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Originally Posted by Chrysalis
Its contradicting the claim that the deficit is some huge urgent problem that has to be dealt with no matter what.
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It is a huge, urgent problem no matter how you look at it.
I don't mean to patronise you, but looking at the Treasury's definition of defecit helps my point. Deficit is defined as the difference between the Government's incomings and outgoings. The Government's outgoings need to be paid regardless of whether they have the income or not. If they don't, the deficit adds to the debt.
Most people know that if you are heavily in debt, the last thing you should be doing is adding to it.
I don't have a problem with the Government reducing the deficit (and hopefully the debt as well), but I feel they are being a bit blinkered. They are looking at cutting the outgoings while seemingly ignoring the income.
I think, as a matter of urgency, they need to sort out the loopholes in the tax laws being exploited by the likes of Apple and Starbucks (after all, the billions in taxes this is potentially costing would certainly enable them to reduce the deficit considerably if not eradicate it). They then need to start investing in getting our industries moving again.
In terms of the outgoings, I would recommend that they seriously consider reducing the aid given to foreign countries. If a country has enough money spend on a Space programme (as India apparently does), it does not need aid from us.