Under Margaret Thatcher we were told again and again that the economy of a nation was
like the economy of a shop in Grantham or like the budget of a household.
This myth has become so ingrained in the public consciousness that during one TV debate Ed Miliband was challenged by a member of the audience in a TV debate and told if I haven't got the money then I can't go down to the pub for a pint.
Of course this is true.
But like so much of Mrs Thatcher's arguments it is also not true.
The 'simple' fact is that when you introduce 'simple' solutions or analogies to explain complex issues your arguments become 'simplistic'.
And, anyway, if on your way to the pub you use a credit card in the bank machine you pass or indeed have access to an overdraft then actually you can go for a pint. But then you will be in debt.
Or if you don't make your Mortgage payment your house is at risk.
But Government finances are not like this. Government's can as we have seen 'print money' it's called 'Quantitive Easing' but it means printing more money.
Unfortunately because the money goes to the banks the public sees little of it and doesn't feel responsible, and so it doesn't get spent on investment or purchasing goods to help the economy, but the money could quite easily go directly to the public where it would circulate freely and stimulate the economy.
Austerity is a false theory of fiscal discipline because it prevents investment, it stagnates economies and it makes people poorer.
Nevertheless, the claim is, as made in the House of Commons by the 'acting' Prime Minister yesterday, that austerity is necessary.
According to this theory austerity will drive down the public debt, make us all better off in the long term and undo the damage occasioned by the last Labour Government and the financial mess it got us into.
Well, apart from the the fact that the mess we got into was a result of the banking crisis, for which, apart from in Iceland, no-one went to Gaol.
Just ask yourself, 'Who got all the pies?'
The fact is that in year ending 1998 the national debt was 40.4% of GDP.
In the year ending 2008 the national debt was 36.4% of GDP.
In the year ending 2011 the national debt was 60% of GDP.
Gordon Brown as Chancellor and then Prime Minister actually reduced the national debt until the financial crisis of 2007 when the sub prime mortgage scandal unfolded in the USA and then cascaded across the Atlantic like a financial Tsunami.
David Cameron's con-dem pact with Nick Clegg oversaw a dramatic increase following the election in 2010.
Whilst debt was rising following the banking crisis of 2007, whilst Labour was in power, nevertheless it remains the case that the national debt has seen a considerable increase during the years of both the coalition and the Cameron Government.
So much so, that every target has been missed and national debt is now close to 80% of GDP and according to the national debt clock increasing at £5,170 per second so whilst writing this blog my share of the debt as a tax payer has risen exponentially and I currently owe as a tax payer £51,890.
And then there is Brexit for better or worse
