Post by simon darkshade on Mar 24, 2022 10:53:46 GMT
British Budget Errata and Reflection for 1969:
Defence: £18,054,513,412 (9.6%)
Health: £9,403,392,402 (5%)
Education, Science and Technology: £9,403,392,402 (5%)
Pensions: £6,582,374,681 (3.5%)
Welfare: £6,582,374,681 (3.5%)
Transport: £2,350,848,101 (1.25%)
Trade and Industry: £2,350,848,101 (1.25%)
Space: £2,350,848,101 (1.25%)
Housing and Local Government: £1,410,508,860 (0.75%)
Energy and Power: £1,410,508,860 (0.75%)
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (0.5%)
Colonial Office: £940,339,240 (0.5%)
Home Office: £940,339,240 (0.5%)
Foreign Office: £940,339,240 (0.5%)
Commonwealth Office: £470,169,620 (0.25%)
Foreign Aid: £470,169,620 (0.25%)
Other: £470,169,620 (0.25%)
Total: 34.6% of GDP
1.) The National Debt was £12,834 million (14% of GDP) in 1960 and has been reduced down to £2896 million as of the end of 1969. In 1970 in @, debt was 58.58% of GDP, whereas it is a lot smaller here - the British GDP of $3,761,356,980,848 (1990 USD) or £188,067,848,042/£188,068 million as a rounded figure.
This gives us a percentage of 1.54%, a sum that results in an interest bill of £72.4 million, or under 0.04% of GDP.
The goal of paying off the debt by 1971 is on track.
2.) Defence is somewhat inflated by Vietnam and several other campaigns, but the former will be winding down soon. There will be some savings, but Operations spending will be directed into R&D and Procurement, along with a pay rise.
3.) Health is very well funded to the extent that there may be a slight reduction in spending as a percentage of GDP in the early 1970s. Reductions in smoking will help, along with other advances.
4.) Education spending is higher due to the scale of the economy, but with the inclusion of Science & Tech, it will remain at a steady rate. There are some limits to how much cash can be poured into schools before it becomes a waste, but they won’t be reached for some time.
5.) Welfare is lower due to the better economic climate. Less unemployment flows into reduction of spending on Unemployment Benefit; more is spent on Family Allowance and general National Assistance (which is a cover-all for the poor, invalids, widows and such). There is some thinking towards a drop to 3.25%.
It is covered by National Insurance, which brings in revenues of ~6% of GDP. The future intent is to use this for Welfare and Housing spending under the new ‘super ministry’.
6.) Pensions are quite substantive at an average of £329 pounds each for ~20 million pensioners. GDP/capita is £1381.54, so the pension is ~24% compared to ~25% in @. There is a lot of impetus towards raising Pensions spending to 4% of GDP in the short term; one of the key parts of Barton’s Grand Design is to shift Pension funding to a separate, non-budget source. Dividends and profits from North Sea oil and gas are being put into a pension fund that currently yields £980 million per annum from a 5% return, also rolled back into the fund. The plan is to start augmenting budget spending by 1975, depending on the economic climate; it is a long way off yielding the amounts needed to remove the necessity for budget spending.
7.) Transport and Energy are going to rise soon with new capital programmes.
8.) Space spending as a percentage of GDP will remain steady for the foreseeable future, allowing net funding to rise in line with government priorities.
9.) Trade and Industry goes more to loans and targeted investment than mere subsidies.
10.) Colonial Office spending goes to investment and development projects; it will halve over the coming years as more colonies progress to becoming self governing.
11.) The Home Office and Foreign Office budgets cover the Security Service, SIS and SOE budgets under concealed and obfuscated budget lines.
12.) Commonwealth Office spending goes towards joint development projects and cooperative spending.
