All politicians try to do that, if they can get away with it. But it is equally invalid to give those in charge no credit when all is going well and then all the blame when a world recession hits. As with most things, the answer lies somewhere in between.
Gordon Brown always get dragged over the coals for the global financial crisis...i have no loyalty to him or any of the other toe rags in government, but wasnt he the one who set up the FSA in an attempt to regulate the corruption of banking? and didnt George Osbourne say that Browns measures at some form of regulation were, 'too tough' back in 2008(ish)...he soon changed his tune... No one person is responsible, its the system thats at fault and the greedy toe rags who put a price on everything and know the value of nothing.
I agree about the amnesia, but it is also combined with hindsight. Famously, every political career ends in failure; amnesia leads to blaming the guy for whatever happened last, and forgetting about everything he had achieved before. Hindsight blames the guy for failing to anticipate problems which, in truth, nobody anticipated; and inevitably those doing most of the blaming would have done far worse themselves.
No. No. Boris is funny, hard-working and passionate about his job. His whole demeanour seems so different to all the other politicians. I may not agree with all his views but at least he's someone I like seeing on the box. Let's face it, I'm not likely to agree with all the views of any politician.
And did you see him play in that charity football match a few years back?? Fucking priceless!! Been a big fan ever since...
The single issue was one of surplus and the graph was used to illustrate that point showing two periods of negative debt growth, one during and the other immediately after a Conservative government. You suggested, with some hubris, that Crash Gordon was responsible for that surplus whilst I offered another explanation. If you choose to take any other point from that graph then that is outside of my control. The graph was in no way misleading as far as I am concerned. If in 2008, after 11 years of a Labour government during which GB had abolished boom and bust by creating a massive bubble, the finances of the UK weren't stretched to breaking point we might have weathered the global storm better, but we will never know. GB is given credit, by some, for saving the world from a global banking collapse but I have no way of evaluating that claim. Overall the record of GB both as a Chancellor and Prime Minister is woeful. Incidentally I met GB in the mid 70's and he was obviously dysfunctional then.
At the risk of invoking Goodwin's Law and therefore loosing the argument, I'm going to "play the Hitler card" Everyone forgets Hitler was a vegetarian, they just focus on what happened last!
What Gordon Brown did was take a relatively good economy, with a surplus, and create the client state which tied many more people into state largess of one kind or another through complex arrangements such as tax credits in an attempt to lock in future votes. It was all smoke and mirrors and significantly increased state spending long before the crisis of 2008. It was doomed to failure either way, just like every Labour government in history. Note, this is not being offered as a defence of the Conservatives. So yes Gordon Brown was unlucky that the global financial crisis hit on his watch but the idea that he was doing just great up to that point is farcical. He turned smaller boom and bust cycles into a large boom, which was always going to be followed by a large bust. He simply failed to understand how markets operate.
Pete, you have a habit of taking one small, often insignificant, part of a post and using it to dismiss the whole post.
John, Sorry but I am under no obligation to sift through your posts refuting each and every point seriatim, especially when I have already done so previously. I have said what I want to say on this topic, for now. You post whatever you want. Good luck with that.
Brown was; Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury 1987-1989 Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 1989-1992 Shadow Chancellor in 1992-1997 Chancellor of the Exchequer 1997-2007 Prime Minister 2007-2010 I really think he should have grasped the basic principals of how the economy works by the time of the crunch.
The assertion that Brown 'failed to understand how markets operate' contains the necessary implication that the one making the assertion claims to understand better himself. I found this surprising and queried it.
Brown was a politician not an economist and a deeply flawed human being. I don't beieve there is anything basic about how the economy works.
