This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Guest Post: Britain's Public Debt Doubled Again Overnight to Now £4 TRILLION
Submitted by Toni Straka of The Prudent Investor
Excuse
Me Again But Britain's Public Debt Doubled Again Overnight to Now £4
TRILLION
And you still count?
It was only yesterday that Britain's societies of accountants and
economists disturbed
5 o'clock tea, saying that - according to their calculations - the
Empire's public net debts of £2 Trillion were more than double the
official figure.
This was a bad guess. It is £4 Trillion or again double that overnight,
at least according to this story in the Independent:
The true scale of Britain's national indebtedness was laid
bare by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) yesterday: almost £4
trillion, or £4,000bn, about four times higher than previously
acknowledged.
It quantifies
the burden that will be placed on future generations, and it is the
ONS's first attempt to draw together the "off-balance-sheet" liabilities
that have been accumulated by the state. The figures imply a huge
"intergenerational transfer" - broadly in favour of today's "baby
boomer" generation at the expense of younger people and future
generations.
The debt primarily consists of the
cost of public sector and state pensions, and of payments promised to
private contractors under private finance initiatives. It far exceeds
any of the figures so far published for the national debt, the largest
current estimate for which is £903bn...
It appears Dagong's
"AA-" rating is closer to the reality than the "AAA" given by Western
rating agencies, who have so far only cautioned a downgrade in the
distant future for the UK.
But it still escapes my understanding how 3 major bodies can differ so
widely on the key figure of these times: total government debt.
We have seen it before earlier this year, when debt figures of Greece
and Ireland
multiplied within a few days/hours, leading to massive loss of
confidence in the troubled Euro.
This is understandable. Can we trust official figures anymore when they
exponentially mushroom overnight?
I have searched the reported figures on the ONS website with a blank
result for the staggering £4 Trillion number, this being the
latest on public net debt. Note the steeper curve due to bank
rescues, though.
The Independent exclusively has these details and a sobering perspective
for future generations:
If the current generation of taxpayers wanted to remove the
higher bills facing their children and grandchildren, they would now be
paying around 30 per cent more in tax.
The ONS
data strengthens the Government's hand in its attempt to pull down state
spending.
The ONS itemised the public sector's
main liabilities as:
- Future payments for
the state old age pension: £1.1 to £1.4 Trillion- Unfunded public sector pensions for teachers, NHS staff and civil
servants: £770 billion to £1.2 Trillion- Payments under private finance initiative contracts: £200 billion
- Contingent liabilities (eg bank deposit guarantees): £500 billion
- Nuclear power plant decommissioning: £45 billion
- Impact of financial sector interventions: £1to £1.5 Trillion
Given the wide estimates, would you be surprised if
another Trillion gets tacked on?
If you still count find the exact
figure of global debts from 2009, that figure still stands
unchanged and unchallenged.
»
- 8311 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
Sticky wicket what?
Chip chip, old bean.
Life won't be all beer and skittles anymore.
Right right.
Ol' chap, good thing we have all those gold bars...
Blimey! What?!?!
It was sold by Gordon Brown to the Rothschilds for a few paltry ££ which is less than 25% of the value today?!? Bloody hell the whole lot of you!
"It was sold by Gordon Brown to the Rothschilds for a few paltry ££ which is less than 25% of the value today?!?"
Ooohhh bad show ;-)
Ney, lad! He done nicked our change!? That's not mint! What a bean! What'd eh do wit it? Buy some slappers? Ney! Nary a baste, these twats! They are trippin'! Not safe!!! Awright?
Ah yes, quite quite, champion actually. In for a bit of a blow what?
Well, carry on mate. Stiff upper lip and all.
Cheerio!
Oh my good god... you uncovered my repressed memories of Dick van Dyke doing his AWFUL "chim-chiminee" fake accent in "Mary Poppins". I didn't even remember having seen it, but now I've thrown up in my own mouth just a little.
