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Comment by kypro | Hacker News Reader

Would be funny if you're an American. The UK has almost half the debt-to-GDP of the US thanks to years of austerity.

> The UK needs to supply low cost energy, not print money to buy energy.

Sure, but you can't do that over night and not temporarily backstopping consumers until that supply comes online risks bankrupting businesses and putting even more strain on the economy. So long as it's temporary it's probably the best thing we can realistically do.

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85% vs 125%? What are you on about? That's a long way from half. And the USD is the reserve currency of the world, the moment interest rates started to rise everyone moved into USD.

The US is also energy almost independent. The UK has increasing energy prices, and refuses to do anything about it.

Moreover, low GDP growth and high interest rates will cause the UK to catch right up :)

Yes, but the US has the world's effective (for the moment anyway) reserve currency: the UK's not in that position.

It's not the debt that matters but the change in debt, aka the deficit / surplus. If the debt stays constant, so does the money supply. The absolute level of the debt doesn't matter with regards to inflation, it's the change in the levels of debt that matter.

A larger debt means more interest payments which makes a significant deficit more likely, but it's that deficit, aka change in money supply, that affects inflation not the absolute size of the debt.

No country especially the ones with decelerating economies should compare themselves with USA. The rules apply to US differently. I m not going to list them, Brits should realize this is not 1921.

> Brits should realize this is not 1921.

Heh, well stated. The sun set on the British empire a long time ago. Expectations need to be adjusted accordingly.

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