Credit crisis - who's to blame?

I seem to remember that the majority of the voters were quite happy when MT decided that Government should be less in control and everything should be done by "Agencies" who were responsible to no one and the Government were able to say "it's not us, it's them" when something went wrong. Backed the Yanks to the hilt, got us into the Falklands war (and the Yanks didn't help us). TB also backed the Yanks to the hilt and got us into Afghanistan and Iraq. Our own stupid people were under the impression that rising house prices were the norm and they were all going to make a lot of money by buying and selling. All done on credit.

I can remember the 1930's, in an old Yankee phrase "You ain't seen nothing yet". It took Adolf Hitler to wake this country up to get production going to fight the war. My father cycled 25miles each way to work, building Debden Airfield in Essex in 1936.

 

The thing that most gets me is northern rock giving themselves bonuses after we the tax payer bailed them out from thier own incompetence...... Sickening.

 

I agree with most of the above, only I remember the last recession was under a Tory Government.

 

I agree, seeing the banks getting good money poured in after bad is frustrating but what's the alternative? Let the banks collapse and watch the economy completely fall apart? Anyone with a mortgage at a bank that goes under would therefore be a creditor and find themselves homeless.

 

Until governments learn to temper the booms, we will always have the busts.

Trouble is they wont put the brakes on the good times because it makes them look bad, until events overtake them, then they cant do nothing about it, and panic sets in.

I'm sure this particular problem could have been lessened or even avoided if things had been moderated about 5 yrs ago, but greed kept it all going.

 

Pete, I think you have put your finger on it. Its really nothing to do with party politics.

As long as we have paper money, we can produce more money out of thin air; there doesn't need to be any sound asset backing. It's just too much of a temptation to any government to create more credit in the hope that it will make people more happy. If a bit works well, then a lot will work even better. I am sure that the governments around the world knew rationally what would happen in the end, but were in denial.

Its no different from the scenes we see on television of binge drinkers. Rationally, they know they are going to get very drunk and afterwards have a terrible hangover. But when you are in the middle of a binge, the hangover is the last thing on your mind. And that's just where we have been - on a massive credit binge.

 

Peter S's quote "Its no different from the scenes we see on television of binge drinkers. Rationally, they know they are going to get very drunk and afterwards have a terrible hangover. But when you are in the middle of a binge, the hangover is the last thing on your mind. And that's just where we have been - on a massive credit binge"

That has hit the nail on the head for me, Peter. Think it's called an 'anology'?? Spot on.

I don't understand economics that well either (even though I worked in accounting for many years, or maybe because!), but at the end of the day we are in a mess and surely someone must know a way out, no matter how hard.

cheers

 

An old phrase-"foot forward wit` th`ead down" ( sorry for the colloquialism-but it means put one foot in front of the other and take each day as it comes worrying only about that which we can change), worrying never fixed nothing.


And besides, as gardeners, we are very very very lucky people ( I certainly think I am)-we have a source of pure joy that has nothing whatsoever to do with money. The simple joy of looking at and looking after a beautiful little thing. Of knowing that the investment we put into our plants is one that never goes bust-ever.

 

Why has nobody been punished,they knew they were doing wrong.The stolen loot should be clawed back, Prison is where they should be ,not drawing bonuses out of our money.My shares are worth just pence now,I want to see them face the music

 

I agree, from what I understand of some of it-and my hubby has to tell me very slowly :lollol:-is that there have infact been crimes committed-the least of which being fraud, but the problem is that these bankers and their cronies usually have MPs in their back pockets.

 

Hopefully this is the beginning...................................


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article5581326.ece

 

The country is supposedly in recession, yet it was said on News At Ten tonight that Lord Mandleson has said on behalf of the Government, they are going to Loan car manufacturers £2BILLION to help get them out of trouble, while on Anglia News afterwards, it was said that Perkins Diesels at Peterborough are to lay off 400 of their staff.

I feel it is about time some of these Bosses TRY to live on what they pay their actual workers for a few months instead of a life of sheer luxury, then we might get back to employing people, instead of making them redundant.

 

Of course he did-it`s a nice little earner all that road tax and parking fines and petrol tax.