Every day I receive at least one text message or email from either Comrade Corbyn or Comrade Smith as they each seek my support to become the man to take Labour over an electoral precipice. For as each day goes on they make promises that are more and more insane.
Remember that the UK has a budget deficit of c£50 billion a year and as the global economy slows that number will probably get bigger as the next election approaches. It was always a Tory lie from George Osborne that he would eliminate the deficit. His successor Hammond has just given up on fiscal prudence from day one. UK Government debt is now c£1.58 trillion or c 82% of GDP.
When debt goes past 90% of GDP that, in itself, starts to restrict growth. Remember that even at current all time low interest rates, which will not last forever, we are already spending some £45 billion a year just servicing, paying interest, on our existing debt. that is more than we spend on, say, defence.
Yesterday Comrade Owen Smith promised that if he wins the Labour leadership and becomes PM. which is about as likely as me shagging Cherlyl Cole and the entire Dallas Cowboys cheerleader squad by the start of September, he would immediately launch an extra spending plan on this that and the other worth £200 billion. That gets debt to GDP past 90% at a stroke. Well done Comrade Smith. You have bankrupted the country, do not pass Go! Do not collect £400 because all the money's gone.
But today Jezza reminds me by email that he is committed to a £500 billion investment programme, backed up by a new National Bank. That may sound like it is real money but really it is just more borrowed money. Under Comrade Corbyn debt to GDP, ceteris paribus, zooms to 105% on day one. Anything owen can do, Jezza can do better. Way to go Jezza, that would be just over 10% lower than where Greece was just before it toppled into a vicious spiral of GDP deflation and debt inflation as it had to borrow more and more just to meet interest payments. Now Greece is at 175%.
Truly this is a competition of who can make the most outlandish and totally unsustainable pledge in the happy knowledge that Labour is so totally unelectable that neither man will get to trainwreck the economy with their crazy schemes. That Comrade Smith who would push us past the bankruptcy inflexion point on day 1 is the more moderate candidate shows just how far into la la land Labour now operates. Needless to say, since Comrade Jezza is winning this crazy auction of insanity, the bearded loon is ever more certain to secure my support in the actual contest.
It shows how out of touch both men are with "ordinary working folks". They do not see debt as a virtue. They may look at Greece, Portugal, Spain and Eire and see that when countries drown in debt, the rich businessman, media and political elites still have enough cash to dine out. It is the poor, the old, the young and the sick, the vulnerable who get crushed.
There is nothing Socialist about bankrupting your country but who is going to point this out to the Labour Party?