Britain's National Debt - equivalent to £65K per household

With regards HS2, I guess that I was excited at the thought that, after many years of the railways being disregarded in favour of the roads [and believing that rail travel and freight is the way forward]the powers that be actually wanted to put money into the railways and [I thought] wanted to improve them.I'm very concerned about the government cancelling the latest electrification programme [something else slipped in at the 'end of term'].

Lyndie - You are absolutely right about having to think about producing things the world needs.

The corporation tax challenge is less of an issue for SMEs that are growing and developing, since by re-investing in the business, this would attract funding support (well before Brexit perhaps more easily) in aspects of R&D, and of course CT is only chargeable on profits.

Our real challenge in the UK is for SME growth to replace the dependence we have on global multi-nationals, encouraged by governments here to buy into and buy out businesses that have removed our home grown core industries.

Amongst the blindingly obvious sectors are those of energy production, conservation and renewables - a sector that the present government is undermining daily. But, we must fight against this and direct our innovative and innate creativity into activities that will provide long term sustainability. Clearly that is not the service sector and financial services.

Where is the magic money tree when you need it?

Don't moan about the state of the economy if you voted for Brexit. You wanted it and now boy are you getting it. Brexit was always was going to have devastating effects on our economy but all Little Englanders could think of was Immigration and sheer rubbish spun by Farage and Johnson. The fact is most immigrants don't come from the EU and many that do make a valuable contribution to our economy. Stop reading the Daily Mail, get a life and 'put up' like many of us have had to do over the last year.

This may help put things in perspective

www.economist.com/content/global_debt_clock

My husband is always going on about this, but it might be misleading to put national debt into the same category as personal debt.
www.quora.com/In-what-ways-are-government-debts-different-from-personal-debts
I don't understand it either.

You have to consider the issue holistically. There are a number of related issues. Taxes were higher in the past and need to be rebalanced to match spending. The problem with raising taxes from a government perspective is that at the next election we get a switch from left to right or vice versa; swings are costly and destabilizing. To avoid swings we need a PR electoral system.

The economy needs to be more biased to manufacturing and not so reliant on services.

Training - more emphasis on the skills needed and not so much stress on universities. So many degrees do not equip people for the work place.

Only lend what people can afford to repay. when I took out a mortgage in 1968 I was restricted to 3 times my salary. My wife's salary was included because she may get pregnant. Housing costs would not have escalated relative to wages had that rule been kept.

The NHS will continue to cost more but we can mitigate this by living healthier lifestyles. Education with some elements of carrots and sticks.

Nothing will give an instant fix but going back to common sense economics will make things better over time.

And yes Brexit is not helpful.

Personally I'd go for very high taxes - as per Sweden...

No!!!! Not the bus pass!!!!

I do agree with reducing foreign aid but let's look at our own back yard. I would be willing to tighten my belt and support austerity measures 100% if they applied to everybody but the Conservative government have lowered income tax for the higher paid, reduced Corporation tax several times, lowered inheritance tax and abolished the student maintenance grant which was only awarded to those who came from low income families. MPs, who have high salaries and generous holidays, have also received generous pay rises in the so-called 'time of austerity'.

I am willing to forego my winter fuel allowance, bus pass and free tv licence but only when I see an example set by the wealthier members of society.

Thanks, Primrose65

I agree Cardiff the only things that matter at the moment are finance and Brexit.

I've read her book, The Production of Money. If you're interested in stuff like that, Richard Koo is worth a read Blinko

Not sure if this will do it: www.adamsmith.org/blog/ann-pettifor-tells-us-all-about-the-magic-money-tree

Anyone seen Anne Pettifor on Modern Monetary Theory? I'm not sure how to do links but there's a good video on You Tube.

But I think the government need to invest in our people. Give them a leg up. Like the banks used to do. You would go along to the Bank Manager with your idea and go from there.

Railman. We have to make widgets, anything. Entrepreneurs have to think of things the world needs. We have done it. We sell a products every day and night to the world. My husband and his partner, work day and night if necessary with a little input from me.

We have a fledgling international company. Selling all over the world. To put corporation tax up will make it not worthwhile. We are spending lots at the moment in sponsorship and marketing. We have to because we are competing with the world. We have so many non job in this country. The reason the government don't put taxes up, is so you spend and create jobs and pay Vat. Unless you spend it on overseas goods or go on holiday and spend money, the government gets it back.

Lyndie When you said:
The only way to sort it out is to make the pie bigger. Export more and import less.

What is it you believe we could export more of? It is a question that I've often asked, but I keep coming back to the same thing - the UK only has tertiary industries by and large, and a service economy that is 80% or more of what we do.

Good post and link Grampie - not sure many of us realised how close the UK came to bankruptcy by the charges on loans from the USA.

Austerity is the CAUSE not the answer to our problems. Austerity has been largely manufactured as a device to flatten our economy and allow the Govt to make millions for off-shore investments. This country is awash with money, but most people will never see a penny of it.
It's a complex subject, but read Keynes and Galbraith on economics and you will see what I mean!

The tax take in the UK is possibly the biggest problem that is not being tackled.

Corporation Tax has been reduced, and planned to reduce still further, and basic rate income tax is down at 20%, whilst further increases in the 'luxury' tax of VAT are under consideration.

In the 1970s and 1980s, basic rate income tax was 33% - a full 13p in the £ more than today - we managed to survive, so why don't we increase the rate to say 25p in the £, and put corporation tax back to the median value of our European neighbours.

After all, we are not as productive overall, but we do consume a lot, and if you believe government stats, there are more people in employment today than ever before.

Tegan2 Britain does not "need" HS2, it will not offer any solution to the problem of transporting goods around the country.

The current approach that will see this take 20 years to build, simply means that Birmingham will be another commuter station for London - and to arrive in either place 20 minutes earlier than today is not an incentive to justify the cost.

The ditching of spend on rail infrastructure improvements in the North of England is an economic disaster and stifles growth and innovation.

On top of the current facile plans, trains will likely be operated by private companies - possibly the same company ties who today receive government/taxpayer subsidies to remain in business.

Some of the other points made around National Debt to GDP ratio over the years, fail to take account of the decimation of core industries and loss of technological advantage the UK possessed before the 1980s/90s. We have little or no industrial policies or strategy that will enable the same growth that was possible in the 1950s/60s.

Just by way of comparison, London to Liverpool and Manchester and then on to Glasgow was begun in 1960, and completed in 1974 - including the rebuilding of London Euston, Birmingham New Street and Manchester Piccadilly stations. A far bigger undertaking than HS2.

I do agree with most posters on this thread, the economic outlook is quite poor, and from a transport perspective, economically foolhardy.

This warning creates fear - we are not broke. However we do have a serious problem with our finances. There are two matters to consider: annually we are still spending more than we earn, otherwise known as the fiscal deficit. Until that is overturned we cannot start to reduce the long term borrowing which increases year from the fiscal debt.

Austerity - so called but nothing like real austerity - has not brought about the reduction in fiscal debt that government wishes. Take a look at Venezuela - Jeremy Corbyn's example of how to (NOT) do it - to see what real austerity could be like.

We have continued on our present line because interest rates are so low and government can borrow at ridiculously low rates. When those rates go up we must then have a better plan. Even at low rates our interest costs are eye watering. So we need to impress every MP with the need to address this urgently. Our finances and Brexit are the only two matters they should be concentrating on now,

Before we dump Hinckley C we had better figure out how we are going to charge all our electric vehicles overnight after 2040 (just 17 years away) when all sales of new petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles are outlawed.