While many Conservatives claim that more borrowing would risk market confidence in the government's economic strategy, Mr Cable says "nobody knows how the markets might respond".
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Of course the four decades of growth also resulted in heavy borrowing and extraordinary risk.
This lowers the costs of borrowing and helps spread risk.
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Peripheral European borrowing costs tumbled and risk appetites surged.
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Vince Cable believes that when interest rates are so low and growth so invisible it is worth taking the risk of borrowing a little more to spend on building houses and other infrastructure.
In theory, most vulnerable to the risk that borrowing will become a bit harder and pricier are those in the bottom category of banks, which includes RBS. But RBS can take small comfort that some very big banks - notably Bank of America Corporation and Citigroup of the US - have lower ratings than it does.
It's good business for the banks and it is lowering the borrowing costs of countries at risk.
The Treasury is understandably suspicious of cosmetic wheezes that add to public borrowing without any transfer of risk to the private sector.
This is the risk inherent in borrowing money to buy any asset.
The first is that governments running large and potentially unsustainable budget deficits have to pay a risk premium for borrowing in the capital markets.
What I have said, what everyone has said, is that once we lose our borrowing authority we become at risk of default on our obligations.
The Federal Open Market Committee will end a two-day policy-setting meeting later Wednesday that is likely to show central bank officials are more upbeat about the economy but not enough to tighten loose-borrowing costs that have encouraged risk-taking, economists say.
Investors are not yet charging higher risk premiums on government borrowing to take account of these demographic risks.
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To have taken such a risk - more discretionary borrowing when the public finances are already so out of control.
That was ruled by the Treasury as falling outside the public sector borrowing requirement because it claimed the risk of default was so small.
The government argues that the higher costs of private borrowing are outweighed by the transfer of risk, preventing expensive construction overruns and maintenance bills.
He said the danger of slow growth may now be greater than the loss of market confidence through increased borrowing and that the "balance of risk" had changed since 2010, when the coalition made deficit reduction central.
They are particularly interested in covering the extended loan customers, who are the most at risk of being upended by short term borrowing.
While many validly fear that the downgrade may impact borrowing costs for our country, the larger potential risk, in my opinion, could be related to the types of assets that certain institutions (i.e. banks) can hold on their respective balance sheets.
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Broadly, though, all banks earn money through some combination of maturity transformation (borrowing short and lending long), taking credit risk (ie, lending to people who may not pay it back) and earning fees and punting on their own account in the capital markets.
Treasury officials are still, however, sceptical of Mr Prescott's leasing plan on the grounds that it involves no real transfer of risk to the private sector and breaks public borrowing rules.
Yes, a base rate is set by the European Central Bank, but for the past five years, there has been wide divergence between eurozone borrowing rates, as the markets' measure of the risk of default.
Borrowing costs would shoot up to reflect higher currency and inflation risk.
When this borrowing rises, it can suggest that individual investors are becoming too comfortable with risk, a sign the market is overheated.
For example, companies are sitting on so much cash at the moment that there is little risk that private investment will be crowded out by lots of government borrowing.
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Moreover, while there is some economic slack, borrowing by firms remains weak and monetary policy is loose, there is scant risk that rising interest rates will crowd out the private sector.
Borrowing costs have been cut nearly in half as creditors take note of diminishing business risk.
Interest deductions in particular are at risk, so you have to be careful with investments that have a borrowing component.
Risk aversion, fear of default and depleted bank capital have caused private borrowing rates to deviate sharply from policy rates.
That could still happen, should borrowing costs for countries such as Spain and Italy surge again, putting them at risk of being shut out of the market.
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