They'll have this fixed before you can say "Bob's your uncle", ol chap.
Tea?
Seriously though, daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn.
That Gordon Brown chap was quite the wanker, adios to Old Blighty!
Cut all pensions and public salaries by 30%. Every year you delay, add 10% to that figure....
Cut them? No, add to them - http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/waste/2010/07/nonjob-of-the-week-2.html
The UK is heading for bankruptcy; and it appears to be very, very deliberate.
& sterling 1.526 strengthening. Rule Brittania mofos.
4 trillion... its just a push of a button to create electronic money.
A whole other matter getting it into the hands of those to whom it's due.
At least they have BP.
What's another couple trillion between friends?
You mean between 'cronies'.
Some time German newspapers suggested that Greece sell off some of it's islands. Perhaps HMS government should do the same? Best, of course, would be to sell Albion in its entirety and relocate to the New World. After all, America is underpopulated.
Why don't we all just get it over with and just hand our nations over to the mega corporations.
Oh wait.... too late...
I know already what will be the next addition to the olympic sports - debt counting ;)
Be sure the gold medal won't be a paper certificate.
It already is, as has not been made of full gold for many decades. Makes one wonder the same thing about all those gold-plated tungsten bars in Ft Knox.
Perhaps they could start by officially selling knighthoods ??
How much would Lloyd pay to become Lord Bankfiend ?? And how does Sir Al Gorithm sound ??
Hey!!!!!...(Head tilted regally upward, pinky finger extended)
Sir Nmewn...I kinda like that!
I wonder if they'll take a credit card? ;-)
So what now The euro rallies a little more on this awful news and gold continues to fall? when does this end, and the truth come out?
One thing i don't get, if we add all debths from around the globe... who the f.. has all that money?
So i owe you 200$ and you owe me 400 and none of us have anything?
Fiat currency is debt-based and can never be debt-free. I read that somewhere.
When the veil of reality lifts...only the holders of Gold and Silver will have money.
“Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value ---- zero.” Voltaire
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
If i get that correct- at the end gold still will have to be exchanged for fitat currency or some other form of payments.
I kinda of slow to get it... if everything crashes and you have plenty of gold then what?
Instead getting 1200 per onz you will get 5000 per onz... but its still the same fiat currency.
The Doomsday scenario. It's easier to carry some silver in your pocket than a steer.
The likely scenario, when there is a default and there will be, the numbers are staggering, your old money will have lost so much value to the exchange ratio which the new money will be valued at, you are being, in essence stolen from. The labor you exchanged (your earnings) for the old money didn't change, it was just as hard. Why would you except less now for it (your labor)?
The last devaluation by FDR, somebody point me out if I'm incorrect on this, saw a 30% drop in the "dollars" value overnight.
Simply, gold & silver is money.
The problem is "what is the accepted price of the steer in your pocket?"
No one is used to assigning value to gold or silver so you end up with a barter system. Gold and silver simply become an item to barter over.
"The problem is "what is the accepted price of the steer in your pocket?"...just glad to see me?...LOL.
"No one is used to assigning value to gold or silver"
Exactamundo. It's valued in fiat now...which is wrong, 180 degrees out of whack. I say fiat should be valued in gold and silver, which is a hard concept to wrap ones head around at first, but it would give you an idea of the value of any fiat over time.
You just don't recognize it.
G & S buys exactly the same stuff it has always bought, whereas a fiat based system requres ever more amounts of fiat to buy the same amount of stuff. It is a known fact.
My favorite example follows, that I ripped off from somewhere because I'm not smart enough to make the analogy.
In 1963 a gallon of gasoline cost, let's just say 25 cents. A 25 cent quarter was composed of 90% silver and 10% copper. Today a gallon of gas cost's 3.00 dollars. Big change in price huh?
No, it's not. Only the value of your fiat money has gone down.
