On Fri, 30 Dec 2011 10:43:11 +0000 (GMT) Dave Plowman (News) wrote :
Strange. My memory gives a constantly rising standard of living and
financial stability for much of the 15 years or so of the last labour
government. Not the dire position the country is now in. Wonder just
how long Cameron will carry on blaming everyone else for this?

Yes, my personal balance sheet at the time I emigrated (Sep 2008) was
vastly better than when Labour came to power. I benefited significantly
from the big cut in company car tax on low CO2 cars and from cuts in
corporation tax, and when I making good money I reduced my mortgage as
fast as I could. I paid a lot of tax but 60% of something is a lot
better than 100% of nothing.

There's no denying that the last Labour government would have done well
to have exercised prudence g when the economy was on a roll rather
than spending more and more on borrowed money, but no one forced all
the individuals who did just this to do so. I had a conversation some
years back with my then MP, Vince Cable - can't remember the exact
subject but his point was that people were increasing their mortgages
on the back of increased house prices and spending the money on cars
and holidays. Until then (me being naive) it had never occurred to me
that people would be that stupid. And now the bill has to be paid they
blame the politicians. Even now, with mortgage rates at historic lows,
most people would rather pay the minimum than see it as an opportunity
to reduce the amount outstanding.

--
Tony Bryer, Greentram: 'Software to build on',
Melbourne, Australia www.greentram.com