The UK is $10.4 trillion in debt
 

we are second only the US in total debt (external debt includes public and private debts)

However the US GDP exceeds their total debt, ours does not.

In short we are in unimaginable economic trouble. Our debt per head is $144,000 per person. We are in effect slaves to the enormous corporations who own our country and the foreign nations who own our unpayable debts

This is also the reason we are permanently at war (us and america0 simply because we cannot afford not to be!

How did we get here ,

1) we couldnt afford to repay the americans for the 2nd world war
2) militant labour bankrupted the nation in the 1970s
3)the short term psycho, maggie thatcher sold off the nation and privatised the utilies and public transport. she also destroyed industry and flooded the coal mines so destroying 1000 years of coal. she made a fast profit, but 20 years later weve run out of energy and lost all control of our own resources. you can now target cleaner coal by finding the exact coal seams and the costs and environmental damage is tiny. thatcher was a puppet of the rich, I could write for days about how she dismantled the steel the coal industries. 4) we entered illegal wars
5) we put all our eggs in one basket. the financial services market. this meant we were enslaved to them, gave them too much power, deregulated them, now we are too scared and too powerless to turn back the clock and tighten up regulations and tax loopholes
6) we sold out news to a a corrupt media mogul, which enslaved our politicians to his news corporations. this also perverted the legal system and policing further. it also played as all against each other. the rich divide and conquer is the same tactic theyve used for 3000 years and we all fall for it. we poor peasants argue over the tiny things and forget we actually agree over the major issues

7) weve also lost our moral compass totally. Nero fiddled as rome burned. with the UK we fiddled over fox hunting and kept fiddling over trivial issues like gay marriage (just make a decison and move on), as the rest of the nation burned. The bankruptcy of the nation, the collapse of families, of the NHS, of teen pregnancy, of drugs,the abortion capital of the world, the booze obsession, the police and public service corruption and waste and of course of global warming



1 United Kingdom $10,450,000,000,000
2 Germany $4,489,000,000,000
3 France $4,396,000,000,000
4 Italy $2,345,000,000,000
5 Netherlands $2,277,000,000,000
6 Spain $2,047,000,000,000
7 Ireland $1,841,000,000,000
8 Belgium $1,313,000,000,000
9 Austria $752,500,000,000
10 Sweden $598,200,000,000
11 Denmark $492,600,000,000
12 Portugal $415,500,000,000
13 Greece $371,500,000,000
14 Finland $271,200,000,000
15 Poland $187,800,000,000
16 Hungary $142,900,000,000
17 Romania $85,860,000,000
18 Czech Republic $61,740,000,000
19 Slovenia $40,420,000,000
20 Slovakia $36,660,000,000

Great Britain paid off its war debt in full, the final payment being made in December 2006.

Debt is almost irrelevant at this stage. You have to create growth to be able to pay stuff down. It's the only way out of this mess. When the country is in a healthier financial situation, then debt can be paid down, but at the moment investment in infrastructure and job creation is the way forward.

What's your source for this figure?

Even then it just says

I know the debt is high but I haven't heard it being as high as £10.4 trillion before

it was a debt we were saddled with for 61 years.

simply type in external debt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3A..._external_debt

last years figures for all nations

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._external_debt

debt is never irrelevant, it has to be repaid one way or another. we failed to grow our way out. both governments utterly failed to do this. Obama has done as much as he could have done. its proved his policy was correct but he didnt get support. gordon brown was right too. as for this lot the first thing they did was reduce the top tax rate from 50 to 45% giving the mindless argument, that they rich wouldnt pay the 50% anyway? we are more enslaved than ever.

Paradoxically the best chance for the economy to grow from the grass roots up, is the internet. the politicians and legal eagles have struggled to control this beast. hopefully the internet and the ris ein millions of small businesses will offset the corportion domination further. the trouble next is the governments will interfere more and more and bring in more regulations to penalise the little man. what do you think they invented vat for?

Not pointless if you can understand that the clue was in the words. But I'll dumb it down for you... it was in reply to your statement:

"How did we get here ,

1) we couldnt afford to repay the americans for the 2nd world war..."

I pointed out that we had, in fact, paid it off in full in December 2006. What's not to understand?

Its yourself thats dumbing down. the fact is the nation has built up its current debts over decades. the fact the debt was finally paid after 61 years illustrates how difficult and how long it took to pay it off. sadly we paid it off with more borrowed money. This is all part of the financial quagmire we now find ourselves in today.

I answered the post that you yourself made. Perhaps you should try to be clearer and a little more concise.

I was thanks. perhaps you should be less sarcastic. the hate you make is the hate you take

It's only numbers.