Today, a worn out almost faceless 1963 quarter is still, roughly 90% silver & 10% copper and it is worth 3.31. More than enough for your gallon of gas.
http://www.coinflation.com/coins/1932-1964-Silver-Washington-Quarter-Val...
Trade gold and silver for goods directly. That's all there is to it. As the guy above said, gold and silver are money. You just spend it like you would money out of your savings. It's just money that isn't vulnerable to dilution.
Think commodities. One oz of gold wont be worth any USD's, it will be worth X amount of rice, or X amount of beans, X amount of labor, or whatever.
Gold itself also doesn't really have any value.. its just durable, shiny, recognized by everyone and not easy to forge (like stones or something)
if you havent watched this video you should.
its called "money as debt" and was my wake up call when i first saw it 2 years ago prior to all the problems
Money as Debt
I live in Britain and I can only laugh at this> It's no surprise of course but interesting that no-one mentioned this on BBC Radio today, would have thought it might be worthy of comment.
Check out sarniasilver if you are in the UK and don't forget sovereigns are free of Capital Gains Tax
America's debt and unfunded liabilities totaled at least $120000000000000.00 ($120 trillion), or 225% of the citizens' net worth.
In that sense, the UK is only slightly in the hole.
"GORDON BROWN WILL GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS THE MOST DESPISED POLITICIAN IN THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH PEOPLES." - LitoralKey
Neville Chamberlain has had the great burden lifted off his coffin.
The ONS director better stay out of Cessnas. How dare he mention the words " off balance sheet " ?? This behaviour would never be tolerated in Amerika.
Folks like me have babbled about the fallacy of government accounts for about a decade and a half - the refusal of governments to account for their future promises using GAAP (or its regional equivalent) is a travesty that disguises the fact that the political-parasite class does its schtick SOLELY through degradation of national balance sheets. If you GAAP-account, then there is not a single government in the western world that passes the 'going concern' test (except that they can mulct their livestock harder and send in armed goons).
That said, there is one reason why a sensible analyst would NOT include future pension liabilities in an analysis of total government 'debt': put simply, the moment the political-parasite class decides it is expedient, they will repudiate their promises (having prepped the populace for it by running a full-court press in a compliant media - state pensions will be the new Iran, and pension recipients will be mooching terrorist sympathisers).
Of course firms can default on their accruals as well - we see this all the time as firms who engage in wage-pension tradeoffs with their workforces, subsequently welsh on the deal by declaring Ch11 and wiping out retiree entitlements - having prepped the public with talk of how "health care costs for retired GM workers adds $1500 to the cost of each car" (conveniently ignoring the fact that the health-care promises were part of wage tradeoffs back in the day, which helped keep then-current costs DOWN and profits [and management bonuses] , commensurately, UP).
Guy Debord's "Society of the Spectacle" (http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/debord/ ) has never been more obviously apt than in recent years.
Cheerio
GT
FX markets make no sense to me. The US maybe in a terrible shape but it positively makes the UK balance sheet - with housing bubble still very much attached - an absolute shit show.
Bill Gross "supposedly" reducing his bets against UK Gilts is the kiss of death. Hes a smart cookie and doesnt talk his book - he does the opposite , so he can get all the mooks in the market to take the other side of his trade at an attractive price to Pimco.
GBP to roll over and die very soon.
I don,t think our Government properly knows how much the country owes which just shows what a joke they all are.Time to put the Queen on a lecture tour of the USA,turn the Houses of Parliament into a giant Mcdonalds and sell Scotland to the highest bidder.
Britain is the New Greece!!!!!!!!
.... or Zimbabwe.
even worse
So, as a % of GDP, are we better/worse off than the USA?
GDP can float up and down according to inputs and outputs.
I would say you are way worse off - because you tax anything that even stands still, you have sold off all the family silver and gave away your Gold supply as a "worthless relic" (and to raise cash)
Your way worse off - its bad and going to make austerity a word to fear.
Great Britain is no longer........ Great!
Northern Ireland was right.
Hell,
I would stop checking................
