Public Spending...
 

Should we maintain the current rates of public spending by our government, or in times of recession, should we try and reduce it to pay for all the government debt?

Re: Public Spending...
 

we should spend what we can afford to spend and sod the bloody government....they spend enough

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LOL Public spending is not how much you or me spend Shaz,its how much the government spend on public things like hospitals,police etc :)

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oops lol, cheers Ian :D

the hairs blonde this week (or at least thats my excuse for being thick) ;)

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bit of a loaded question that Andrew..you are learning fast ...but I reckon I know that your own answer would be the old Tory way...reduce public spending by making massive cuts in Education,the NHS and even the Defence budget..the Tory way has been tried and tested in the past during the several reccesions caused by their incompetence.

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who cares its the moneymen that got us in this mess, regulate n make them sort the mess out, yer damned if ya do, damned if ya dont in government during a recession.

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Bit out of character for andrew :rolleyes::D

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way i see it, depending which economist ya listen too, some say spend less, some say spend more, if people like that can't make their minds up as to the best way, why does AndrewB think accyweb can.:D

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fair point...perhaps it's because he holds the views of Accywebbers in such high esteem. :)

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or perhaps thinks he's setting "Traps";)

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LOL...just noticed the colour scheme for the poll..red for increase..blue for decrease! :rofl38:

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spend more ,print more money to pay for it:D

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Gordon says spend more so the best way must be to spend less, because he ain't a clue what he's doing, and close on £2 trillion of debt speaks for itself:rolleyes:

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Guess we've all seen what rash decisions cause, i'd leave it pretty much as is for the moment, lets face it, probably not that much scope for anything too drastic now anyway depending on who's figures you really believe. No matter who makes the decision, it will almost certainly be made by a prat who we cant relate to and visa versa!:rolleyes:

Best Regards - Tagy

Re: Public Spending...
 

The worker becomes all the poorer the more wealth he produces, the more his production increases in power and range. The worker becomes an ever cheaper commodity the more commodities he creates. With the increasing value of the world of things proceeds in direct proportion to the devaluation of the world of men. Labour produces not only commodities; it produces itself and the worker as a commodity -- and does so in the proportion in which it produces commodities generally.

Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts (1844)

Re: Public Spending...
 

It's a bit of a vague question as public spending covers so many areas. There are areas where it should be increased - investment in small businesses, investment in creativity, education etc, as these are long-term ways out of the recession.

However, when it comes to things like the Olympics, then clearly they need to clamp down on spending our money.

Unfortunately, as costs for the Olympics sky rocket, I fear that all the other areas will suffer.

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Did he work that out whilst smoking those large cigars?? Should have been more like Harpo and kept quiet!! :eek:;)

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I knew is brother Groucho:D

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Dont forget Benefits, Foreign Aid, Stupid Projects and servicing hugh debt repayments for monies borrowed by the Government. I am sure there are many more but thats a start. :):rolleyes:

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Last night I watched a Dispatches programme that I had recorded and forgotten about. The amount of public spending that was squandered was a disgrace(and this isn't a rant against Labour think money would be wasted whoever is in power). Think there should be some sort of regulator brought in to monitor public spending, something needs doing to stop this wanton waste IMHO.

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This is what the Public Accounts Committee is all about Bernie. Chairman always a member of the opposition.

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Well sorry it isn't working, I am talking billions and billions of pounds here:mad:

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spend more on police and scrap the human rights act..thats what i say:cool:

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In a way, think Flashy has hit the nail on the head. Try and work within your means in other words.

Problem is, how we distribute the money available, all areas are important, just which needs it the most.

Think defence needs a bigger slice and NHS (although has the biggest spend at the moment)... oh, and education low down on the list of public spending at the moment. Pensions are 2nd followed by Welfare.

How do you decide ? I dunno' not good at economics. Always try to prioritize my household spending to paying the bills first, but how does a government decide which it the most important ?

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I think what's important is making good use of what they do spend. A lot of money is thrown at things, under the assumption that more money equals better service, which is simply not the case.

I'd like to see better use of public money, perhaps then we could afford to take low income workers completely out of income tax.

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Well, common sense thought, however, which area, in your opinion, has been the most guilty of badly handling the money they have been allocated ?

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Taking low income families out of the tax equation would be a better way to use money than perhaps say Working tax credits, and if the families on lower incomes had a little more money then perhaps some of it would find its way into the local economy.

