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Top news headlines: Government borrowing highest since WW2.
Not 1 headline how debt servicing costs historical low
Only 1 mention of debt servicing costs - surprise @Telegraph
No mention of BoE asset purchases
No mention asset purchases exceed borrowing
Thread
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Not 1 headline how debt servicing costs historical lowOnly 1 mention of debt servicing costs - surprise @Telegraph No mention of BoE asset purchasesNo mention asset purchases exceed borrowingThread
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Unbelievably frustrating that in the UK I have never seen a headline on debt servicing costs being at all- time historical lows. Always about debt and deficit levels...
Somehow its not even in the "main points" of @ONS public sector finances???
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Somehow its not even in the "main points" of @ONS public sector finances???
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Why is it that 7 out of 8 major UK news outlets reporting on government finances 1 year into the pandemic - there is not even mention of this. (W/D 
@Tim_Wallace)
Borrowing increased by £303bn in FYE but
the cost of servicing of debt fell from £48bn to £38bn.
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@Tim_Wallace)Borrowing increased by £303bn in FYE butthe cost of servicing of debt fell from £48bn to £38bn.3/
Yes public sector borrowing reached levels not seen WW2 - important to recognise this, especially given scale of crisis.!
(IMO borrowing should have been much higher after GFC- and we wouldn't have such fear mongering in today's headlines...Media & self-fulfilling prophecies)
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(IMO borrowing should have been much higher after GFC- and we wouldn't have such fear mongering in today's headlines...Media & self-fulfilling prophecies)
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But then there is no mention of the fact the implications of @bankofengland asset purchases for our debt levels or debt servicing costs.
Did anyone even bother to look at whether @bankofengland asset purchases exceeded government borrowing?
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Did anyone even bother to look at whether @bankofengland asset purchases exceeded government borrowing?
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Which brings me to one of favourite tweets of 2021...
"The binding constraint on UK fiscal policy is not interest rates, solvency or inflation. It is the media..." h/t @CJFDillow
Difficult to imagine having a genuinely constructive debate on this until we do...
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"The binding constraint on UK fiscal policy is not interest rates, solvency or inflation. It is the media..." h/t @CJFDillow
Difficult to imagine having a genuinely constructive debate on this until we do...
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Next week's thread will be on future debt servicing costs:
How do we manage them - especially if inflation and interest rates go up?
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How do we manage them - especially if inflation and interest rates go up?
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