enyam said:There is no debt, the bank of England has printed more money ie quantitative easing,there is no one to pay it back to.
If I understand that correctly, when governments create extra money - as only they can legally do - it appears on some balance sheet as 'borrowed' money. That would certainly explain a lot. So, since we don't actually owe the money to anybody, does this mean we don't have to pay any interest?
On a slightly different note, for longer than I care to remember I've heard of "government borrowing". Now I think I understand this. When the government runs out of money they do what everybody else does and borrow it (from a bank?). The downside is that they have to pay interest and that comes out of our taxes.
So, I think to myself, wouldn't it be better if the government managed to build up a surplus and then lend it.
The thing is, I've never, ever heard of "government lending". Is this because no government has ever managed to build up the necessary surplus?