Britains Debt Mountain

[mitsubishi]

Worrying documentary from the UK.

As many expats in Thailand are from there and may still have their main currency basket as the £ this makes for worrying viewing...

Part 1

Part 2

[mitsubishi]

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

After seeing this I'd be drawing my plans up accordingl

[chiang mai]

The videos describe the situation nicely and in very simple terms, a bit like watching British TV so will appeal to many who want to try and understand the underlying financial problems and QE.

Edited November 15, 2010 by chiang mai

[craigt3365]

Thanks for sharing. What shocked me was the statement that if every house and flat in all of the UK was sold, the UK would still be 1 trillion pounds short of paying off the debt. Unreal....crazy world we live in...

[Boater]

Thanks for sharing. What shocked me was the statement that if every house and flat in all of the UK was sold, the UK would still be 1 trillion pounds short of paying off the debt. Unreal....crazy world we live in...

trouble is , the country has more out goings that what is coming in ! , get rid of plush prisons, revert benifits to only those who really need it, abloish free housing, make people WORK for there money, the list goes on, but the problem is the real people who pay into socity are leaving the uk

[Naam]

Thanks for sharing. What shocked me was the statement that if every house and flat in all of the UK was sold, the UK would still be 1 trillion pounds short of paying off the debt. Unreal....crazy world we live in...

the only unreal things are most of the youtube clips (and their authors) presented here. on youtube anybody can claim any rubbish without fear to be contradicted or proven wrong.

[chiang mai]

Thanks for sharing. What shocked me was the statement that if every house and flat in all of the UK was sold, the UK would still be 1 trillion pounds short of paying off the debt. Unreal....crazy world we live in...

the only unreal things are most of the youtube clips (and their authors) presented here. on youtube anybody can claim any rubbish without fear to be contradicted or proven wrong.

Do I sense that you do not agree with the sentiments expressed in the video's Dr Naam, I thought it was done rather well and it wasn't blindingly obvious to me there was much in it that isn't factual.

[craigt3365]

Thanks for sharing. What shocked me was the statement that if every house and flat in all of the UK was sold, the UK would still be 1 trillion pounds short of paying off the debt. Unreal....crazy world we live in...

the only unreal things are most of the youtube clips (and their authors) presented here. on youtube anybody can claim any rubbish without fear to be contradicted or proven wrong.

Reminds me of two emails that were sent to me recently. One showed an extremely nice house, a mansion, and the next pics were of absolute poverty in Zimbabwe. Supposedly, the mansion was the President's private home and they were asking how he could live like this when his country is so poor. But in reality, it was a home for sale in Los Angeles. The other was of a young boy having his arm ran over by a car with a title about this being Sharia law...it was actually a stunt they pull to make money.

[mitsubishi]

Thanks for sharing. What shocked me was the statement that if every house and flat in all of the UK was sold, the UK would still be 1 trillion pounds short of paying off the debt. Unreal....crazy world we live in...

the only unreal things are most of the youtube clips (and their authors) presented here. on youtube anybody can claim any rubbish without fear to be contradicted or proven wrong.

I wondered how long the resident left-wing german would take to show his umbrage.

Is Kenysian your middle name Naam?

[mitsubishi]

What people should really take from the videos, if they actually bothered to watch them (take note Naam!) is that they show the example of Hong Kong which used the principles of Adam Smith and limited government to launch the tiny island into an eastern tiger.

Thailand is one of the many asian economy's that, while not as powerful as Hong Kong, is doing more than fine compared to sick and decrepid Euroland.

[jesimps]

Good job the clip was in two parts, gave me time to change my trousers half way through.

[FarangBuddha]

Thanks for sharing. What shocked me was the statement that if every house and flat in all of the UK was sold, the UK would still be 1 trillion pounds short of paying off the debt. Unreal....crazy world we live in...

Yeah...all that "free" medical care and "free" welfare benefits stuff [like those infamous heating allowances and free transit passes] for everybody really start to add up after a few decades don't they

[Naam]

Thanks for sharing. What shocked me was the statement that if every house and flat in all of the UK was sold, the UK would still be 1 trillion pounds short of paying off the debt. Unreal....crazy world we live in...

the only unreal things are most of the youtube clips (and their authors) presented here. on youtube anybody can claim any rubbish without fear to be contradicted or proven wrong.

I wondered how long the resident left-wing german would take to show his umbrage. Is Kenysian your middle name Naam?

-the expression "right wing german" would fit much better and my middle name is Frank.

-as a [former] physicist i admire the mathematical capability of people who are able to value all UK immobile property.

-these experts must be able to calculate in no time the volume of all planets, moons and asteroids in the gamma quadrant.

-my sympathy goes to all those who believe in that kind of published rubbish.

-i envy people who can afford to waste time on yewtewb clips.

[Naam]

Thanks for sharing. What shocked me was the statement that if every house and flat in all of the UK was sold, the UK would still be 1 trillion pounds short of paying off the debt. Unreal....crazy world we live in...

the only unreal things are most of the youtube clips (and their authors) presented here. on youtube anybody can claim any rubbish without fear to be contradicted or proven wrong.

