Denmark's 2006 public finances has a surplus of 6% of GDP

[Thue]

That is, for the tax paid on every 100DKK of GDP, 6DKK was in surplus.

The surplus is being used to pay down the Danish public debt, which can't hold out much longer at this rate...

Personally I am fine with this. The economists say we shouldn't lower the taxes to avoid the economy overheating, and saving up for the future is almost always a good idea.

http://politiken.dk/indland/article220977.ece (In Danish)

Dividing the 100 billion DKK with 5 million Danes I get 20,000DKK/dane. That is a lot...

[Saras]

Fiscal prudence in times of overheating global asset bubbles -

[Cort Haus]

Saving. You never know when your country, in a fit of madness, might do something crazy like make a successful bid to host the Olympics.

[Saras]

[Monk]

Yeah, yeah, pay off some debt.

But another round of tax cuts would be in order, thank you very much. You should expect as much from a liberal-conservative coalition in one of the world's most expensive countries. They lived up to my hopes in 2003, but I don't think they will during this second term.

Hmpfh. They know full well I'd have to vote for them anyway.

[BlackCat]

Lets hope Ned doesn't see this - he would just start crying and claim that we are digging our own grave .

[Thue]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
Saving. You never know when your country, in a fit of madness, might do something crazy like make a successful bid to host the Olympics.

You are probably referring to London in 2012, but some people are trying to get the games to Denmark in 2020 .

[Thue]

I just checked, and the national debt at the end of 2005 was ~400billion DKK. So now it is ~300billion DKK, and at the end of 2009 it might be 0 if we continue with the same surplus.

[Eli]

I never understood what exactly is the problem with "the economy overheating". Anyone willing to enlighten me?

[Asher]

This is pathetically small compared to Alberta's surplus.

[dannubis]

WTF is Alberta ?

[C0ckney]

but don't you have to hand over your surplus to some frenchies.

[Thue]

Originally posted by Eli
I never understood what exactly is the problem with "the economy overheating". Anyone willing to enlighten me?

I am not an economist, but I can make a good guess.

Assume there is little employment because everybody is already working as hard as they can. (this is pretty much the state of affairs in Denmark)

Thus, throwing more money at the economy (by lowering taxes for instance) will only result in paying more for the same thing, and perhaps change a bit where the work goes.

Paying more for the same thing means inflation, so your competitiveness compared with other countries falls. In the long run this will make the economy shrink, as your exports fall, and it becomes uneconomical to manufacture goods inside the country.

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by Thue


You are probably referring to London in 2012, but some people are trying to get the games to Denmark in 2020 .

Just saw in telly that we need another bridge across øresund and one to fehmern, so no need for OL to use the money.

[Eli]

That money is always paying for something, whether it's the government who pays(no tax-cut) or the citizens(with a tax-cut). My rudimentary understanding says that the overall inflation shouldn't be affected.