The post you are reporting:
PaulB - You really are still, like Brown, in denial.
Yes, we have a cyclical global downturn which was made worse by the American toxic debt issue (Clinton being the culprit with changes he made in his presidency).
What you cannot get away from is the way our Government has made the present bad situation worse for the UK.
1/ The bankers are being blamed by Brown but that ignores the idiotic changes he made to banking regulations in 1997. His crazy tri-partied arrangment that removed the stringent controls and oversight that the Bank of England had before that. Brown also made an error in the terms of reference for the Bank of England Monetary policy committee and on that, I like most people, did not spot his mistake. I did read one right wing commentator point this out at the time but I did not play any regard to it.
So thats Brown mistake number 1 (probably the most important single error)
2/ He as Chancellor did not repay debt during the long growth cycle of the economy brought about by benign international conditions. He actually was foolish enough to think he had cancelled the economic cycle, hence his hubris of a 'no more boom and bust' claim. That probably demonstrates why he did not do so. Now we are faced with that downturn we are already in hoc up to our eyballs and are in a far worse economic situation in the face of the world recession than other countries are. He repeatedly makes false claims here that have been contradicted by his own Office of National Statistics.
There is Brown's error no 2
3/ Brown and Blair over the last 11/12 years have been busily introducing rafts of social policies and imposing extra costs and red tape on businesses. These costs have been mounting up and in recent years have been seriously affecting the competetiveness of British busineses. This means they are now less able to face the rigours of the recession resulting in an increase in business failures and unemployment on top of what might have happened otherwise. remember, it is only profitable businesses that can pull us out of recession and the more you hamper them the worse things will be.
That is Brown's error no 3.
4/ Taxation. The overall level of tax has been increased steadily over the last 11/12 years. Much of the extra taxation has not been wisely spent. In fact there has been massive waste. This tax burden takes money out of the pockets of people and businesses and have a detrimental effect on economic health.
Brown error no 4.
5/ The change to the Bank of England's role and the parameters for the MPC as previously said were too tightly drawn. As a result interest rates were held down too long encouraging people to borrow more and fed the housing bubble. That is a secondary impact of error no 1 and therefore has already been counted but this problem was compounded by Brown's discouraging people to save. He undermined pensions and tax free savings by taxation policies reducing the tax benefits and reducing the allowable investment levels in non-pension tax shelters. The impact of these issues combined to reduce what is called the savings ratio and therefore the amount the public have to fall back on for emergency purchases (car repairs, new biolers and so on...). this meant that people became more reliant on borrowing for emergencies. This of course increased the levels of private non-mortage debt to an unacceptable and unprecedented level. People also, now in this recession have less of a financial buffer, if any and the level of house re-posessions is heading for levels in excess of 1990.
So there is Brown's mistake no 5
Those are the main problems behind the very serious UK domestic situation. None of these errors are the fault of international factors, all are down to Brown.
If the Government had a lower debt at the beginning of the recession it would be better able to stimulate the economy without causing other problems and a massive debt that future generation will have to repay.
If Brown had not changed the banking regulations he would not have had to bail out the banks in the way he has, people would not have so much individual debt, there would have been less of a housing bubble, people would have more money as a buffer and fewer would be faced with reposession.
If businesses had been left free of most of the extra taxes and red tape more would be able to survive the recession so more people would be safe in their jobs.
Brown may not be responsible for us being faced with the recession but is responsible for how deeply the UK will be affected and how long we will suffer.
I have previous pointed out that international organisations such as the OECD, IMF and the EU have all said that the UK is in a worse situation than other developed countries. Who is responsible for that - Brown as he has been in charge of the economy for 11/12 years.
What we have seen of late is a Government running around like headless chickens with failed policy after failed policy to deal with the problem. Much of Brown's medicine is making the patient worse.
Can you go through each of the points above and say why Brown would not be responsible them? or, can you give reasons why these policy errors would not make the UK position worse than it need be? The fact is you cannot do it. No-one can. This is not just a matter of Conservatives pointing the finger these brown errors are facts of history. the impact of these is born out by the ONS, EU, OECD, IMF among others, no, not Tory politicians making mischief.
You cannot airbrush Browns incompetence.