Do I sense that you do not agree with the sentiments expressed in the video's Dr Naam, I thought it was done rather well and it wasn't blindingly obvious to me there was much in it that isn't factual.

full of guilt i confess that since a year or so i don't watch any youtube clips posted in this section of Thaivisa. my posting referred exclusively to "if every house and flat in all of the UK was sold, the UK would still be 1 trillion pounds short of paying off the debt".

[RHCP]

I watched the programme over the weekend and some interesting comments on the state of UK finances.

For those that haven’t seen it, one commentator reckoned that the start of the decline can be traced back to the end of World War 1 when the country was near enough bankrupt. The main points that came over included the decimation of the manufacturing base with a greater focus on service industries which are difficult to export and an ever increasing and over-reliance on state welfare which is not productive for the country. The programme estimated that the state accounts for well over 50% of the economy now which you would normally associate with Socialist/Communist regimes. It was mentioned that wealth creation for the nation can only come from the private sector but there is little incentive due to the tax system. And finally future citizens will pay the penalty for the dire state the country now finds itself in.

[GuestHouse]

As the Guardian points out It was strangely repetitive – it told us how much we are in debt roughly 4.8 trillion times

Wake up and find out what the motives of the producer are.

Like the internet, just because it's on the box does not make it true.

Meanwhile scaremongering does have a real impact on people's feelings and behaviour towards the economy, a right of reply might address that question.

[citizen33]

What people should really take from the videos, if they actually bothered to watch them (take note Naam!) is that they show the example of Hong Kong which used the principles of Adam Smith and limited government to launch the tiny island into an eastern tiger.

Thailand is one of the many asian economy's that, while not as powerful as Hong Kong, is doing more than fine compared to sick and decrepid Euroland.

I like Adam Smith, but not for the reasons implied here.

'When the regulation, therefore, is in favour of the workmen, it is always just and equitable; but it is sometimes otherwise when in favour of the masters.'

[The second purpose of political economy is] ‘to supply the state or commonwealth with a revenue sufficient for the public services'.

'We rarely hear, it has been said, of the combinations of masters, though frequently of those of workmen. But whoever imagines, upon this account, that masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of the world as of the subject. Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of tacit, but constant and uniform combination, not to raise the wages of labour above their actual rate.'

When will the MBA brigade or those who scrapped a degree in economics at some third-rate American university do a bit of serious reading (Moral Sentiments, perhaps), and discover that the great thinkers of the Scottish enlightenment had a different view of the world from the Chicago or Virginia schools? Economic illiterates...

[craigt3365]

What people should really take from the videos, if they actually bothered to watch them (take note Naam!) is that they show the example of Hong Kong which used the principles of Adam Smith and limited government to launch the tiny island into an eastern tiger.

Thailand is one of the many asian economy's that, while not as powerful as Hong Kong, is doing more than fine compared to sick and decrepid Euroland.

I like Adam Smith, but not for the reasons implied here.

'When the regulation, therefore, is in favour of the workmen, it is always just and equitable; but it is sometimes otherwise when in favour of the masters.'

[The second purpose of political economy is] ‘to supply the state or commonwealth with a revenue sufficient for the public services'.

'We rarely hear, it has been said, of the combinations of masters, though frequently of those of workmen. But whoever imagines, upon this account, that masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of the world as of the subject. Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of tacit, but constant and uniform combination, not to raise the wages of labour above their actual rate.'

When will the MBA brigade or those who scrapped a degree in economics at some third-rate American university do a bit of serious reading (Moral Sentiments, perhaps), and discover that the great thinkers of the Scottish enlightenment had a different view of the world from the Chicago or Virginia schools? Economic illiterates...

I think those economic illiterates are far more literate than you. Guaranteed. I'm an econ minor...my father was an economist with the USAF....lots of different views on this topic...

The last part of the video got weird. Talking about getting rid of money, going back to the barter system, etc. But overall, it was an interesting video. I would like to find out who was behind it...and what they are trying to accomplish with this. Always a backdoor reason....

[ianguygil]

While I think many western governments, including the UK, are in a very serious fiscal situation, which will probably only get worse, I think it is worth noting that the average maturity of UK debt is much longer than many other western governments. This gives them some relative protection against short term swings in interest rates compared to the US and several other European governments who have focused on short term funding in order to lower their interest costs.

With so much in short dated debt, they will have issues with funding not just the new debt, but also the existing debt which is coming to term. So I would say, unbelievable mess that it is, that the UK is managing their debt issuance in a much more responsible way that many other nations.

The UK also has the advantage of having a growing population (I will not get into immigration politics here), which puts them in a far better macro position than those European countries with shrinking populations.

[SiamRose]

-as a [former] physicist i admire the mathematical capability of people who are able to value all UK immobile property.

