The Bradford & Bingley bailout isn’t monopoly money. Americans lose no time translating their $700 billion bailout into a $5,000 per family figure, which I’ve heard Brits quote with a shiver in a kind of “there but for the grace of God go we” way. So just for the record, here are the liabilities run up on behalf of the average British household.
Net Debt £545bn £20,591 per household (August ’08, ONS)
Northern Rock £87bn £3,287 per household (June ’08, ONS)
Bradford & Bingley £40bn £1,511 per household (Media reports)
Public Sector Pension Liabilities £1,000bn £37,781 per household (January ’08, Watson Wyatt)
Future Private Finance Initiative payments £110bn £4,156 per household (March, ’08, Institute of Fiscal Studies)
TOTAL: £67,327 per household
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