Brown and co

WTF?_2

Pobby wrote: »

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.

What really worries me is that Brown obviously didn't see it coming.

Back after he became PM in mid 2007, he had the chance to call an election. The economy was still steaming along and he was high in the polls - a win would have been almost assured.

The first signs of the wheels coming off the boom were starting to make themselves apparent to those of us looking for them and I was simply amazed when he didn't announce he was going to the polls. It really made me doubt my conviction about where things were going as surely he would at least know the true score? Maybe things weren't going to go bad or he had some sort of clever plan up his sleeve....

Nope, he really did think that the boom was going to go on for ever and government finances were handled on that basis (ever increasing borrowing even at a time of record tax receipts).

Now, the same guy is pushing a raft of dangerous policies as the way out of this mess and we should trust him because he has all that experience and knows what he is doing ...... not bloody likely.

barrooo

!!!!!!? wrote: »

What really worries me is that Brown obviously didn't see it coming.

What really worries me is he is still in charge

ronnyb_2

The British public never learn. Labour have never made a decent government yet. In 1997 I was scorned at the place where I worked because I was the only one to vote Tory. I remember saying 'It'll all end in tears'.

chicflix

Labour/Tory whatever. It all bears the same result.

nickmason

chicflix wrote: »

Labour/Tory whatever. It all bears the same result.

As part of a xmas book reshelving, I came across the following cover notes, on a book from 1989 called "After Thatcher":

"The present Conservative government looks unassailable despite widespread public concern about the health of British democracy and the performance of the British economy under Mrs Thatcher's government. The Conservatives have failed to revive British industry to meet the challenge of the 1990s; the Opposition, however, has been unable to present a viable political alternative to her government."

So maybe you have a point!!

pickles110564

!!!!!!? wrote: »

What really worries me is that Brown obviously didn't see it coming.

Back after he became PM in mid 2007, he had the chance to call an election. The economy was still steaming along and he was high in the polls - a win would have been almost assured.

The first signs of the wheels coming off the boom were starting to make themselves apparent to those of us looking for them and I was simply amazed when he didn't announce he was going to the polls. It really made me doubt my conviction about where things were going as surely he would at least know the true score? Maybe things weren't going to go bad or he had some sort of clever plan up his sleeve....

Nope, he really did think that the boom was going to go on for ever and government finances were handled on that basis (ever increasing borrowing even at a time of record tax receipts).

Now, the same guy is pushing a raft of dangerous policies as the way out of this mess and we should trust him because he has all that experience and knows what he is doing ...... not bloody likely.

Only thing is he has closed the gap in the Polls and it wont be long before he gives everyone with children a couple of grand in their pockets, give the pensioners a good rise and gives everyone on the Dole a massive list.
Bingo back in for another 5 year stretch, he might not be as mad as everyone thinks.

prowla

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.

Like you, I think he is the worst we've ever had.
Though I totally detest Blair and place him at the same level as the con-man who ripped off my parents on cavity wall insulation 30 years ago, at least he had some form of charisma.
Brown is just the guy who has been ripping us off for a decade and has suddenly found out isn't qualified to do the job he wanted all that time.
Fortunately, in some ways, the credit crunch and so-on has dragged him back into his comfort zone (ie. ripping us off for more money, and now our children and our grandchildren), so it has diverted his attention from whatever foolhardy grand design he might've had towards the other aspects of government.
Basically we're just like a company that has been taken over by the bean counters.

Taizar

I think Brown is actually being used as a scapegoat, Everyone would still be saying the same stuff if it was someone else, he just seems to be the guy that should click his fingers and it will all be better because he was a great chancellor!! I think the big thing that peoople are forgetting who really caused these problems. Big city fat cats who decided to lend money without thinking so that they could make nice interest profits. I think without the over greed of them the country would be in a much more stable position as less people would have had to go bankrupt and money being written off left right and centre. I feel the economy and the over paying people of this nation have been used by the banks and associated companies who I notice were very quick to want our help when it suited them but do not seem to be repaying us with 0% interest so that we can all get back on out feet! Maybe a few years of profit free business for them would actually mean a more propereous future???

ManAtHome

Jeez - weren't the government supposed to be regulating the 'fats cats' etc - if not, why were we paying them up to the equivalent of 500k pa each..?

brown let the 'fats cats' run riot because he was stupid and arrogant enough to believe he had found a way round the normal business cycle. He'll be ok with the platinum-plated pension, it's just the 'grunts' who'll be paying for it for 10-20 years.

Generali

Guy_Montag wrote: »

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

It's basically my policy as we sing the English equivalent of the Marseillaise as we walk from Heathrow in a Napoleonic sweep across the country!