Government action is avoiding a worse recession

[VikingHumpingWitch]

Adding is for accountants and other social misfits. I do words baby.

[omnipleasant]

Incidentally, the UN are predicting 51 million job losses worldwide this year. Fifty One Million.

Does anyone seriously still think this is down to Gordon Brown?

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7855661.stm

[VikingHumpingWitch]

Knitting or suicide. These are my only real options, I think. How did life go so wrong?

[omnipleasant]

Can't you bag yourself an ageing sugar daddy?

[omnipleasant]

Isnt Jonren single?

[jonren]

Oh Omni, You've said a naughty word. She would prefer suicide.

[omnipleasant]

Why?

Why are the headlines in the news inconsequential crap like "UK will be worst hit!!!!" or "our grandchildren will be paying Gordon Brown's debt!!!!!!" rather than some of the really important, significant stuff that is in this report?

I despair.

[VikingHumpingWitch]

Jan 28, 2009 17:54:34 GMT @omnipleasant said:

Can't you bag yourself an ageing sugar daddy?

Sorry yes, knitting, suicide or prostitution.

[omnipleasant]

Or if they're going with the IMF stuff, why not the policy stuff?

The IMF says future co-ordinated financial policies should concentrate on recognising the scale of financial institutions' losses and on providing public support to those institutions that are viable.

"Such policies should be supported by measures to resolve insolvent banks and set up public agencies to dispose of the bad debts, including possibly through a 'bad bank' approach, while safeguarding public resources."


Surely that's much more important than the fact they think the UK might shrink 2.8% compared with 2.2%?

[ricklinc]

He's still doing it. Worst performance by any British government ever and Omnipresent is still blaming Thatcher.

[tarrant]

Jan 28, 2009 18:38:37 GMT ricklinc said:

He's still doing it. Worst performance by any British government ever and Omnipresent is still blaming Thatcher.

That's not really true and you know it.

At least, I hope you do. It will be a shame if you know nothing about the British economic history.

[ricklinc]

All right, Tarrant. Educate me. Which government previous to this one dropped so much money and made things worse? Which government took a police force and turned it into a department of social workers and bureaucrats? Which other government had to dumb down examinations into meaningless coursework to cover the drop in educational standards? Et fcuking cetera.

My knowledge of British economic history is spotty at best. My interests are control engineering and kickboxing. But I've got a good memory and over the last decade I've seen nothing in this country but decline that was being covered up by irrational euphoria over rising house prices and the availability of big televisions on credit. I've seen warning after warning that was sneered down by smug tossers with gloriously liberal attitudes that haven't met the mugger yet.

As depressing as it makes me to type seriously, this is the worst government this country has ever had.

[cllrpeterevans]

I think the IMF have got it about right - other analysts around the world agree with them.
One principle holds true for any country in a recession - it is spending that leads the way out of it. Unfortunately, it is public not government spending that is important because public spending means that a percentage will save it and this provides banks with a steady stream of money that they can use to lend out whereas government bail-outs never do that - they only replace the huge debt hole that would force the banking system to collapse if it wasn't filled. (As happened in Iceland)
However, just a word of caution - the current interest rate can't last for a long time (in the context of the depression) - so comparisons with 1997 are not a good guide to the state of play at present. Both government spending and low interest rates fuel a mountain of debt that the taxpayer will have to repay. Also remember that PFIs are effectively loans to be repaid by the taxpayer too. Consequently, England has the most debt of any industrialised nation in the world now. (In 1997 the Government inherited the biggest Treasury fund in the history of the UK). This is a matter of history - making comparisons with that era meaningless as a means of political point scoring for Brown especially.
We have to move on. We should be making decisions based upon what will hurt the people the least because there is a direct correlation between government induced poverty and the number of people admitted to hospital as a result of hypothermia or inadequate food or both - the cost of that being considerably higher than raising the tax threshold. A balance has to be struck without resorting to political mud-slinging or electioneering. But I don't hold my breath on that!

[tarrant]

Re #51ricklinc


You sound like one of those bitter defeated leftists from the 80s.

Your presumption that the police force has been turned into social workers is your own.

Your presumption that examinations have been dumbed down is your own.

However, none of this has anything to do with the economy.

Your problem is you haven't managed to achieve your ambitions in life. You seek to blame everyone else whereas the blame lies firmly with you.

There was a very significant house price fall in the early 90s during the last recession we had. Sadly, that one continued for about 10 years, largely because the government was spending so much time and energy trying to please all the plethora of sections in its party that investors confidence never materialised.

But that doesn't really interest you does it. You see yourself as a failure and lack the guts to accept responsibility.

[ricklinc]

Ah, now that's cheered me up a bit. Just like the government that you appear to be defending you are spectacularly wrong about all of that and have underlined the fact that you are a know-nothing cnut who assumes that he has special knowledge. Gordon Brown would make you a cabinet minister on the spot.

As for the presumptions, I train with cops, I've got a daughter in school and I mentor electrical engineering students. Such things do not carry the gravitas or price tag of a governement report but I'd sooner trust my presumptions because they're not based on the cheery bullsh*t of a party that needs to try and hide how badly it is doing.

Whenever I see another of your posts I'll always think of what a stupid dink you made of yourself in this last one.

[tarrant]

As I said Rick those are your assertions.

But they still have nothing to do with the economy which was the point you made in #49 and which I responded to in #50.

Nice to see you backing up your stance with offencive language. Really makes you seem so assertive and correct!

[ricklinc]

Oh, it has to do with the economy as well. This government has been incompetent about everything.

Does my use of bad language intimidate you? Over the fcuking internet? Oh dear. Never mind. I'm sure you've got some dry underwear in a big drawer somewhere.

[tarrant]

Your use of language designed to be offensive doesn't intimidate me.

It just make me think you're an idiot who knows his arguments are so weak he has to back them up with such words.

Your presumption that it is intimidating demonstrates your reasons for using it.

[minge tightly]

Government action might well be avoiding a worse recession, but it was partly Government action that has ensured we have further to fall than other economies so I don't think they'll be gaining any Brownie points.

Wasn't so long ago that Brown, Darling and even the IMF themselves were confidentally predicting a 'slowdown' to 1.5% growth in Britain in 2009.

So much for the veracity of such predictions

[minge tightly]

News International chief Rupert ­Murdoch (BOO!) told delegates the crisis was getting worse: "It's going to take drastic action to turn it around, if it can be turned around quickly. I believe it will take some time. We've been living in the western world way above our means. We've been on a great binge and it's come to an end; and we have to live though the correction."

Howard Davies, director of the London School of Economics, said: "People in the UK and the US are going to get poorer. They will have to spend less than their income for a while."

www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/28/imf-warns-over-uk-economy

Both are spot on. Depends whether you see the consensus as unfortunate or not.