Gordon Brown Wasted Billions

[Wildcat]

No its not relevant. You could compare Brown to anyone you like but it won't change the fact labour wasted money.

 

Brown didn't invent Coca Cola like John Pemberton - Labour still wasted billions.

Brown didn't slaughter millions and conquer all the known world by the age of 33 like Alexander of Macedonia - Labour still wasted billions

Brown looks a little like Churchill (the dog off the insurance ads not the other PM) - Labour wasted billions

 

A fact is a fact. Compare him to who you like. Give it a go

 

Looking at situations without comparisons is to look at situations without context. Trivial and meaningless.

 

You might as well say he wasted billions for not putting gold on the winning horse in the 3:15 at Aintree.

[discodown]

Looking at situations without comparisons is to look at situations without context. Trivial and meaningless.

 

You might as well say he wasted billions for not putting gold on the winning horse in the 3:15 at Aintree.

Then you might as well say he was a successful PM for not being involved in the 1929 Wall Street crash. Facts are facts.

 

Did Brown waste billions yes or no?

[Tony]

Whoever said you did? Now what would you have done?

 

It was only a page ago.

 

See that castle and the little treasure chest? Don't look so surprised, they have been there all along.

[Wildcat]

Then you might as well say he was a successful PM for not being involved in the 1929 Wall Street crash. Facts are facts.

 

Did Brown waste billions yes or no?

 

My comparisons are relevant ones that provide context and meaning to what I am saying, yours are not.

 

He lost billions in exactly the same way you can say he wasted billions by not backing a winning horse.

 

Blame can only be attributed with the benefit of hindsight and a good reason to believe he should have been prescient about the collapse of the banking system that caused the long decline in the value of gold to come to an end. Something none of the other political parties predicted. Blaming Gordon Brown is nothing more than demonisation to distract from the real issues and the failure of monetarism.

[Tony]

Looking at situations without comparisons is to look at situations without context. Trivial and meaningless.

 

But you claim that Howe wasted billions by not selling gold when the price was falling, and that this was worse than Brown selling gold at a 20 year market low.

 

Do you notice anything about this graph?

 

You don't have an argument, you have a reason for committal.

[Wildcat]

But you claim that Howe wasted billions by not selling gold when the price was falling, and that this was worse than Brown selling gold at a 20 year market low.

 

Do you notice anything about this graph?

 

You don't have an argument, you have a reason for committal.

 

Gold prices were at a high in 1980 when Howe was chancellor

[discodown]

My comparisons are relevant ones that provide context and meaning to what I am saying, yours are not.

 

He lost billions in exactly the same way you can say he wasted billions by not backing a winning horse.

 

Blame can only be attributed with the benefit of hindsight and a good reason to believe he should have been prescient about the collapse of the banking system that caused the long decline in the value of gold to come to an end. Something none of the other political parties predicted. Blaming Gordon Brown is nothing more than demonisation to distract from the real issues and the failure of monetarism.

Your comparisons are relevant because you like Brown because you perceive I don't mine aren't. Comparing Brown to previous chancellors or other PM's is as irrelevant as comparing eggs and bicycles. I agree Brown can't be blamed for the collapse of the banking system that wasn't Labours fault. In my opinion Labour made only one mistake - they set a precedent when they bailed out Northern Rock. The stark and naked fact is Brown and Labour wasted billions. Why they did it or the context isn't the issue. The point is they did.

[Wildcat]

Your comparisons are relevant because you like Brown because you perceive I don't mine aren't. Comparing Brown to previous chancellors or other PM's is as irrelevant as comparing eggs and bicycles. I agree Brown can't be blamed for the collapse of the banking system that wasn't Labours fault. In my opinion Labour made only one mistake - they set a precedent when they bailed out Northern Rock. The stark and naked fact is Brown and Labour wasted billions. Why they did it or the context isn't the issue. The point is they did.

 

So you are now shifting the goalposts away from gold to the Northern Rock bailout. In which case it is worth camparing Labour with what the other parties were suggesting.... the LibDems supported nationalisation, whilst the Tories were backing a Lloyds takeover bid that would only have put Lloyds in even more trouble than they were when they came begging for Govt money just a few months later.

 

Again context with relevant comparators is everything. The Northern Rock example is mainly an example of the Tories not having a clue about what was going on or how to deal with it, except to listen and represent uncritically the people that fund their party.

[discodown]

So you are now shifting the goalposts away from gold to the Northern Rock bailout. In which case it is worth camparing Labour with what the other parties were suggesting.... the LibDems supported nationalisation, whilst the Tories were backing a Lloyds takeover bid that would only have put Lloyds in even more trouble than they were when they came begging for Govt money just a few months later.

 

Again context with relevant comparators is everything.

No not shifting the goalposts at all. Merely giving my opinion as to what I feel was Labours biggest mistake. Billions would still have been wasted, had already been wasted by that point anyway.

[Wildcat]

No not shifting the goalposts at all. Merely giving my opinion as to what I feel was Labours biggest mistake. Billions would still have been wasted, had already been wasted by that point anyway.

 

A much slighter mistake than the one the Tories were advocating!

 

The LibDems on this occasion were right and Labour were wrong to dally with Nationalisation for fear of being slated for being too left wing.

 

Labour's biggest mistake (aside from Iraq - which profoundly disgusts me) was its shift to the economic right to try to appeal to voters above the long term interests of the country.