Kavanagh on Brown
Trevor Kavanagh, formerly political editor of the Sun, eviscerates Brown's economic legacy in an article in today's paper,
"We'll all pay for PM cheating on Prudence"
Among his points:
* "As Chancellor, Gordon ran the economy in much the same way as the bosses of troubled companies such as HBOS and Northern Rock.
* While preaching “prudence”, he doubled spending and borrowed like there was no tomorrow.
* He kept billions off the books by using costly and badly negotiated “Private Finance Initiatives” to build hospitals and schools.
That piled an extra £150 BILLION on to State borrowing — taking the total to 45 per cent of national earnings.
And add on another £1,300 billion in unfunded public sector borrowing — and £1,000billion in private borrowing for mortgages, credit cards and overdrafts.
That lot works out at around £2,500billion — or £40,000 of debt for every man, woman and child in Britain, now and for years to come.
Meanwhile, our savings have plummeted to about 2p in the Pound — the lowest since World War II — so there is nothing left for the rain already coming in through the broken roof.
Kavanagh adds:
Mr Brown blames America for the global economic crisis. But none of this came out of a clear blue sky.
Even I knew a year ago we were in trouble, and regular readers may remember me saying so.
I revealed that one of the merchant banks that went bust last week had warned executives not to talk about the impending catastrophe — even to each other.
I was also told wildly irresponsible lending by HBOS — parent to the Halifax — had been worrying senior executives for years.
If I knew this, so did the most powerful Chancellor in living memory.
Alistair Darling was so horrified by what he found at the Treasury, he blurted out that we face the biggest financial crisis in 60 years.
The question is... Why didn’t the Chancellor and Prime Minister who preached prudence and promised no more boom and bust do anything to stop it?"
You can read the full article here.)
"We'll all pay for PM cheating on Prudence"
Among his points:
* "As Chancellor, Gordon ran the economy in much the same way as the bosses of troubled companies such as HBOS and Northern Rock.
* While preaching “prudence”, he doubled spending and borrowed like there was no tomorrow.
* He kept billions off the books by using costly and badly negotiated “Private Finance Initiatives” to build hospitals and schools.
That piled an extra £150 BILLION on to State borrowing — taking the total to 45 per cent of national earnings.
And add on another £1,300 billion in unfunded public sector borrowing — and £1,000billion in private borrowing for mortgages, credit cards and overdrafts.
That lot works out at around £2,500billion — or £40,000 of debt for every man, woman and child in Britain, now and for years to come.
Meanwhile, our savings have plummeted to about 2p in the Pound — the lowest since World War II — so there is nothing left for the rain already coming in through the broken roof.
Kavanagh adds:
Mr Brown blames America for the global economic crisis. But none of this came out of a clear blue sky.
Even I knew a year ago we were in trouble, and regular readers may remember me saying so.
I revealed that one of the merchant banks that went bust last week had warned executives not to talk about the impending catastrophe — even to each other.
I was also told wildly irresponsible lending by HBOS — parent to the Halifax — had been worrying senior executives for years.
If I knew this, so did the most powerful Chancellor in living memory.
Alistair Darling was so horrified by what he found at the Treasury, he blurted out that we face the biggest financial crisis in 60 years.
The question is... Why didn’t the Chancellor and Prime Minister who preached prudence and promised no more boom and bust do anything to stop it?"
You can read the full article here.)
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