How Can The Deficit Be Reduced Without Any Pain?

[dave50]

Those of you who don't agree with spending cuts and even want to see spending increased in certain areas, how would you propose getting the deficit down? Or don't you consider it a priority? I have yet to hear any of these people explain what they think should be done to pay off our debt.

[mushroom25]

Ed Balls hasn't ruled out lowering the higher tax bracket threshold so that more taxpayers are subject to it.

[naomi24]

It can't.

[Quizmonster]

As said, it can't. However, as mortgages, hire purchase, buying on credit etc clearly show, the length of time taken to reduce any 'debt' can be spread over a greater or lesser time-span.

[venator]

I doubt whether most voters know what the deficit is and who we owe the debt to.

They know David blames it on Ed, and Ed blames it on anyone but the Labour Government

Whatever the parties say, it's likely that current promises will have to be modified to meet the demands of whatever minority party they associate with

I agree with you, Dave, there will be pain

[ToraToraTora]

They can't, standard socialism.

[dave50]

Come on Mikey, explain.

[Gromit]

United Kingdom Government Debt at the time of the last election was an eye-watering £0.76Trillion. That was 67% of our annual GDP.

Now it is £1.5Trillion which is 90% of annual GDP. Osborne as doubled our debt in less than 5 years. A truly dreadful record.

The Deficit is the difference between what the Government gets in tax and the amount of money it actually spends. It still spends more that it earns so we are borrowing to balance the books. The amount we borrow is going down because the Government is earning more in taxes a business has picked up.
Tax cuts will cut how much the Government earns, so we will have to borrow more again if tax cuts come in.

So it is a mixed report. We are reducing the deficit but we are adding to the national debt at a reckless rate.

[needtoknowbasis]

This country will, like every other country in the world, never be free of debt. It is impossible.
With money comes debt and with more money comes more debt.
America is worse still. The government lends money from the federal bank which is privately owned. Each dollar it lends comes with a debt. Think about it. The American government lending from a privately owned bank, the only people not in debt is the federal bank it's self who can literally print money.
Yes there are things you can do to be debt free but as a country it never will.

[ToraToraTora]

Norway has no debt.

[Quizmonster]

Both Norway and Britain started to extract oil from the North Sea in the early 1970s. By 1990, the Norwegian government had grasped that a specific oil fund was necessary to ensure all of the country’s citizens - rather than multinational businesses - benefited from the income generated. That fund, jointly with the state pension fund, has been doing just that for the past 25 years.
Guess which party was running Britain in 1990. We missed the boat then and now Norway is awash with money and we’ve got food-banks.