I see the pensions thief is off on a three day tour of England and Wales to see the effects of the recession for himself. I wonder which constituencies and businesses he will be visiting?
This puts me in mind of a Spitting Image sketch many years ago, where, worried that his opinions might be out-of-touch, Prince Charles sent a flunky out into the street to find a "typical" member of the public. The flunky returned hours later, with a pearly king, remarking that it had been difficult to find someone who was really "typical" that day. On quizzing this most atypical subject, the Prince came to the conclusion that his views still echoed public opinion.
I'm guessing it could well take Gordon's planners the whole three days to find a "typical" business...
Showing posts with label Recession. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recession. Show all posts
Monday, January 5, 2009
Saturday, December 27, 2008
The Madness of King Gordon
And so the sales start in earnest. Thousands of shoppers jostling each other around, in search of discounts on cheap, yet overpriced tat they don't actually need, on credit they cannot afford, with no thought about how the debts are ever going to be repaid when their jobs have disappeared into the ether.
The government, too, is keen to promote this lemming-like behaviour, the same behaviour that led us into this debt crisis, inspired by the government that set off the whole sorry chain reaction. Let us recall the terrible decisions taken by Brown that led us into this trap; The creation of a regulatory regime too cumbersome to do its job, the removal of house price inflation from interest rate decisions, the raid on pensions, the discouragement of savings, and the encouragement of debt, led by none other than the arch debtor and irresponsible borrower himself: Gordon Brown. Let us not forget, the Prime Minister led by example, running up big government debts during the boom when he should have been saving for a rainy day. Yet Brown's stealth tax on savings clearly demonstrates he has no concept of saving for a rainy day.
Now Brown pins his hopes on a pseudo-recovery, a false and temporary blip in consumer confidence underpinned by a pretty ineffectual and short-term cut in VAT, which will be reversed long before the pain has subsided and the real recovery begins. His chancellor, Darling, trots out over-optimistic forecasts of recovery in the second half of 2009, criticised, derided and even ridiculed by economists and commentators. Their vain hope is to engineer some kind of temporary blip, no matter that it will make the long-term situtation even more grave than it already is. If Brown and company can somehow engineer enough false hope, however brief, it will give them a small window of opportunity to call an election in which they might not do as badly as some have suggested. If enough gullible voters can be persuaded that there is light at the end of the tunnel, perhaps they can even engineer an hung parliament. The rest of us will already have identified the light at the end of the tunnel as an oncoming train - the British economy, driven by Gordon Brown, and picking up speed as it heads straight towards us, completely out of control. The brakes were removed years ago, allowing Brown to boast of the lowest rates for a generation.
The madness of King Gordon must go on, at least until the election is called. Spend, spend, spend! Borrow, borrow borrow! The piper must be paid, but why worry about next year? After all, you could get knocked down by a train tomorrow.
The government, too, is keen to promote this lemming-like behaviour, the same behaviour that led us into this debt crisis, inspired by the government that set off the whole sorry chain reaction. Let us recall the terrible decisions taken by Brown that led us into this trap; The creation of a regulatory regime too cumbersome to do its job, the removal of house price inflation from interest rate decisions, the raid on pensions, the discouragement of savings, and the encouragement of debt, led by none other than the arch debtor and irresponsible borrower himself: Gordon Brown. Let us not forget, the Prime Minister led by example, running up big government debts during the boom when he should have been saving for a rainy day. Yet Brown's stealth tax on savings clearly demonstrates he has no concept of saving for a rainy day.
Now Brown pins his hopes on a pseudo-recovery, a false and temporary blip in consumer confidence underpinned by a pretty ineffectual and short-term cut in VAT, which will be reversed long before the pain has subsided and the real recovery begins. His chancellor, Darling, trots out over-optimistic forecasts of recovery in the second half of 2009, criticised, derided and even ridiculed by economists and commentators. Their vain hope is to engineer some kind of temporary blip, no matter that it will make the long-term situtation even more grave than it already is. If Brown and company can somehow engineer enough false hope, however brief, it will give them a small window of opportunity to call an election in which they might not do as badly as some have suggested. If enough gullible voters can be persuaded that there is light at the end of the tunnel, perhaps they can even engineer an hung parliament. The rest of us will already have identified the light at the end of the tunnel as an oncoming train - the British economy, driven by Gordon Brown, and picking up speed as it heads straight towards us, completely out of control. The brakes were removed years ago, allowing Brown to boast of the lowest rates for a generation.
The madness of King Gordon must go on, at least until the election is called. Spend, spend, spend! Borrow, borrow borrow! The piper must be paid, but why worry about next year? After all, you could get knocked down by a train tomorrow.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
German Finance Minister Rubbishes Brown
Herr Steinbrueck is correct. Having inherited a golden economic legacy handed to him a little over a decade ago, Brown has as good as bankrupted the UK. The savings ratio has collapsed as savers have been discouraged and reckless borrowing positively encouraged. Property prices trebled in a few short years before the bubble burst, and Brown ran up a budget deficit during the boom, claiming he didn’t need to set money aside for unforseen problems as he had abolished the economic cycle. “No more boom and bust” was his oft-heard cry. How hollow that now sounds.
Debt - both public and private - is out of control and Brown has no desire to exercise fiscal discipline while he has a general election to fight, in a little under 18 months or so if, and it’s a big if, he survives that long.Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Oh dear.
We are now into what looks likely to be a very deep and long-lasting recession. What's more, the government seems intent on compounding the terrible decisions it made which brought us to this place with even worse ones in a doomed attempt to get us out.
Increasing public spending is the wrong thing at precisely the wrong time, and will inevitably make the situation far, far worse. We've been down that road before, and the consequences were pretty horrific. Even Jim Callaghan knew you couldn't hope to get away with what Brown is attempting, but then hindsight is not something that troubles Brown, who famously listens to no-one. He has persistently ignored best advice, which is why the country is in such a poor position, and why it will continue to get worse until he starts to see sense, or is removed from office. My money is on the latter.
Brown's answer to the economic hardship for which he is largely responsible is to lurch to the left, yet this it no time for outdated and discredited political dogma. Instead, he should just cut taxes and stop throwing away the money that this seriously indebted country does not have. The economy needs a stimulus, not another mortgage.
We are now into what looks likely to be a very deep and long-lasting recession. What's more, the government seems intent on compounding the terrible decisions it made which brought us to this place with even worse ones in a doomed attempt to get us out.
Increasing public spending is the wrong thing at precisely the wrong time, and will inevitably make the situation far, far worse. We've been down that road before, and the consequences were pretty horrific. Even Jim Callaghan knew you couldn't hope to get away with what Brown is attempting, but then hindsight is not something that troubles Brown, who famously listens to no-one. He has persistently ignored best advice, which is why the country is in such a poor position, and why it will continue to get worse until he starts to see sense, or is removed from office. My money is on the latter.
Brown's answer to the economic hardship for which he is largely responsible is to lurch to the left, yet this it no time for outdated and discredited political dogma. Instead, he should just cut taxes and stop throwing away the money that this seriously indebted country does not have. The economy needs a stimulus, not another mortgage.
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