websters gue Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 November 19, 2006 George Osborne is planning a range of necessary measures to tackle Britain's personal debt mountain. Tories plan 'cooling-off' period on store cards to cut spiralling debt 30 September 2005 A Labour of liabilities, by George Osborne Gordon Brown's fiscal rules were invented to win his party credibility, but he has changed their definitions so often that unless they are independently scrutinised we face a borrowing disaster March 12, 2006 The debt worriers include Liberal Democrat shadow chancellor Vince Cable, who warned last week that growing numbers were “drowning” in debt, and has devised a 10-point plan to tackle it. They include George Osborne, the Tory shadow chancellor, who has accused Gordon Brown of being the pusher who has created Britain’s “debt addiction”. There were plenty of warning before the crash, every man and their dog knew the country and its population was addicted to debt which was encouraged by the government. Back in Febuary 2006 George Osborne wrote this article for The Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article733821.ece Note the last sentence, "They have much to teach us if only we are willing to learn". If the Conservatives had been in power it's clear we'd be further up poo creek than we already are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSmith Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Back in Febuary 2006 George Osborne wrote this article for The Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article733821.ece Note the last sentence, "They have much to teach us if only we are willing to learn". If the Conservatives had been in power it's clear we'd be further up poo creek than we already are. These are the three things George Osborn was interested in when looking at the Irish economy. Ireland’s education system is world-class. On various different rankings it is placed either third or fourth in the world. By contrast, Britain is ranked 33rd Irish understand that staying ahead in innovation requires world class research and development. Thirdly, in a world where cheap, rapid communication means that investment decisions are made on a global basis, capital will go wherever investment is most attractive. Ireland’s business tax rates are only 12.5 per cent, while Britain's are becoming among the highest in the developed world. The Irish economy didn’t crash because they had a better education system, it didn’t crash because they apparently had world class research and development and it didn’t crash because its tax system encouraged inward investment from global companies. It crashed because its miracle economy was fuelled by consumer debt, and a housing bubble that inevitably collapsed. George Osborn had already acknowledged that consumer debt and government over spending was a problem so he would have been unlikely to emulate it. On the other hand discouraging debt, improving our education system, our research and development and encouraging global business to invest may have improved our economy and made it more resilient to the banking crisis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkey Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 These are the three things George Osborn was interested in when looking at the Irish economy. Ireland’s education system is world-class. On various different rankings it is placed either third or fourth in the world. By contrast, Britain is ranked 33rd Irish understand that staying ahead in innovation requires world class research and development. Thirdly, in a world where cheap, rapid communication means that investment decisions are made on a global basis, capital will go wherever investment is most attractive. Ireland’s business tax rates are only 12.5 per cent, while Britain's are becoming among the highest in the developed world. The Irish economy didn’t crash because they had a better education system, it didn’t crash because they apparently had world class research and development and it didn’t crash because its tax system encouraged inward investment from global companies. It crashed because its miracle economy was fuelled by consumer debt, and a housing bubble that inevitably collapsed. George Osborn had already acknowledged that consumer debt and government over spending was a problem so he would have been unlikely to emulate it. On the other hand discouraging debt, improving our education system, our research and development and encouraging global business to invest may have improved our economy and made it more resilient to the banking crisis. The point is that Osborne clearly did not see that the Irish economy was running on debt and heading for a disaster. Likewise, all his criticism of Labour's economic policies came after the credit crunch had already started. In light of these facts, how can anyone seriously pretend that the Tories would have taken effective action to shield the economy from the effects of the global financial crash caused by investment banks, had they been in power? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSmith Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 The point is that Osborne clearly did not see that the Irish economy was running on debt and heading for a disaster. Likewise, all his criticism of Labour's economic policies came after the credit crunch had already started. In light of these facts, how can anyone seriously pretend that the Tories would have taken effective action to shield the economy from the effects of the global financial crash caused by investment banks, had they been in power? 