forecasts are showing that they are going to be worth at least 5% less than the subscribers thought they would be and millions of people are going to be far poorer in their retirement.
No10 Advisor said:
Yes Gordon, that'll be the 5% tax you put on them.
Gordon said:
Bugger.
So, what Labour under both Blair and Brown have done is essentially act like a not-very-bright lottery winner, and have now spent all the money - and then, whan the money has gone, max out all the credit cards, instead of taking stock.
Labour's version of Socialism has destoyed this country, and it will be our kids, and in turn, our kid's kid's who will still be paying for this. I hope they never forget...
I guess at least the lottery winner’s money was theirs to loose…….
Labour's version of Socialism has destoyed this country, and it will be our kids, and in turn, our kid's kid's who will still be paying for this. I hope they never forget...
I guess at least the lottery winner’s money was theirs to loose…….
Edited by chris watton on Monday 14th September 13:15
chris watton said:
So, what Labour under both Blair and Brown have done is essentially act like a not-very-bright lottery winner, and have now spent all the money - and then, whan the money has gone, max out all the credit cards, instead of taking stock.
Labour's version of Socialism has destoyed this country, and it will be our kids, and in turn, our kid's kid's who will still be paying for this. I hope they never forget...
I guess at least the lottery winner’s money was theirs to loose…….
You have fairly well got it in one.Labour's version of Socialism has destoyed this country, and it will be our kids, and in turn, our kid's kid's who will still be paying for this. I hope they never forget...
I guess at least the lottery winner’s money was theirs to loose…….
Don't get me wrong i think that the Tories in 1997 needed kicking out for a short while, even if I voted for them. That said too many people swallowed the the spin and thought that Labour wouldn't revert to type about year 4 of their first term.
New Labour, Old Danger - scarily true.
I await someone more learned than I but I can't recall a labour government having ever left office without having left the country in a financial mess...
Edited by Rude-boy on Monday 14th September 13:19
Rude-boy said:
mybrainhurts said:
And let's not forget his dogmatic error destroyed private pensions, despite warnings to him beforehand.
You can see the conversation now can't you?Gordon in 2007 said:
Oh there is a terrible problem, long term private pension forecasts are showing that they are going to be worth at least 5% less than the subscribers thought they would be and millions of people are going to be far poorer in their retirement.
No10 Advisor said:
Yes Gordon, that'll be the 5% tax you put on them.
Gordon said:
Bugger.
jesusbuiltmycar said:
I read that cost of servicing Brown's debts will be £60,000,000,000 in interest alone...
It will never be repaid!
It will, i will ring him 8 times a day, tell Equifax, get a CCJ against him and then ring his mum and tell her i will be round to get her TV and Microwave.It will never be repaid!
Mattygooner said:
jesusbuiltmycar said:
I read that cost of servicing Brown's debts will be £60,000,000,000 in interest alone...
It will never be repaid!
It will, i will ring him 8 times a day, tell Equifax, get a CCJ against him and then ring his mum and tell her i will be round to get her TV and Microwave.It will never be repaid!
.Rude-boy said:
Don't get me wrong i think that the Tories in 1997 needed kicking out for a short while, even if I voted for them. That said too many people swallowed the the spin and thought that Labour wouldn't revert to type about year 4 of their first term.
New Labour, Old Danger - scarily true.
I await someone more learned than I but I can't recall a labour government having ever left office without having left the country in a financial mess...
Yes they have always messed up as they're too interested in installing a socialist totalitarian system. New Labour, Old Danger - scarily true.
I await someone more learned than I but I can't recall a labour government having ever left office without having left the country in a financial mess...
Hopefully Britons will be wise enough to kick them into touch permanently.. BUT sadly I doubt it.
The debts are soo huuuge (even mandyscum speaking today to the LSE admitted almost that) that even if the Tories get in, they'll have to make RADICAL cuts in everything to be able to start to balance the books.
The dumb voter, after 4 years, will have forgotten labours lies, thieving and cheating and will vote those scum in again, I'm afraid.
JMGS4 said:
Rude-boy said:
Don't get me wrong i think that the Tories in 1997 needed kicking out for a short while, even if I voted for them. That said too many people swallowed the the spin and thought that Labour wouldn't revert to type about year 4 of their first term.
New Labour, Old Danger - scarily true.
I await someone more learned than I but I can't recall a labour government having ever left office without having left the country in a financial mess...
Yes they have always messed up as they're too interested in installing a socialist totalitarian system. New Labour, Old Danger - scarily true.
I await someone more learned than I but I can't recall a labour government having ever left office without having left the country in a financial mess...
Hopefully Britons will be wise enough to kick them into touch permanently.. BUT sadly I doubt it.
The debts are soo huuuge (even mandyscum speaking today to the LSE admitted almost that) that even if the Tories get in, they'll have to make RADICAL cuts in everything to be able to start to balance the books.
The dumb voter, after 4 years, will have forgotten labours lies, thieving and cheating and will vote those scum in again, I'm afraid.
I strongly believe they will keep them in power in 9 months time. In order to get this country straight the Conservatives will have to make massive cuts to the majority of the population. Those who have borrowed too much and don't like hard work will vote to keep Labour in power. It's in their best interests to do so.
I don't believe there are enough working people left in this country to vote out Labour.
paulmurr said:
To put this into context, a million seconds is about 10 days, a billion seconds is 32 years but a trillion seconds is 31688.7646 years.
I always prefer the visual approach 
In one hundred dollar bills:
A Million dollars.
A Billion Dollars.
And..a Trillion dollars.
Now, if a UK Billion is 1000 times larger than a US billion that means you have to multiply the last two pictures by 1000 to get pounds but we don't do £100 notes so it would be £50's, so double the stacks again for good measure! unless i am being a total idiot?
It is mind boggling...
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