As long as we have peace and love we will be okay

peace and love

http://i.imgur.com/06FOC.jpg

lol

I don't really get what you are on about, all Livia did was state that we paid off our WWII debt, and you are also using Wiki as your reference source, which is very unreliable as it can be edited by anyone and everyone, which it clearly has been. It's a misleading, confusing, and out of date misrepresentation by the actual looks of it and really holds no grounds in a debt debate.

Totally wrong. this is external debt, read up what it means before talking such utter nonsense, no offence. PS quit sucking up to Livia its embarassing. The world war 2 debt is just part of the enormous debt we have built up over the past few decades. the fact we paid it off eventually after 61 years wasnt because we could afford it but because the yanks demanded it.

Firstly, remove that stick from your arse and stop talking to people as if they are *****.

Secondly, I am not sucking up to Livia, I just don't get why you got on your high horse with her to start off with, all she did was reply that our WWII debt had been paid off.

Thirdly, I'm not the one talking nonsense, you are. You are using a wikipedia page as your reference source, which in itself is a joke and utter nonsense as, like I have said, it is completely unreliable as it can be edited by anyone.

I'm not arguing that we are in debt, but at least use a reliable source if you are going to start a debate.

dungeons!

I don't hate you. I wouldn't waste any kind of emotion on you.

Bazinga

http://semvida.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/bazinga.gif

To be fair the truth listed the contributory factors toward the debt, the fact that is was paid of 6yrs ago is irrelevant.
I wouldn't trust wiki as a reference though in all honesty.

In any case I believe the amount that we repayed to Canada and the US was ~£5 billion, which is a comparitive drop in the ocean to this £10.4 trillion, and I don't believe we ever really struggled with the repayments, it was just that the loan was granted on favourable terms which allowed us to defer payments whenever we wanted

finally an intelligent unbiased response.
its wholly irrelevant when looking at debt accrued over 30 to 40 years.
sadly this lot cant actually have a debate about anything as their nepotism always gets in the way

Oh don't worry the conservatives are getting us out of debt, like mags they are selling arms to despots, starving the most vulnerable and promoting venture capitalism...
What could go wrong?

What could go wrong?Mmm lets see,well we could vote labour back in and drown in debt once again,then some other party can take the flack and try and get us out of it again:hugesmile:

Do you still think the worldwide recession only happened here?
Ok then...
I agree that Blairs war was costly and wrong.
The point I was trying to make was that as a government the tories seem to be making similar decisions now as they did then.
But who benefits?

I find the Labour "it was a worldwide recession" excuse as annoying as the Conservative's "we're just trying to clear up Labour's mess". Yes it was global but that doesn't mean that Labour aren't guilty of mismanaging the economy, making some important mistakes and spending beyond our means. If you look at Canada they avoided the financial crises, and they're more likely than anyone to be affected by what was happening in America, but they were responsible with their budget and didn't allow things to get out of hand, it's why landing Mark Carney as the new Bank of England governor was actually a rare great move by Osborne

It's not an excuse though..
There was a worldwide recession.
What about the eurozone crisis, is that an excuse?
Have you seen the cuts faced by Ireland today in the Guardian?

Don't talk to me.......

Yes I acknowledged that, my point is that there being a worldwide recession didn't mean it was inevitable that our economy would be in as bad a state as it was or that it was completely out of our own hands, Labour are not blame free

So no thanks to nice Mr Major for joining the European Union?
Niamh, would you like to say thankyou?

ha, tbf most of our problems are down to our s**ty and corrupt politicians imo but the Euro hasn't been great for us either, that's for sure!

Oh you poor thing... Our politicians are great, salt of the earth types.
They even let small businessmen who contribute a small donation write their policies, Mr Wonga did one... It was fab! :joker:

:laugh: Did you know our Taoiseach is the 4th highest paid Politician in the world? I mean seriously, here we are getting squeezed for all we have, having to take bail outs from Europe and then they pay themselves more than almost every other county in the worlds politicians, it's sickening tbh

europe finally sunk labur imho....blair give up billions in our rebate for nothing in return, what an idiot....then gordon brown would still possibly have won the last election IF he had stood up to the eurocrats, that was his last chance saloon and sadly he failed to grasp his opportunity.

I'll just see if I can help us out, let me look at my bank account..

its important people know the true debt. not just the £1 trillion owed by the government but the $10.4 trillion owed in total by us all publicly and privately. the us DOES include all private and public debt in their $16trillion debt figure, the UK does not, so we are in fact lying about the true figures. its the second highest debt in the world and per head is higher than almost every nation on earth. I just want you to be aware of the true situation and let others know. when the titanic sinks will you stay on board with the band or look for the nearest lifejcket?