2006/2005 was before the banking crisis. Originally Posted by MrSmith View Post November 19, 2006 George Osborne is planning a range of necessary measures to tackle Britain's personal debt mountain. Tories plan 'cooling-off' period on store cards to cut spiralling debt 30 September 2005 A Labour of liabilities, by George Osborne Gordon Brown's fiscal rules were invented to win his party credibility, but he has changed their definitions so often that unless they are independently scrutinised we face a borrowing disaster March 12, 2006 The debt worriers include Liberal Democrat shadow chancellor Vince Cable, who warned last week that growing numbers were “drowning” in debt, and has devised a 10-point plan to tackle it. They include George Osborne, the Tory shadow chancellor, who has accused Gordon Brown of being the pusher who has created Britain’s “debt addiction”. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I1L2T3 Posted October 3, 2011 Author Share Posted October 3, 2011 Osborne pledged to match Labour spending, even into 2008. Osborne was critical of Labour for regulating too much. It's easy to use Vince Cable now he is in government as an example of somebody who was making the correct warning before 2008 but he was equally critical of both main parties spending plans at the time. As I said in the OP osborne has rediscovered that this crisis is global now it suits. More and more Tories are now saying it has all changed in the last year - no it hasn't it's the same global crisis we've had for the last 4 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSmith Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 Osborne pledged to match Labour spending, even into 2008. Osborne was critical of Labour for regulating too much. It's easy to use Vince Cable now he is in government as an example of somebody who was making the correct warning before 2008 but he was equally critical of both main parties spending plans at the time. As I said in the OP osborne has rediscovered that this crisis is global now it suits. More and more Tories are now saying it has all changed in the last year - no it hasn't it's the same global crisis we've had for the last 4 years. I’m not quoting Vince, I’m quoting George Osborn and he clearly thought debt was becoming a problem well before the crash. You can ignore what he said all you like, but he did say it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I1L2T3 Posted October 3, 2011 Author Share Posted October 3, 2011 I’m not quoting Vince, I’m quoting George Osborn and he clearly thought debt was becoming a problem well before the crash. You can ignore what he said all you like, but he did say it. i'm not ignoring it. I agree with what he said about personal debt. His comments about gov. Spending were contradicted by his commitments to match Labour spending. Finally he said nothing about banks except that he wanted less regulation. This "global debt storm" is caused by his banking friends and his acknowledgement of this coincides with his own fiscal difficulties. In typical tory fashion something has gone wrong and he is shifting the blame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkey Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 There were very few people who predicted the credit crunch. Those that did saw it as the result of decades of allowing vested interests to set the political agenda for their own benefit. I don't remember George Osborne ever being an outspoken critic of what people like George Osborne have done to the global economy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSmith Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 There were very few people who predicted the credit crunch. Those that did saw it as the result of decades of allowing vested interests to set the po9litical agenda for their own benefit. I don't remember George Osborne ever being an outspoken critic of what people like Geortge Osborne have done to the global economy, but far be it from me to stop any unconditionally admiiring toadies from giving him a blow job! We had a dot com bubble stimulated by people with no money wanting to get some of the easy money they saw other getting, when that crashed we had a housing bubble stimulated by people with no money wanting to make some of the easy money they saw other making. The bubbles were inflated by low interest rates, greed and the ability of people with no money to borrow it easily. George Osborn along with many other people saw a problem with this easy credit, he accused Gordon Brown in 2006 of being the pusher who has created Britain’s “debt addiction”. Many people saw it coming but didn’t realise the scale of the problems it would cause. It could have been avoided easily by restricting the easy credit, one way of doing that would have been to increase interest rates. Obviously if Gordon Brown had increased interest rates people would have stopped spending and the economy wouldn’t have looked as rosy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donkey Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 We had a dot com bubble stimulated by people with no money wanting to get some of the easy money they saw other getting, when that crashed we had a housing bubble stimulated by people with no money wanting to make some of the easy money they saw other making. The bubbles were inflated by low interest rates, greed and the ability of people with no money to borrow it easily. George Osborn along with many other people saw a problem with this easy credit, he accused Gordon Brown in 2006 of being the pusher who has created Britain’s “debt addiction”. Many people saw it coming but didn’t realise the scale of the problems it would cause. It could have been avoided easily by restricting the easy credit, one way of doing that would have been to increase interest rates. Obviously if Gordon Brown had increased interest rates people would have stopped spending and the economy wouldn’t have looked as rosy. Osborne's comments do not demonstrate any awareness of the impending crisis, nor it's causes, unless the Global recession was caused by defaults on personal loans and mortgages within the UK. Please don't try telling me it was! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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