13.) Foreign Aid is very targeted and connected to national and Imperial foreign and strategic policy, rather than the more humanitarian/soft power approach of the present day
The historical percentages for 1969 were
Defence 5.2%
Education 5%
Welfare 4.95%
Interest: 4.08%
”Economic Affairs Not Elsewhere Classified 3.63%”
Health Care 3.6%
Pensions 3.5%
Transport 3.39%
Housing: 2.36%
General Government 1.21%
Protection 1.09%
Environmental Protection 1.08%
Agriculture, Fisheries: 0.79%
Basic Research: 0.4%
Cultural Services: 0.17%
Total: 39.65% of GDP
Drilling down further:
- Economic Affairs n.e.c. seems to apply to subsidies and other forms of industrial support, particularly for the nationalised industries; I would not discount payments for nationalisation of the British Steel Corporation and others
- Protection was Police 0.67%, Fire 0.16%, Law Courts 0.14% and Prisons 0.11%
- The Defence figure included 0.61% of GDP on Foreign Economic Aid
Defence: £18,054,513,412 (9.6%)
Health: £9,403,392,402 (5%)
Education, Science and Technology: £9,403,392,402 (5%)
Pensions: £6,582,374,681 (3.5%)
Welfare: £6,582,374,681 (3.5%)
Transport: £2,350,848,101 (1.25%)
Trade and Industry: £2,350,848,101 (1.25%)
Space: £2,350,848,101 (1.25%)
Housing and Local Government: £1,410,508,860 (0.75%)
Energy and Power: £1,410,508,860 (0.75%)
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (0.5%)
Colonial Office: £940,339,240 (0.5%)
Home Office: £940,339,240 (0.5%)
Foreign Office: £940,339,240 (0.5%)
Commonwealth Office: £470,169,620 (0.25%)
Foreign Aid: £470,169,620 (0.25%)
Other: £470,169,620 (0.25%)
Total: 34.6% of GDP
1.) The National Debt was £12,834 million (14% of GDP) in 1960 and has been reduced down to £2896 million as of the end of 1969. In 1970 in @, debt was 58.58% of GDP, whereas it is a lot smaller here - the British GDP of $3,761,356,980,848 (1990 USD) or £188,067,848,042/£188,068 million as a rounded figure.
This gives us a percentage of 1.54%, a sum that results in an interest bill of £72.4 million, or under 0.04% of GDP.
The goal of paying off the debt by 1971 is on track.
2.) Defence is somewhat inflated by Vietnam and several other campaigns, but the former will be winding down soon. There will be some savings, but Operations spending will be directed into R&D and Procurement, along with a pay rise.
3.) Health is very well funded to the extent that there may be a slight reduction in spending as a percentage of GDP in the early 1970s. Reductions in smoking will help, along with other advances.
4.) Education spending is higher due to the scale of the economy, but with the inclusion of Science & Tech, it will remain at a steady rate. There are some limits to how much cash can be poured into schools before it becomes a waste, but they won’t be reached for some time.
5.) Welfare is lower due to the better economic climate. Less unemployment flows into reduction of spending on Unemployment Benefit; more is spent on Family Allowance and general National Assistance (which is a cover-all for the poor, invalids, widows and such). There is some thinking towards a drop to 3.25%.
It is covered by National Insurance, which brings in revenues of ~6% of GDP. The future intent is to use this for Welfare and Housing spending under the new ‘super ministry’.
6.) Pensions are quite substantive at an average of £329 pounds each for ~20 million pensioners. GDP/capita is £1381.54, so the pension is ~24% compared to ~25% in @. There is a lot of impetus towards raising Pensions spending to 4% of GDP in the short term; one of the key parts of Barton’s Grand Design is to shift Pension funding to a separate, non-budget source. Dividends and profits from North Sea oil and gas are being put into a pension fund that currently yields £980 million per annum from a 5% return, also rolled back into the fund. The plan is to start augmenting budget spending by 1975, depending on the economic climate; it is a long way off yielding the amounts needed to remove the necessity for budget spending.
7.) Transport and Energy are going to rise soon with new capital programmes.
8.) Space spending as a percentage of GDP will remain steady for the foreseeable future, allowing net funding to rise in line with government priorities.
9.) Trade and Industry goes more to loans and targeted investment than mere subsidies.
10.) Colonial Office spending goes to investment and development projects; it will halve over the coming years as more colonies progress to becoming self governing.
11.) The Home Office and Foreign Office budgets cover the Security Service, SIS and SOE budgets under concealed and obfuscated budget lines.
12.) Commonwealth Office spending goes towards joint development projects and cooperative spending.
13.) Foreign Aid is very targeted and connected to national and Imperial foreign and strategic policy, rather than the more humanitarian/soft power approach of the present day
The historical percentages for 1969 were
Defence 5.2%
Education 5%
Welfare 4.95%
Interest: 4.08%
”Economic Affairs Not Elsewhere Classified 3.63%”
Health Care 3.6%
Pensions 3.5%
Transport 3.39%
Housing: 2.36%
General Government 1.21%
Protection 1.09%
Environmental Protection 1.08%
Agriculture, Fisheries: 0.79%
Basic Research: 0.4%
Cultural Services: 0.17%
Total: 39.65% of GDP
Drilling down further:
- Economic Affairs n.e.c. seems to apply to subsidies and other forms of industrial support, particularly for the nationalised industries; I would not discount payments for nationalisation of the British Steel Corporation and others
- Protection was Police 0.67%, Fire 0.16%, Law Courts 0.14% and Prisons 0.11%
- The Defence figure included 0.61% of GDP on Foreign Economic Aid
