He notes that, in international surveys, English school results have stagnated while others have leapt ahead (and this after a decade in which the previous, Labour government almost doubled school spending per pupil).
"This national debt audit result could indicate that China's local government debt almost doubled in about 2-1/2 years".
"This national debt audit result could indicate that China's local government debt almost doubled in about two-and-a-half years".
In parallel, Indonesia also commenced implementation of a new intergovernmental fiscal framework; the apparent district share in government spending almost doubled; and the balance between general grants and grants earmarked by the centre for specific sectors and functions seemed to change markedly in favor of general grants, the sectoral allocation of which was to be decided by local government.
The Bush administration's calls for Myanmar to throw open its borders to international assistance have gone unheeded, even as the government of Myanmar almost doubled the official death toll to 78,000 people on Friday, with 55,917 missing and 19,359 injured, up steeply from just 1,403 previously listed as injured.
Americans now have to climb out of two deep holes: as debt-loaded consumers, whose personal wealth sank along with housing and stock prices; and as taxpayers, whose government debt has almost doubled in the last two years alone, just as costs tied to benefits for retiring baby boomers are set to explode.
"Under the previous government, housing benefit almost doubled in 10 years to £20bn, with households living in homes which are too big for them while there are two million households in England on waiting lists and 250,000 families living in over-crowded accommodation".
Between 2000 and 2015, while per student expenditure from governments on Catholic schools almost doubled, these schools increased their own private fees by over twice the rate of inflation.
In the Philippines the government of President Benigno Aquino almost doubled the defence budget last year, to $2.4 billion.Even with new submarines and planes, Vietnam and the Philippines are still no match for Asia's new superpower, should it come to war.
