Who do I owe money to?

[rupert the dog]

I'm Rupert. I'm a dog. Everybody tells me that we owe billions of pounds. Everybody tells me that the interes on all this money we've borrowed alone is billions of pounds. Can someone explain to me:

Who did we borrow the money from?
Who do we have to pay interest to?

sorry, I meant money

Edited by rupert the dog on Tuesday 8th June 21:23

[Rocksteadyeddie]

rupert the dog said:

I'm Rupert. I'm a dog. Everybody tells me that we owe billions of pounds. Everybody tells me that the interes on all this money we've borrowed alone is billions of pounds. Can someone explain to me:

Who did we borrow the money from?
Who do we have to pay interest to?

Investors from this country and around the world. Pension funds, investment trusts, banks, other governments etc etc.

In short anyone who has bought gilts (government IOUs)

[grumbledoak]

Much of it was bought by the Middle East. A fantastic bunch to owe a favour to.

[anonymous-user]

your biggest debt is to public sector retirees, over a trillion quid in unfunded index linked pensions, but dont worry your kids will pay for that not you.
the next biggest is 934bn in gilts



lastly you owe private companies about 140bn in PFI agreements


enjoy!

Edited by fbrs on Wednesday 9th June 02:01

[DonkeyApple]

Mostly old people and foreigners.

A harsh winter and a BNP govt would solve this problem.

[Spiritual_Beggar]

grumbledoak said:

Much of it was bought by the Middle East. A fantastic bunch to owe a favour to.

Why do you think we're at war with them!!

If we get them all, we don't have to pay

[Somewhatfoolish]

What you should be doing is campaigning for a massive pro-smoking campaign.

[turbotongue]

Somewhatfoolish said:

What you should be doing is campaigning for a massive pro-smoking campaign.

Legalise coke and weed. That should bring in a few billion.

And create a nation of paranoid stoners

[Somewhatfoolish]

turbotongue said:

Somewhatfoolish said:

What you should be doing is campaigning for a massive pro-smoking campaign.

Legalise coke and weed. That should bring in a few billion.

And create a nation of paranoid stoners

As much as I'm for drug legalisation, I'm even more for killing off public sector workers before they draw too much on their pensions, which is what I was getting at

[Rocksteadyeddie]

Somewhatfoolish said:

turbotongue said:

Somewhatfoolish said:

What you should be doing is campaigning for a massive pro-smoking campaign.

Legalise coke and weed. That should bring in a few billion.

And create a nation of paranoid stoners

As much as I'm for drug legalisation, I'm even more for killing off public sector workers before they draw too much on their pensions, which is what I was getting at

Legalise crack for public sector workers only then?

[Somewhatfoolish]

Rocksteadyeddie said:

Somewhatfoolish said:

turbotongue said:

Somewhatfoolish said:

What you should be doing is campaigning for a massive pro-smoking campaign.

Legalise coke and weed. That should bring in a few billion.

And create a nation of paranoid stoners

As much as I'm for drug legalisation, I'm even more for killing off public sector workers before they draw too much on their pensions, which is what I was getting at

Legalise crack for public sector workers only then?

Legalise for everyone, compulsory for public sector

[james_tigerwoods]

And what if we can't pay it back?

Can a country become bankrupt? (Zimbabwe aside, that is)

[Mr Gearchange]

turbotongue said:

Somewhatfoolish said:

What you should be doing is campaigning for a massive pro-smoking campaign.

Legalise coke and weed. That should bring in a few billion.

And create a nation of paranoid stoners

I believe California are contemplating legalising weed as a way to dig themselves out of this very hole. As a regular visitor there I think this is an ace idea.

[aclivity]

Me.

Don't you remember, you wanted to buy some cigarettes, beer, and a Trident nuclear missile system but you'd left your wallet at home.

Don't worry, just write me a cheque for £160 Billion, bung it in the post.

[TheCarpetCleaner]

james_tigerwoods said:

And what if we can't pay it back?

Can a country become bankrupt? (Zimbabwe aside, that is)

This is what confuses me - being a simple carpet cleaner and all...

So we all (other countries) appear to be all in massive debt, and we are all trading debt. So where is the money?

[Rocksteadyeddie]

TheCarpetCleaner said:

james_tigerwoods said:

And what if we can't pay it back?

Can a country become bankrupt? (Zimbabwe aside, that is)

This is what confuses me - being a simple carpet cleaner and all...

So we all (other countries) appear to be all in massive debt, and we are all trading debt. So where is the money?

Not all countries are in debt.
Pension Funds have plenty of money.
Insurance companies ditto.

It is mainly (although not only) Western governments that are running large deficits.

[anonymous-user]

Rocksteadyeddie said:

Not all countries are in debt.

vast majority are
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_...
but you're right ultimately the debt is all owned by us, through savings, insurance and pensions

[SystemParanoia]

how the hell has china managed to get so far in debt! lol

[dilky]

SystemParanoia said:

how the hell has china managed to get so far in debt! lol

And Norway. I was under the impression they are sitting on billions.

[fido]

There is nothing wrong with debt, if you can reap the rewards above the borrowing costs .. unfortunately Winky & Co. saddled everyone with a 5x mortgage based on an income in 2005, which was itself massively inflated by the borrowing frenzy.