Interesting posts on a Thursday

Busy day so here's a few items that caught my eye and you might find interesting:

1) Burning Our Money has an even more worrying than normal post on UK debt that could stop you from getting a good night's sleep tonight, here's an extract:

'The Bank for International Settlements disagrees. In a recent paper on the international outlook for public debt, they point to the UK as being the worst placed of any major economy.

On current policies, they project that by 2040 government debt interest payments in the UK will have ballooned from their current level under 3% of GDP up to nearly 30% - worse than any other country.

...

Or to put it another way, by 2040 the average family would be paying (in today's money) over £10 grand every year just to pay the government's debt interest bill.

And by 2040, the BIS estimates that our official public sector debt (ie excluding Enron items like public sector pensions) will be a staggering 550% of GDP'

2) Letters from a Tory explains 'The painful reality of 13 years of Labour’s benefits system' and it is a painful read. LFAT explains how

'a scarcely-reported document released yesterday by the Institute for Fiscal Studies gave a devastating assessment of how Labour’s benefits culture has done its bit to drive this country into the ground and tear families apart... On page 18, there is a fairly innocuous-looking table which details the average gains and losses for different people in terms of tax and benefit reforms that have been introduced since 1997. The data and, perhaps more importantly, the messages that these changes send out are deeply troubling and go a long way to explaining how Labour have bred such a disturbing culture of welfare dependency. Here is a summary of what Labour have done to our tax and benefits system in terms of changes to annual income:

* If you are single, you’ve lost out. It’s as simple as that. If you’re single and working, you have seen your income per year drop by 4.6% on average. However, if you’re single and not working, you’ve only seen your income drop by 1.8% a year.
* Lone parents have had money thrown at them by Labour. If you’re a lone parent who works, your income has rocketed by 12.4% under Labour, but if you’re a lone parent who doesn’t work then your income has shot up by 16.1% instead.
* If you’re in a relationship in which neither partner is working and you have no children, your income had dropped slightly by 1.3%. However, if you’re in a relationship in which no-one is working and you have children then fear not, because your income will have increased by a massive 16% under Labour in return for… well… not working and having kids.
* Unfortunately, if you’re in a couple and at least one of you is working then its bad news all around. If one of you is working and you have no children, you’re down 5.3% a year under Labour, and if you have children then you’re down 1.3%. If both partners work and you have children, you’re out of pocket by 3.5% a year, and if you’re in a relationship where you both work and have no children you’re down by 4.7%.
* Pensioners have done quite well out of these changes, with the income of single pensioners up 9.9% a year, but if you’re in a couple then your income is only up 3.2%.
* The average change of income under Labour across all age groups and households is a loss of 0.9% a year.

Something else for Gordon Brown to be tackled on and no doubt something else he will answer with waffle and guff whilst the BBC interviewer looks on adoringly. The thing is that this has not happened by accident it was part of Labour's plan to create a client sate that would vote labour no matter what and they have succeeded.


3) Iain Dale reports that: 'Dragons' Den star James Caan has today backed Tory economic policy' and here's the James Caan press release in full (my emphasis):

'James Caan, champion of entrepreneurship and star of BBC TVs Dragons’ Den, analysed the policies of the Labour and Conservative parties today, in search of solace for small business prior to the General Election.

“Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME’s) obviously have a huge part to play in the economic recovery and providing employment growth,“ said James Caan. “Currently, all parties are claiming to have prioritized help to SME’s, but that help comes in various policy forms.”

“Labour and the Conservatives seem to be offering alternative policy focuses for economic recovery, and their plans for deficit reduction depend upon the successful impact of their respective policies. I believe that the recovery needs to be business-led, with particular support for SME’s, and the Conservatives are most convincing on this aspect at the moment.”

“Labour have outlined a series of encouraging measures as part of their £2.5bn Growth Package to help small businesses, but Alistair Darling’s budget claimed to be based on the lowest end of Bank of England growth estimates,“ said Caan, “but I am convinced that his growth figures are exaggerated. If this is the case, his borrowing projections also look imprudent.“

Caan states that viable SME’s are continuing to struggle to access the credit that they need, and emphasises that Labour have largely failed to ensure that access over the past year. Moreover, “their plans to ensure that Lloyds and RBS lend to SME’s by setting targets and creating a Credit Adjudicator Service (CAS) are ambiguous“ said Caan. “Their plans to raise National Insurance Contributions will also cost of thousands of jobs.“

Caan believes that the Conservative Party has a stronger focus on business and will also be more successful in reassuring the financial markets.

“The Tories place a different and greater emphasis on making it easier for SME’s to operate, and are willing to actually cut taxes here. Their plan to keep NI at its current level will protect jobs in the private sector, and it will act as an incentive for business.“ he said.

Caan is impressed by George Osborne’s promise to cut the deficit faster than Labour, and to put more emphasis on spending cuts rather than tax rises. “Cutting the deficit will be easier given a stronger business-led recovery.”

“Regardless of who wins the election, market led growth will be crucial, but this needs to be implemented with minimal transitional cost in terms of jobs,“ said Caan. “At the moment, the Tories will be receiving the entrepreneurial vote, and I think that current employees and jobseekers will also welcome the NI relief on employers to employ them.“

James Caan has a good understanding of the needs of small businesses. He has created many millionaires, and has launched his Entrepreneurs’ Business Academy. James Caan has co-chaired the government’s Ethnic Minorities Business Task Force, reporting directly to business secretary Lord Peter Mandelson. '

Peter Mandelson won't be happy, I wonder how he will take revenge?


4) ITV's Tom Bradby explains that 'interviewing Gordon is unlike interviewing any other politician.' and here's part of his reasoning:

'Most encounters with party leaders or MPs form a distinct pattern. We come in. We sit down. We chat pleasantly. We do an interview, which is probing, highbrow or a bit brutal, as circumstances demand. Then we exchange more pleasantries as we shoot a few ‘wide’ shots. And we go away.

End of story.

Simple, huh?

Tony Blair was like this. David Cameron is. So are Alastair Darling, Nick Clegg, George Osborne and just about every other front rank politician I can think of.

Not Gordon.... interviewing him is emotionally complicated.He doesn’t seem to understand that we are here to ask difficult questions and test his arguments by establishing contrary positions. He nearly always tells us we are wrong, both on and off camera, and that we have not done our research. He often gets angry, sometimes sulks and from time to time looks brutally hurt.

I really don’t know what to make of it. It’s not politics as we know it.'

I know what to make of it Tom; Gordon Brown is an evasive, aggressive, obsessive ****.