BBC R4 take note the deficit is not the national debt !

Man in a Shed must be nurturing a heart condition that the BBC has secretly discovered and is trying to push over the edge. from What else can explain their transposing the spin and line-du-jourMandelson about reducing the deficit and have them announcing that Labour will reduce the National debt.

They are two different, although related things.

The Deficit is the amount the country's spending exceeds its income over one year.

The National Debt is absolute and is a product of the historical deficits and occasional budget surpluses in the past.

So BBC pay attention..... and save me having to risk high blood pressure shouting at the radio.

If I halve the deficit the National debt continues to go up each year.

Have you got that ?

It is not true that if you promise to halve the deficit sometime in the future that you are promising to halve the national debt ! ( Not that we'd believe Labour even if they said so ! )

Labour are just promising to sell our children into debt slavery at a slightly slower rate, not to redeem them.

Needs must when the devil drives

Labour are getting their pre -announcement spin in today on "halving the budget deficit".

Now often trailed major announcements from Labour turn out to be nothing of the sort. We have learn't through painful experience that Labour tries to dominate the headlines with its chosen phrase whilst sneaking the reality in a very small bit of print hidden away in long reports.

Its who and what they are.

However we should perhaps not dismiss the idea that the Treasury may really be under the threat. Shell - a vastly better run organisation the UK under Labour - had its credit rating downgraded recently. Its not clear the UK could survive with its current spending profile if our credit rating was reduced or if the Bank of England didn't keep printing money to buy our own debt.

The money printing must end soon, and the real challenge will then be to persuade enough foreigners to lend us their money on the promise that our children will pay it back, by forgoing vital health care and social services just to win Brown a few more votes today.

Perhaps the crunch is much closer than we have been lead to believe.

Perhaps Labour are trying to make a virtue out of a necessity.

Perhaps they have been told they can't carry on with the policies of bribing the voters by selling their children into debt.

But as ever don't believe a word these people say. Check the facts, check the details. They have form for deceit and untruths and should not be trusted.

Here we go: Dalring is now talking about borrowing at a slower rate sometime in the future when there lots of money around. ( Remember last time there was "lots of money around" it was because consumers were loading themselves with insane amounts of debt - which the govt was helping itself to in terms of VAT, stamp duty and taxation on the increased economic activity )

I should point out also that The Budget Deficit and The National Debt are not the same thing - even though Laboutr spin and dedciert masters would like you to think so. Halving the budget deficit just means diggign the hole of debt salvery slightly slower, not filling it in. And every year there will be the interest to pay on that debt ....