-these experts must be able to calculate in no time the volume of all planets, moons and asteroids in the gamma quadrant.

I imagine they estimate the value by multiplying the number of residential properties (which have to be registered for tax purposes) by the average house price for each area (based on recent sales). Whilst this will not be completely accurate it should provide a reasonable approximation if done carefully.

[SiamRose]

Its true that the UK has a huge amount of debt, but so also do other European countries. The so called PIIGS are in a worse financial position and cannot devalue their currencies. The US has vast debts and their government is still increasing rather than cutting spending. Japan has been engaged in "quantitative easing" for the last 20 years and has gone from a country with substantial net savings to having the highest debt to GDP ratio of any first world country. And in their ageing population they have a demographic time-bomb whose fuse is burning short.

[Naam]

no country refinances government debt at lower rates than Japan (since two decades).

1Y JGB 0.14%

5Y JGB 0.39%

10Y JGB 1.07%

http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/rates-bonds/government-bonds/japan/

[SiamRose]

Yes. As long as you can persuade people to lend you money at almost zero percent interest, it hardly matters how big your budget deficit is.

[MJP]

Thanks for sharing.  What shocked me was the statement that if every house and flat in all of the UK was sold, the UK would still be 1 trillion pounds short of paying off the debt.  Unreal....crazy world we live in...

the only unreal things are most of the youtube clips (and their authors) presented here. on youtube anybody can claim any rubbish without fear to be contradicted or proven wrong.

I wondered how long the resident left-wing german would take to show his umbrage.

Is Kenysian your middle name Naam?

Until the Germans end up picking up the bailout tab.

[MJP]

UK pledges £7bn to help bail Ireland out of debt crisis

The Chancellor arrived in Brussels for a meeting of EU finance ministers aware that exposure of British financial institutions to Irish banks is £140bn.

Thank you and goodnight!

[Naam]

Thanks for sharing.  What shocked me was the statement that if every house and flat in all of the UK was sold, the UK would still be 1 trillion pounds short of paying off the debt.  Unreal....crazy world we live in...

the only unreal things are most of the youtube clips (and their authors) presented here. on youtube anybody can claim any rubbish without fear to be contradicted or proven wrong.

I wondered how long the resident left-wing german would take to show his umbrage.

Is Kenysian your middle name Naam?

Until the Germans end up picking up the bailout tab.

i couldn' t care less who picks up what tab because the dough is not coming out of my pockets

[mitsubishi]

Thanks for sharing. What shocked me was the statement that if every house and flat in all of the UK was sold, the UK would still be 1 trillion pounds short of paying off the debt. Unreal....crazy world we live in...

the only unreal things are most of the youtube clips (and their authors) presented here. on youtube anybody can claim any rubbish without fear to be contradicted or proven wrong.

I wondered how long the resident left-wing german would take to show his umbrage. Is Kenysian your middle name Naam?

-the expression "right wing german" would fit much better and my middle name is Frank.

-as a [former] physicist i admire the mathematical capability of people who are able to value all UK immobile property.

-these experts must be able to calculate in no time the volume of all planets, moons and asteroids in the gamma quadrant.

-my sympathy goes to all those who believe in that kind of published rubbish.

-i envy people who can afford to waste time on yewtewb clips.

You could of fooled me Naam, you seem to espouse a left-wing mindset of champagn socialism on most threads I've seen you jump into.

Why don't you do a better job then hotshot and give us your expert valuation on the UKs property value

But don't listen to the independent folks on youtube who have done their homework, I'm sure your financial super-corporation needs you every other minute you have off the time you've put into Thai Visa

[Naam]

Why don't you do a better job then hotshot and give us your expert valuation on the UKs property value

the ratio UK property value / UK debt is as relevant for the debt as is the number of tadpoles in my pond for the exchange rate Angolan Kwanza vs. Papua New Guinea Shrinkhead. should i be bored one day i will go down to Jomtien Beach and try to estimate the number of sand grains per linear km beachline at low tide.

[mitsubishi]

Why don't you do a better job then hotshot and give us your expert valuation on the UKs property value

the ratio UK property value / UK debt is as relevant for the debt as is the number of tadpoles in my pond for the exchange rate Angolan Kwanza vs. Papua New Guinea Shrinkhead. should i be bored one day i will go down to Jomtien Beach and try to estimate the number of sand grains per linear km beachline at low tide.

So why do you seem to cast doubt on the documentary's estimate when you yourself haven't a bloody clue!

[Naam]

Why don't you do a better job then hotshot and give us your expert valuation on the UKs property value

the ratio UK property value / UK debt is as relevant for the debt as is the number of tadpoles in my pond for the exchange rate Angolan Kwanza vs. Papua New Guinea Shrinkhead. should i be bored one day i will go down to Jomtien Beach and try to estimate the number of sand grains per linear km beachline at low tide.

So why do you seem to cast doubt on the documentary's estimate when you yourself haven't a bloody clue!

so why don't you understand simple english to realise that i did not talk about having clues but about relevance?