I don't know a lot about economics but I do know that to spend more than you earn(or have coming into the community pot) is a recipe for disaster.

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Labours little 'projects' like the billions wasted on an NHS computer system, or billions wasted on creating ID cards. The NHS itself has had mass amounts of funding, as has education, in fact so much money was pumped into them that it made us unprepared for this recession, government had spent all our money, they'd not fixed the roof while the sun was shining. You'd expect a far improved service for what they've put in, yet the NHS spends more on management consultants than medical ones. Over 12 years they've spent £360 billion on education, yet we've dropped from 8th in the world to 24th.

Just doesn't add up.

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I'd agree with that, with low earners being able to keep more of their earned income. It would be a greater incentive also for those people who find themselves in the "benefit trap" to try to take up employment.

Best Regards - Taggy

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Its surprising how none of our Labour friends ever have anything to say on the total failings of their government, and when you think about it those down in Westminster are supposed to be the brains of their party, yet we see unprecedented waste of extortionate proportions

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Didn't wish to give you a platform for what you see as past 'misdemeanors' by Labour Andrew. Your question was in the present, and maybe some sort of monitoring into how best money will be spent may be helpful. This could be counter productive though, as would mean more staff.

So really, gather you would wish for it to stay the same ?

Problem is all the areas in Public spending have costs that are rising, due to lots of factors like NHS ... population living longer and better drugs and treatment improvements which all cost money.

Universities asking for larger tuition fees to offer better facilities/courses.

Defence ... need better protection for our soldiers in the form of equipment to support this stupid war in Iraq.

Pensions .. more pensioners like myself living longer, and attempting to survive against rising costs such as energy, etc.

Welfare ... we are a little soft on this, however, wouldn't knock any benefits genuinely needed ... we have always tried to help our citizens in hard circumstances.

Could go on and on with the others, but as said before, they are all important.

Though Gayle has mentioned arts, etc., this could be one area that isn't necessary, and some lottery grants are helping here. Just as important though, we need some pleasure.

Oh hek, what a conundrum, eh ?

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His research only goes back 12 years so he can hardly talk about previous governments wasting money can he ;)

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Waiting times: 20 years of progress


1980s: As director of the NHS Northern region, Sir Liam Donaldson, now the Government's chief medical officer, received a letter from an 83-year-old pensioner who had been waiting 10 years for an NHS cataract operation. In it, he asked if he could bequeath his place in the queue in his will to his 60-year-old nephew who had developed eye problems.
Waiting times at record low as NHS hits target five months early - Health News, Health & Wellbeing - The Independent

'The NHS is celebrating the shortest waits since its records began.
New data shows that across England the NHS has met its target to treat patients within a maximum of 18 weeks from referral by their GP - an achievement that was unimaginable 12 years ago. The average wait for treatment for admitted patients is now just 8.6 weeks.'
NHS delivers shortest waiting lists 'since records began' » Central Government » 24dash.com

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Yep, get them in, meet some targets. The targets are not to cure people, they're to get them in and out as soon as possible. I'd have rather waited a year to get a correct diagnosis for my stomach, instead it was an 8 week waiting list and then nothing came of it - I was just a statistic, not a patient. Unproductive targets have been created and money has been thrown at them.

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12 years of this lot that are in power now must be a lesson for all.
The future is important, the past is a learning curve.
I can go back to Harold Wilson and George Brown and no labour followers would be proud of that.
Andrew is a young man reading politics and I would suggest he probably can go back in his studies to all Governments since the War....I'm not sure but I am not going to be the one who tests him?:)

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Which is why this lot got in, because people were saying the same about the previous government ;)

The longer a government is in power the more unpopular it seems to get, I think people just get bored with them.

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I think that when a government has been in power for a long period of time, they become complacent.

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I'm not basing my observations on whether or not my stomach complaint has been diagnosed.

I'm just happy to hear the facts that people aren't dying or going blind, whilst waiting for a cateract operation, which they were twenty years ago.

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That surely is down to medical science.
I have never heard of anyone dying whilst waiting for a cateract operation unless the death is due to old age which no one can prevent.
A cateract operation is now a very simple procedure carried out by very talented eye surgeons.
The health service has improved, I agree. I also agree that money should go to the health service as well as to defence and some social services.
I think the current downturn will expose many cock-ups along the way, the sooner the better.

