My latest post on Substack, summarised. If you find this article useful, please become a paid subscriber to support my work and get news first on my WhatsApp channel: http://bit.ly/SteveBakerFRSAWhatsApp If the Chancellor tells us the UK can’t afford public spending, she is right. The Conservatives should use the opportunity […]
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For years, I’ve warned of the dangers of unaffordable government spending commitments, an economy fuelled by cheap credit and QE, and bubbles that will burst, probably the biggest in history. Here’s the briefing: https://stevebaker.info/2022/07/defaulting-on-the-welfare-state/ Read the book: https://stevebaker.info/2022/07/are-we-in-the-largest-bubble-in-history-an-austrian-school-analysis-by-steve-baker-mp-max-rangeley/ Watch the movie:
Read MoreAccording to the European Court of Auditors, €7 billion of the 2013 budget was misspent. However, the EU has a very loose definition of the word ‘misspent’, Here are a few examples of projects judged to be money well spent: €500,000 paid to two fishermen to scrap their boat in […]
Read MoreYesterday, we learned “public sector net borrowing was £0.6 billion in July 2012; this is £3.4 billion higher net borrowing than in July 2011, when net borrowing was -£2.8 billion (a repayment)”. Compared to say May, when we borrowed £17.9 billion, £600 million seems relatively modest. It’s still the gross […]
Read MoreVia Learn Liberty, a video which tries to make the US fiscal position understandable: What If the National Debt Were Your Debt? Government debt is not the same as household debt of course. Households can’t debase everyone’s money in an attempt to avoid bankruptcy.
Read MoreVia the Autumn Statement, page 25, forecast Government receipts and expenditure through the Parliament as a percentage of GDP: See also this chart, showing how our national debt is forecast to increase as a consequence. The legacy this Government was handed remains a scandal.
Read MoreWhat would they have done about this “new fiscal compact” agreed at the recent European Council: General government budgets shall be balanced or in surplus; this principle shall be deemed respected if, as a rule, the annual structural deficit does not exceed 0.5% of nominal GDP. Such a rule will […]
Read MoreThe economic facts behind the Autumn Statement, in as far as they are known or forecast, are available in the Economic and Fiscal Outlook from the Office for Budget Responsibility. Table 4.7 provides forecast current receipts. Table 4.18 provides total managed expenditure. So, here’s a chart of current receipts (i.e. tax) […]
Read MoreVia the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement (PDF), the revised trajectory of public sector net debt: City AM reported back in July on a poll that, asked whether the coalition would be keeping the national debt the same over the next four years, increasing it by £350bn or cutting it by £350bn. […]
Read MoreVia PAUL: One year to go – Washington Times (and twitterer @tomjdalton): I firmly believe the American people are serious about cutting spending and fixing our debt crisis now. Those struggling to make ends meet and provide for their families while also trying to save for the future know we must […]
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