Will Hutton was on Channel 4's Dispatches programme last night doing a piece on the credit crisis and how long it might last. Some good interview snatches with Darling and Vadera along with bankers and traders. His basic message was response from the government not bad, too late, without sufficient control taken, i.e. they didn't follow through.
How long did he think it'll last? 3 years to get output back to 2008 levels, 7 years for house prices to recover.
Let's see if he's right.
F
Tuesday, 28 April 2009
Monday, 27 April 2009
This just in ...
It is well after the crash, in fact all the debris is starting to clear. But we don't know what is going to happen next. I'm one of the people on the sidelines, looking on as the economy of the world tries to rid itself of the poison that was injected over the past decade. I don't hold much hope that we'll get through it without some serious pain, but I'm hoping we'll at least get through it.
Why bother blogging now? Well, Krugman's op-ed in the NYT sums up the concern nicely ...
"There’s a palpable sense in the financial press that the storm has passed: stocks are up, the economy’s nose-dive may be leveling off, and the Obama administration will probably let the bankers off with nothing more than a few stern speeches. Rightly or wrongly, the bankers seem to believe that a return to business as usual is just around the corner."
So having helped destroy vast chunks of the economy these idiots are going to keep on going? And worse are going to be allowed to do this again? Time to start watching a bit closer.
One other thing really stung this past week - the coverage of the UK budget. It was a horrible budget, no question. The public finances are horrendous, no disagreement there. What starts to make the blood boil is when market analysts and others from the City start lecturing on how bad the public sector is at getting this under control, what have they being doing etc etc. So, instead of bailing the financial system out we should have been balancing the books? When did their high horse come back into town? There should be a whole heap of humble pie and a lot of people keeping their heads down until the worst of the storms have passed. Lecturing those trying to solve the problem they created is a touch rich.
Not sure whether I'll keep this up or whether it'll be worth reading but I need a place to try and work out what's happening and here seems as good a place as any.
Finbarr
Why bother blogging now? Well, Krugman's op-ed in the NYT sums up the concern nicely ...
"There’s a palpable sense in the financial press that the storm has passed: stocks are up, the economy’s nose-dive may be leveling off, and the Obama administration will probably let the bankers off with nothing more than a few stern speeches. Rightly or wrongly, the bankers seem to believe that a return to business as usual is just around the corner."
So having helped destroy vast chunks of the economy these idiots are going to keep on going? And worse are going to be allowed to do this again? Time to start watching a bit closer.
One other thing really stung this past week - the coverage of the UK budget. It was a horrible budget, no question. The public finances are horrendous, no disagreement there. What starts to make the blood boil is when market analysts and others from the City start lecturing on how bad the public sector is at getting this under control, what have they being doing etc etc. So, instead of bailing the financial system out we should have been balancing the books? When did their high horse come back into town? There should be a whole heap of humble pie and a lot of people keeping their heads down until the worst of the storms have passed. Lecturing those trying to solve the problem they created is a touch rich.
Not sure whether I'll keep this up or whether it'll be worth reading but I need a place to try and work out what's happening and here seems as good a place as any.
Finbarr
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