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No now they are dying from MRSA and C-dif. The fact is that medical science has moved on and new techniques are being used, new drugs are available, if you have the right post code, you still pay for prescriptions in England whilst our friends over the boarder don't, and the same thing with hospital parking. When I as in dock last year the ward I was on was a total shambles, I'd been in 3 days before I had a table to eat my meals on, and a simple thing like a jug of water was not available for 48 hours. As for cataracts I was referred in early July 2002 an had them done by March 2003

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I was on the waiting list for a cataract op for quite a short time.There is however a waiting list to get on a waiting list and that took more than 2 years.:confused::confused:

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Exactly ... regulation ... now you are thinking like a Canadian ... :D Over here, the banks and financial institutions are rock solid ... :theband:

And I think that you are right about the fact that govts. are facing an economic dilemma .... thing is, this recession will end sooner or later, probably in spite of what govt. does. What people should be thinking is "what then"? What can be done to make sure it doesn't happen again? The govts. didn't get us into this mess ... tho' they didn't do much to prevent it ... big business did it out of greed, acting in a vacuum created by conservative govts. (Ronnie Raygun is much to blame for this ... and Thatcher of course) who let them go to it. Well paid industrial jobs were exported to countries with a labour force that was prepared to work for low wages in atrocious conditions ... this in the name of Globalization. This left workers at home without well-paid jobs. The problem that arises is that now they are not able to consume at the same level. This put pressure on the national economies ... and what came along to replace well paid jobs? Easy credit. A house of cards ... smoke and mirrors. This recession was inevitable.

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cuts... more cuts in the places that the well off Tories live in.. and the fairytail world that Jaysay lives in..these people have no idea how much tax payers money was spent in the riegn of Thatcher employing management consultants .. bilions..billions spent on the basic ideal that no indvidual can cope without management... because we are all inept!... the likes of these Tories should be shot at close range..they have but have but one aim.. to destroy any person that has the guts to improve.. but they do have pig stupid cap tippin farmhands that can type.

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Sometimes I really worry about your one sided slant on everything, this present government has spent more on management consultants taken on more civil servants and formed more Quangos for their mate than any government in history, these friends of yours are biggest chislers in history and but the ironic point is that when Brown and Co are kicked out of office they'll leave the usual S*** Tip which follows every failed Labour administration, only this time the debt which they'll leave is the biggest in history and will see our grandchildren's children still paying it of when they retire

Re: Public Spending...
 

I have not quoted Macies post because I think it's the biiggest load of crapology I have ever come across.
I think when our chosen one's take to the hustings and questions are asked about public spending and expenses, they will find that there is nowhere to hide.

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the thing is it says public spending it doesnt say about the billions its giving their mates in the private sector;)

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i know its a crazy idea but how about stop spending money on other countries well being and spend it on our own.

no need to increase spending just divert the money where it should be goijng in the first place.

It beggers belief that our government sends money to ensure kids get an education in other countries while our own system is failing so bad

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Yeh selfish beggar.:rofl38::rofl38::rofl38::rofl38:

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Couldn't agree more...its ridiculous that the Foreign aid budget is actually being increased over the lifetime of this Parliament from around £7 Billion per year to around £12 Billion per year!

Best Regards - Taggy

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Ya but seeing this thread was last used in 2009 I can only assume your talking about Brown and Darling;)

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all political parties but maggie made it acceptable ;)

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'Over the same period, other recipients of British development aid have included Slovenia, Malta, the Czech Republic and Hungary, all highly developed First World countries, fellow members of the EU, and two of whom are even in the euro. In the last year for which figures are available, Britain also gave £380,000 in aid to the enormously wealthy oil sheikhdom of Saudi Arabia.'
Did Britain really need to give millions to the wealthy state of Singapore? - Telegraph

Yes, Saudi Arabia!

Read it and weep.

(Just as soon as you've finished banging your head against the wall.)

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By the way cmonEileen, this was under the last Labour government.

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I'm waiting for Gaddafi's son to go on trial, should be interesting

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I expect someone will 'do a Jack Ruby' on him before he has chance to say anything, or he will have a convenient 'heart attack':rolleyes:

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Your not suggesting a conspiracy are you Margaret:eek::eek::D