Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris
Nice straw man you have there.
Nobody has ever said Labour caused the crash. They have, however, repeatedly pointed out that normal economic management requires the paying down of debt and the increasing of reserves during a boom, in order to better survive the bust during that (inevitable) part of the cycle.
Gordon Brown, on the other hand, famously claimed to have abolished the cycle of boom and bust, and used that "fact" to justify not only the spending of tax receipts during the boom, but also the running up, rather than the paying down, of debt. He then spent this on a massive expansion in state largesse, including but not limited to the ensnaring of large swathes of the working population in the benefits system via so-called tax credits.
When the crash occurred, the UK's ability to pay its way through it was severely hampered. The UK's ability to maintain state spending at a level commensurate with the size of its economy is now also severely hampered by the need to also pay enormous obligations arising from that debt.
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Not a strawman at all, Chris. Many people have sought to apportion blame to Labour, or "the previous Government", for "the crash" or the effect it has had on the economy of the UK.
It's Mervyn King, remember him? He used to be the Governor of the Bank of England. Sorry to burst your bubble but as such he's slightly better placed and better informed than you or I to comment on what caused the crash.
Sure, we can all have opinions on what may or may not have caused it but just because his overarching opinion based on actual hands on experience doesn't fit with your theory or narrative does not make him a maker of strawman arguments nor does it lessen the veracity of his opinion.
The fact remains we are no better off today. Indeed we are worse off in many regards despite "promises" and "facts" from the coalition Government and their collective, continuing failure on many fronts.
"Nobody" clearly does not include Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister who in January of this year said
"I almost admire the chutzpah of these people who created this mess going around to tell people how to clear it up. It was verging on the bizarre that the Labour Party thought they had anything to teach anyone about the banks because they are single handedly responsible for the biggest collapse in our banking system in the postwar period."
Lies, financial ineptitude and abject failure are not unique to a labour Government.