Guess the Brit's can't add.(:>)
I'm fairly sure we can't add-up any more.
That Tony (the Phony) Blair that y'all love so much over the pond (why?) has left us up poo valley.
Still, the press here tells us that *you* all think he's great - so fuck the money. You all - like - todalee *lurv" Tony.
Thank God for that - he only sold us out to a country where the average mong can't distinguish Iran and Australia on a world map.
BPs "poop in the Gulf" is just our deep, deep love back at you. Good luck with the claims.
(Not back at you DosZap - but there is some hatred brewing this side of the pond as you are maybe aware [or should be]).
*
UK newspaper Telegragh just reported in big headlines "PIMCO backs UK economy" , this after Billy the Gross' scathing attack about the UK and its perch on nitroglycerine or something like that a few months ago. Hmmm, everyone is now an expert in squiddy reverse-psychology, talk it down, load it up, talk it up, unload the stuff. The pimps will be selling their guilts to the retail moms and pops soon after this ONS "up" date of UK debt.
Except nobody on here (please nobody) listens to that any more. The real poker-style "tell" in all this is how frequently the doom/gloom and utopian/miracle stories are flipping over now in the (utterly compliant) media. It's getting down to the "one day this - one day that" level now. That's thermodynamics - "new and incredible" ideas of perpetual motion always end this way.
The UK is very, very screwed.
Why? Because it owes a lot of money and produces absolutely fuck-all (really fuck-all) that can't be produced cheaper somewhere else. Yet nearly everybody under 50 owns some sort of house that will pay for their retirement all on its own (somehow) - in a frankly ludicrous stand against anything that is happening anywhere else in the world.
Happy roulette if you want to second guess the path to reality.
"At least they have BP."
Err noo even the US owns just shy of 40% in that company.
Still, you have the oil now...
So what? Her majesty Queen worth every penny from that money. Modern american "democracy" is not worth $11T of debt, because no american president or Alan Greenspan-Ben Bernanke will take resposibility for the country. Only her Majesty is responsible for her country whatever will happen, and only Queen has power to ENFORCE THE LAW to save the country (probably with their former colonies) when it needs.
We are told we have a service economy and have outsourced manufacturing. Yet I see so few people with decent management skills or the faintest idea of 'service'. In the UK we just aren't very good at it.
What we now have is the next stage, thanks to Tony Blair, which is what I call a consultancy economy. Full of people who can't manage a service business but get paid to tell someone else how to run theirs.
Now with this incenstuous clusterfuck we are supposed to make back £4Tn, as well as pay off our mortgages (somewhere over £1Tn).
There are around 34 million workers in the UK. That's £120k each. Lets say we want to simply service this debt at 5% a year. That's £6k each, every year, and the principal £4Tn isn't even going down.
We are, eventually, fucked. I am renting - I would not buy a house in the UK unless you gave me it free, and even then I'd think about it carefully first.
Couldn't agree more. Am also renting, having exited the property market. Its worth remembering that Jeremy Grantham (GMO) has the UK housing market as one of the two real bubbles left in world markets currently, the other being Aussie property. Regardless of the howls of fellow ZHers that the US equity market is a bubble etc, he does have a point. London as usual remains an anomalous joke.
As for the feeble attempts at humour from the posters at the top of this thread re how Brits talk, do you muppets know any English people ? No ? Here's how they talk...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcG3JRIF05w
IS this in Long or Short scale numbers?
If it's long scale then trillion is 10(18) power vs short (typical US scale ) 10(12) power.
As warned about for some time... EURUSD daily chart is bullish.
http://stockmarket618.wordpress.com/about
sorry mispost, meant to put my response beneath the person i was addressing..
Really this is a great post from an expert and thank you very much for sharing this valuable information with us................ windows vps | cheap vps | cheap hosting | forex vps
Really this is a great post from an expert and thank you very much for sharing this valuable information with us................ windows vps | cheap vps | cheap hosting | forex vps