Tuesday 15 September 2009

Brown speaks the truth at last


He does not acknowledge this of course in his interview with Robert Peston, but he make a damning statement:

"PM [Gordon Brown]: ...you cannot justify in a period of difficulty. We're raising national insurance by half a percent. These things are being done so that we can pay for our public services, while at the same time making sure that the economy continues to reduce the deficit. I think you'll end up with a situation where the debt levels in all major countries are roughly the same - Germany, France, America and Britain - and I think you'll get an agreement amongst all these countries about the right timing for us to take the further action that is, that is necessary..."

the important fact missed out is that our public borrowing was 50% less than that of Germany or France and even about 20% less than the USA on a standardised basis. So the Prime Minister is admitting that we have coped with this crisis half as well as our European neighbours.

That is a pretty bad attempt at 'coping'. Long-term it is a disaster, the only way out is inflation and if we become like Japan,the bond holders won't even allow that. What a terrible Government Brown has presided over.

12 comments:

Doppelganger said...

Labour's misrule is ending how I expected it to begin. It may have taken twelve long years to achieve, but unlike the 70s they are making up for time with completeness.

Old BE said...

Brown manages to make the truth sound like a lie.

Budgie said...

Brown appears to have lost (some) political power to Darling and Mandelson. So I doubt very much that Brown actually believes what he is saying here. Also the government debt size is itself in question.

However, I still think the most interesting aspect about Brown is his reputed depression: not the fact of it, but what is he depressed about? Is it his relative loss of power, or is it that his political theories have been proved wrong, or is it something else?

Letters From A Tory said...

I think 'coping' sums up Brown's best outlook for the next 8 months.

James Higham said...

It's more than Brown who doesn't even understand economics - I know more than him and less than anyone who knows.

CUS - what do you make of this?

"The scheme is no different than the organized crime restaurant that launders money. They MUST appear to prosper first, go broke due to apparently bad management later and then be burned down. You don’t want the IRS to know there were few customers and the receipts were all a means to launder money. You want to get back your original seed capital from the insurance company. In the case of SIVs and all OTC derivatives today the insurance company is you and I via TALF, TARP, and all the other schemes. The SIVs are no different."

U.S. situation but implications for us.

Anonymous said...

El Gordo is not guening again is he?
Someone else is reknowned to have had deprssion, of course not known to the general populace, he called it his black dog, of course that was Winston Churchill who managed to hide his illness.

Anonymous said...

Sorry that that should read gurning.

Edindie said...

Fair point, although I heard that even happy Uncle Adolf got a bit miffed from time to time. Perhaps he was claustrophobic?

Saturn V said...

Why is it that there is no one in charge? No one is steering the ship.
Even the Liberal democrats have had a more coherent strategy than Labour since the 2008 meltdown.
Labour keep saying that they 'May have to take some unspecified in the future,. Some vague action but only after 2010'

If you didn't know better You might well think that Labour are the opposition. Refusing to reveal their policies until after the election.

They are in government now, today! They should be doing something today. Not putting off the difficult decisions for 9 months for political reasons. Its a disgrace.
How can a government go around saying 'look what the evil baby burning, immigrant hating, public sector slashing Tories would do! We probably won't be half as bad when the time comes."

The time is now, you opposition in residence fools. Anything else is just making the situation worse."

Anonymous said...

Edindie

Your uncle adolf more than likely suffered from Parkinson's, I don't what the meds were then but the drugs we have today were not available all those years ago, also some of the drugs have the side effects make even mild people very agressive.
Having said the above anyone remember Gordon's hand shaking in the HOC and Gordon trying to control it and trying to hide it.

Elby The Beserk said...

That picture just makes this ageing, card-carrying hippy want to grab him by the lapels and nut him. Repeatedly.


If he said he had a shit this morning, I wouldn't believe him

What the FUCK did we do to deserve this? Someone put the bastard out of our misery.

Anonymous said...

Anon,
I got misdiagnosed with Parkinson's, the drugs they gave me sent me totally off planet, in a really bad way.
The difference between Parkinson's and depression is that a person with Parkinson's wouldn't notice the shaking, a person with depression would.