Why do people worry about Conservative policy. We must presume the next election is 12 months away at least. Who the hell knows what the world will be like at Christmas?

Today Parliament is just an elected dictatorship with a supine vassal feu paying left wing TV looking on, and an ill educated electorate soporosed on Strictly Come X-Factoring On Ice and incapable of reading anything but the funny pages of the newspapers.

Conservative policy is not the point. Policy will be dictated by events – its laughable to think anyone will have any choice – better to have an unsullied hand manning the pumps and deciding who to throw overboard.

http://www.infowars.com

The more I read your blogs the more I realise that my perception that many politicians are spineless and full of self interest could be wrong. I am not jumping on the band wagon of blame here, it is just the impression I am often given.

We need action, urgent action. We need a great leader, an orator to inspire, drive and to dish out the “ruthless economic medicine required”. Thatcher in the early 80’s is an example or even Hitler in the 30’s. (For the avoidance of doubt I am not a Nazi).

Have you considered that your party leader may need a bit of prompting?

Reply: Markets got us a lot further than communism got China and Russia – pity about the Central banks and Regulators.

I do feel we are talking ourselves deeper into the crisis and it has become, in essence, a self fulfilling prophesy.

Perhaps you can answer this that has been troubling me now for sometime, we were told that HBOS was a sound business and we were told the Lloyds was a very sound business that had been very prudent in their risk policies. What actually happened, virtually overnight, that turned these two sound businesses into being on the verge of collapse?
Why, if the state is giving aid to the banks, does the merger of Lloyds and HBOS have to go ahead, surely it makes more sense to spread the risk over two businesses, rather than put all the taxpayers’ eggs in the one large basket? It also does not allow the state via Lloyds/HBOS to operate a virtual monopoly within the mortgage sector which would be likely to stifel competition.

As I say, I don’t understand banking or economics, but I do find your threads interesting and I thank you for them.

Reply : I don’t think the taxpayer should pay for a merger of two such large businesses. B Nor do I believe them to be as weak as some suggest – the regulator was clumsy in demanding extra capital at a difficult time.

The government needs to take action in the real economy. It’s all very well reabilitating the banks, but I don’t think they’ll start lending again. Their priority will be accumulating enough to buy back the government’s share and get the devil off their back. I also noticed that the woman from the the British Bankers Association said, without any sense of self-irony, that banks won’t be able to lend to unviable businesses and these will have to be let go. This from an organisation whose, virtually, entire membership has had to be bailed out from unviability with the future earnings of the British public. I suspect that history will view the Northern Rock nationalisation, which started the bailout ball rolling, as the most egregious piece of pork barrel politics by any British government.

Have you seen the comment at Coffee House about the risk of net being able to raise the £100bn plus predicted PSBR this year?

Also, a figure to throw in the mix. All the Government’s revenue from the North Sea, ever, totals £150bn, roughly Labour’s borrowing requirement this year and next!

This is completely wrong. The latest figures from Watson Wyatt put the government liabilities for its own workers at 1 trillion. 100% of National income.

However, that ignores the elephant in the room. If I pay NI, the government tells me that its for my state pension. Ditto with people paying for the state second pension.

Where is that on the liability side? Or is it that you plan to default on the promise?

Nick

When you are in debt the first thing to do is admit it and face up to it.

You then need to take action to change your previous behavour that put you into debt.

Labour have totaly failed to do this and as far as they are coincerned its our problem not theirs.

All they have done is bury their head in the sand rather than cut spending. They need to do it now to send out the right message to the markets.

Great free advice for them John, but they never listen to anyone.

A round of hedge fund implosions has yet to occur. The Baltics have yet to collapse. (other collapses possible -ed)
I could be wrong, but I think right now we’re in a pause. There’s a way to go yet.