I like to think I'm an optimist, always able to turn a negative into a positive, every cloud has a silver lining. However, when it comes to the financial mess that the UK is in following 13 years of Labour rule, I feel distinctly gloomy.
Before we can address the issue, we need to get a clear understanding of the problem. So lets start with some simple facts for the 2011/2012 tax year and explain debt and deficit:
Government income - £550bn
Government spending - £700bn
Government Debt - £900bn
So what can clearly be seen is that we are spending more than we earn. This shortfall is the deficit, currently around £150bn a year. Our debt is £900bn and grows each year by the deficit amount.
It is predicted that even with the government cuts the debt will have grown to £1,300bn by the end of the current parliament.
The numbers speak for themselves and the scale of the problem is truly mind blowing!