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| Britain |
| U.K. Posts First January Deficit Since at Least 1993 |
| 2010-02-18 |
| This is why the sovereign debt crisis is an unsolvable problem. Reduce government expenditures and tax revenues fall. In all likelyhood faster than expeditures are reduced. This is because most tax revenue comes from the top 20% (approx) of economic activity - the way you pay most income tax proportionately on the top 20% or so of income. Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Britain posted its first budget deficit for January since records began in 1993 as the longest recession on record shriveled the nation's tax take. Government spending exceeded revenue by 4.3 billion pounds ($6.7 billion) last month, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. Economists forecast a 2.6 billion-pound surplus, according to the median of 16 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. The pound fell after the release showed Britain failed to generate a surplus in a month which is normally the annual peak for tax collection as the health of public finances around Europe attract investor scrutiny. With an election due by June, Prime Minister Gordon Brown is arguing that spending cuts should be deferred to avoid an economic relapse. “This is potential very worrying,' James Knightley, an economist at ING Financial Markets in London, said in a telephone interview. “Given the concerns about public deficits around Europe at the moment, this could put the U.K. back in the spotlight. It may mean politicians have to take even more austere measures than what is already being talked about.' |
| Posted by:phil_b |
| #1 Usual cycle of politics .. Conservatives get in , money comes in Labour get in , spend everything and their mother Sadly this time , were f****d ... |
| Posted by: Oscar 2010-02-18 09:29 |