Brown and co

Pobby

Your thoughts please. I don`t think that Brown is inherently an evil guy. What does bother me is that he has presided over the purse strings for a very long time.
I don`t claim to be an expert in economics, far from it, but thanks to one or two bright friends, HPC and here I have been very bearish for years.
So, what`s happened. Hpi has gone up by at least 300% in a decade ( well at least to 2007 ). The population here has huge unsecured debt. Banks have lent in a style that beggers belief. What wonderful formula did Brown and co have in mind that would solve these problems? Very little wage inflation. Stealth taxing so that even more of our money was swallowed up. Just how did he expect people to pay down their debts?
Frankly the whole thing puzzles me.

The_White_Horse

i think he is the worst leader we have ever had. unelected by the people, unelected by his own party and to scared to ask the people for a mandate.

i don't think he is evil. i think he is incompetent and stupid and must be stopped at all costs.

jm28cardiff

I dont like the thing he does with his mouth when he takes a breath, it really annoys me!

auximinies

Ultimately all governments fail, and this one looked dead in the water until this crisis blew up. Now I can see Labour winning the election just as easily as I can see the Conservatives winning it - the free market liberal economic system has collapsed and has swept political norms away with it.

Does anyone have the answer how to repair something that had never before broken? How to recover an economy when every other economy has collapsed at the same time? For all the complaints about Labour (and they're all true) its less of a leap to see them presiding over a new statist intervention model for the economy - which categorically is what we're all getting - than it is to see the Conservatives to do it.

With respect to my Tory friends, its only earlier this year that Redwood published a policy paper calling for further deregulation of the mortgage market. The idea that they were calling for a stop to city profits and bonuses at the same time as taking large donations from city financiers is a joke - which is reflected in the polls.

Frankly the challenge now lies with Cameron. He has adopted the same economic platform used so successfully with Howard, with echoes of "yes it hurt yes it worked" from his time as Norman Lamont's adviser on Black Wednesday. Next Year we will see the spectacle of him squaring up to Barak "The Anointed One" Obama and telling him that he, the IMF, the World Bank, the EU and so many economists are actually wrong and that he and Gideon Osborne are right. Should be fun.....

ad9898_3

Brown is a failure, it's simple. He took a good economy, handed to him by the Tories and ruined it, and before anyone says things were good before the crash, they weren't.

It's easy to look good on borrowed money, it's what you do when the money has gone and needs to be repaid, his solution ?, borrow our childrens money to keep him in power.

The guy should be lined up against a wall, and shot. The more I think about it, even that's too good for him.

Pobby

Interesting ad. I just find it unbelievable. How can some one get it all so wrong? Talking to mates of mine today....all within shooting years of drawing our pensions, not cast iron government ones you understand. We don`t have debt but get scant return for any savings. Pension schemes are messed up. Rather than hand outs to the !!!!less how about giving us a hand, those that have paid in to a system for 40 years plus. Yea, very likely!

Guy_Montag

The_White_Horse wrote: »

i think he is the worst leader we have ever had. unelected by the people, unelected by his own party and to scared to ask the people for a mandate.

i don't think he is evil. i think he is incompetent and stupid and must be stopped at all costs.

As I'm sure you're aware in British politics it has never been the case that PMs need to be elected by the proles. The proles vote for the party of their choice & party decides who is in charge. It's the way it's always been, there was no election after Thatcher, nor after Wilson, Macmillan or Eden. In fact you need to go back to Eden in 1955 to find a case of a new PM going to the polls after being appointed.

I'm no brown apologist, I think he's mainly (along with the banks, the proles, the BoE & the FSA) to blame for the position we're in, but it's unfair to hold him to a higher standard than other PMs.

ad9898 wrote: »

The guy should be lined up against a wall, and shot. The more I think about it, even that's too good for him.

Executing democratically* elected heads of state - interesting policy, think I'll be voting for someone other than you.

*Selected as per the rules & procedures used by the British political system.

ad9898_3

Guy_Montag wrote: »

Executing democratically* elected heads of state - interesting policy, think I'll be voting for someone other than you.

Regardless of the caveat that you put in at the end, Brown wasn't even elected by his own party nevermind the British people.

The facts are, the way Brown is running the government has distinct parallels with Mugabe, unelected, blames other countries for his countries woes, implies the opposition is unpatriotic when holding him to account, will do anything to hold onto power.

He is a fraud, a liar and completely inept at doing the job he is doing.

Pobby

Ah but you forget. He was the dude that would never let the housing market get out of control again. Put an end to boom and bust and just only a few weeks ago saved the world.

Guy_Montag

ad9898 wrote: »

Regardless of the caveat that you put in at the end, Brown wasn't even elected by his own party nevermind the British people.

The facts are, the way Brown is running the government has distinct parallels with Mugabe, unelected(1), blames other countries for his countries woes(2), implies the opposition is unpatriotic when holding him to account(3), will do anything to hold onto power(4).

He is a fraud, a liar and completely inept at doing the job he is doing.

Yes, I'm sure you can find distinct parallels between most politicians & Mugabe or any dictator of your choice.

(1)He was elected in 1983, returned to parliament in each general election since then. He was selected by his party in an election, the only other candidate lost his proverbial deposit.

(2)Most politicians do; & lets be honest Brown wasn't the only one to be a bit crap at spotting (or good at ignoring) the massive, looming debt balloon waiting to pop. See John Redwood's infamous "less regulation for mortgages"; the entire US economy; the Icelandic economy etc.

(3)Most politicians do - see the introduction of the "Patriot Act", for the textbook example; though the Terrorism Act (2006) was also a fine example.

(4)Most politicians will. But there's a distinct difference between not holding an election until required & sending the boys in to kick the blue blazes out of the opposition.

epz_2

incompetent is often more dangerous than evil, evil people tend to at least have the brains not to set fire to their own home.