Public spending as a percentage of GDP

Take a trip over to Burning Our Money where Wat Tyler informs us of the extent to which this Labour Government under Gordon Brown first as Chancellor and now as Prime Minister "have blown the public finances to smithereens".

The key points in the article are:

1. "while other governments have exercised real prudence, ours has spent money like a lottery winner who's been told he only has six months to live. We are now the profligate outlier in a world that is turning very nasty indeed."

2. "the government has substantially underestimated borrowing in each of the last six years. Last year's budget forecast 2007-08 borrowing at £33bn: the out-turn is likely to be more like £43bn, an overshoot that amounts to around £400 for every single household in Britain. And that's despite the fact that growth has been strong (around 3%)"

3. "the real national debt is much higher than Labour admits. They say it's just over £0.5 trillion, whereas once we include unfunded public sector pensions, off-balance sheet PFI debt, and various other liabilities, the true figure is over £1.8 trillion. Or 130% of GDP. Or £74 grand per household. And remember, that undeclared debt is growing by around £80bn pa (the figure you should mentally add to Darling's announced borrowing total)."


Read the whole article and worry for all of our futures in this doomed country.