Discussion
k
Utter nonsense. He inherited a very healthy economy from Ken Clarke and has done his best to get things wrong every year since, but been thwarted by benign economic conditions. It looks as if he might be beginning to succeed now.
Claiming to be prudent is not the same as being prudent.
Claiming to be prudent is not the same as being prudent.
PetrolTed said:
We keep being told by Labour that Gordon Brown is the most successful Chancellor ever. Is this genuinely the case by any sort of measurement or is it complete nonsense?
I think it cannot be argued against that we have had the longest period of relative economic stability in modern times. Cast your mind back to the 1980's and early 90's where inflation raged and we went from boom to bust. So far, we have not had a recession for a long time, and we were relatively unscathed by the economic downturn of many other European countries a few years ago. Most people in this country do now have a living standard in excess of what they had ten or twenty years ago by a considerable margin. To most European people and politicians Britain is an economic example to try to aspire to.
The best single thing he did was freeing the Bank of England from political control and allowing them to set interest rates themselves.
Time will tell if he got it right. I certainly don't agree with many of the things this government do, but it is hard to see how given the international circumstances anyone could have done a great deal better than he has.
All IMHO.
satch said:
from whom?
which part of thatcher/Majors' chancellorship or prime ministership involved him creating a great economy?
Brown has done what he could with a manufacturing base DESTROYED by the tories. interest rates up and down (no stability, can't plan), in and out of the ERM (tories a victim of their own ethos of make money - which the banks and money houses did on that particularly fateful wednesday), widened the gap between haves and have nots. Ripped up industries and built shopping centres, reduced top rate tax - allowing for more "imported" goods (remembering we don't make anything anymore) increased our marginal propensity to import - affected the balance of payments. Have people got such short memories, that they forget yuppies, and sickening materialism ?
Brown was handed a sows ear by the tories and whilst he hasn't made a silk purse out of it, I would defy anyone to do any better.
I'll get down off me soapbox. actually Major had a soapbox didn't he? what was the message there? vote for this man - he's got a wooden box?!
Satch, you either weren't there or have a fading memory. The economy in 1996 was in boom cycle. It is a fair criticism to make that Conservative economics of the time abetted boom and bust, but that is the price you pay for a low intervention market-based approach.
The oft-repeated accusation that the Conservatives destroyed British manufacturing is just tedious and wrong. If any political party contributed to the destruction of manufacturing it was Callaghan's Labour. Thatcher dealt with the malaise brutally, but she didn't cause the problem. British manufacturing failed to live up to the standards of design and engineering. We designed and engineered the best products in the world and then built them poorly, inefficiently and expensively. Hence we didn't compete, hence we didn't succeed. Labour papered over the cracks by throwing public money at it. Conservatives withdrew the public funding and left it to sink or swim. It sank.
Brown has presided over stability by funding the economy with your cash. That cash hasn't been wisely invested and now we have no return for the investment. The economy is effectively bankrupt and the only way he can keep it going is to grab more of your cash. This is what will always ultimately happen when governments interfere.
Brown has kept economic stability by raping the UK's pensions.
In fact, he cant afford to pay your pension when you retire, as he is already spending it now. In order to fill to £50-BILLION black hole, he wants every one work a few years more to make up for it.
What he has done could easily be construed as theft. Shocking.
In fact, he cant afford to pay your pension when you retire, as he is already spending it now. In order to fill to £50-BILLION black hole, he wants every one work a few years more to make up for it.
What he has done could easily be construed as theft. Shocking.
jacobyte said:
Brown has kept economic stability by raping the UK's pensions.
Don't forget the mobile phone licence grab-fest that IMHO played a big role in the tech crash of 2000 and stopped the spread of cable in the UK.
Didn't he sell off a load of gold reserves at way below market rate?
PetrolTed said:
We keep being told by Labour that Gordon Brown is the most successful Chancellor ever. Is this genuinely the case by any sort of measurement or is it complete nonsense?
He has presided over a very long period of continuous growth.
However this started at least 4 years before Labour came to power and could justifiable be said to be the result of the Supply side reforms of the 80's.
He can take some credit for macroeconomic stability due to handing the BOE control of interest rates and maintaining tight control over the public finances in the early years.
jacobyte said:
Brown has kept economic stability by raping the UK's pensions.
In fact, he cant afford to pay your pension when you retire, as he is already spending it now. In order to fill to £50-BILLION black hole, he wants every one work a few years more to make up for it.
What he has done could easily be construed as theft. Shocking.
Does this include the public sector pension liabilities?
esselte said:
Does this include the public sector pension liabilities?
No
so we're really up the creek then.
>> Edited by esselte on Monday 5th December 19:11
The total value of Public pension liabilities dwarf the national debt. They now total £800bn I believe.
>> Edited by Jaglover on Monday 5th December 19:13
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