Prioritizing government spending.

[Furunculus]

In many western nations, government spending is unsustainable.
CR

this is a very good point, the Bank of International Settlements recently produced a report that Britain was currently heading towards a national debt of 400% of GDP by 2040, and that even if all the efficiences and spending cuts currently proposed by the three parties worked perfectly as advertised we would still have a national debt of 350% of GDP.

i.e. by 2040 half of annual Gov't spending would be used to service debt interest.

if you are a cold and callous right-wing nazi like me this is quite simply immoral.
but even if you are a happy clapping big social-responsibility kind of guy this ought to worry you, because how are we going to afford all those disability benefits and gender-awareness officers if we are giving half of government spending straight back to financiers?!?!?

we need drastic reform.

[al Roumi]

this is a very good point, the Bank of International Settlements recently produced a report that Britain was currently heading towards a national debt of 400% of GDP by 2040, and that even if all the efficiences and spending cuts currently proposed by the three parties worked perfectly as advertised we would still have a national debt of 350% of GDP.

i.e. by 2040 half of annual Gov't spending would be used to service debt interest.

if you are a cold and callous right-wing nazi like me this is quite simply immoral.
but even if you are a happy clapping big social-responsibility kind of guy this ought to worry you, because how are we going to afford all those disability benefits and gender-awareness officers if we are giving half of government spending straight back to financiers?!?!?

we need drastic reform.

I think the key point here is that whichever UK party wins the election will have to get to grips with the deficit. Untill the debates begin to discuss it more directly, no one is going to bring it up or declare how much they are really prepared to cleave off.

I would suggest that concern over a deficit of this level transcends big/small govenment views, the manner and targetting of the cull will differ between parties however.

[Scienter]

APTG's post was TLDR right before I have to leave for work but I need to go back and read it. Financially, I'm pretty conservative, and I wish I could vote with my wallet. But, I'm so far left when it comes to social issues that I just can't bring myself to vote for the Republican candidates that run for office in my state. It's a choice I didn't wish I had to make, but both parties think that running to the extreme end of their ideologies is a better idea than coming towards the center. One thing I definitely think we should stop hemorrhaging money into is the war on drugs.

[Furunculus]

I would suggest that concern over a deficit of this level transcends big/small govenment views, the manner and targetting of the cull will differ between parties however.

i disagree, this IS a big/small government question:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/ne...e-out-at-last/

[al Roumi]

i disagree, this IS a big/small government question:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/ne...e-out-at-last/

It certainly is when it comes down to (as i tried to express in the 2nd half of the sentence) deciding how to manage the deficit. The scale of the deficit however is such that a high spending government cannot afford to continue its "big government" aspirations, even if it wants to (without completely buggering the country -more than you might say they had already).

The balance of cuts and tax as a means to make up the deficit is indeed an ideological (big/small govt) battle ground.