Did the Labour Party really "overspend" in office?

The wars in Irak and Afghanistan were certainly not a useful way to spend money.

The wars in Irak and Afghanistan were certainly not a useful way to spend money.

Where does the money go though?

it doesn't just disapear.

They overspent 02-08.
They used the tory budget till 01 and eradicated the deficit.
They also inherited a good economy from Major.
Should have ran a surplus between 02 and 08 as we were in a boom.

They were a very useful way to spend money. We killed thousands of terrorists.

They're millions in these areas.

I agree that they should have saved when times were good and then imposed deficit spending when the crash hit, as Keynes prescribed.

Buying equipment, food, maintaining supply lines etc.

The money still goes somewhere. Are you saying if no one bought anything everything would be fine?

Labour overspend for their second and third term, that's a fact.

They also pissed money up the wall on pfi infrastructure to look good even though the numbers were terrible.

It's not really the biggest of deals though it's just bad government.

The big deal was the lack of regulation of the banks which made our debts so big when the crisis hit.

It's not something you can beat them with though as the conservatives wanted looser regulations too


Posted from TSR Mobile

They overspent 02-08.
They used the tory budget till 01 and eradicated the deficit.
They also inherited a good economy from Major.
Should have ran a surplus between 02 and 08 as we were in a boom.

The wars in Irak and Afghanistan were certainly not a useful way to spend money.

Labour overspend for their second and third term, that's a fact.

They also pissed money up the wall on pfi infrastructure to look good even though the numbers were terrible.

It's not really the biggest of deals though it's just bad government.

The big deal was the lack of regulation of the banks which made our debts so big when the crisis hit.

It's not something you can beat them with though as the conservatives wanted looser regulations too

Posted from TSR Mobile

I'm glad the money found its way into healthcare, security, education and infrastructure. A lot of the money spent during the Labour years has contributed greatly to services we benefit from today.

Also stop saying this thing about following the conservative budget, it only happened in the first 2 years of 1997-1999. The biggest surpluses occurred in 2000 and 2001 after labour abounded the conservative budget. Also in good times, people either want the government to increase spending or cut taxes, people voted labour for better public services which meant more spending during these good times and not tax cuts to those who dont need it as the conservatives wanted.

Labour might've spent a lot but it achieved a lot, the conservatives have been spending a lot and reversing achievements. I know which one i'd rather have

Don't know how economically right wing you are but do you not think that if there had been no regulation in banking that big banks would not have been as reckless as they were as they knew they would be bailed out?

I

Therein lies the problem. When banks do well, they by and large get all the benefits, when they do badly the taxpayer has to bail them out.

It's a classic example of capitalising the profits and socialising the losses. The problem is that many on the political right who claim to support free markets don't actually support free markets, they support corporatism.

It stinks.