Barack Obama and Gordon Brown Biff The Bankers: Good Politics, Bad Economics


Gordon Brown wants to emulate Barack Obama's bank restrictions (Photo: Reuters)

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, here comes another plan for state regulation. Barack Obama wants to restrict the private activity of financial institutions, including those which never asked for a bail-out. Gordon Brown wants to copy him. I have remarked many times before that every measure taken by Labour in response to the credit crunch has made things worse. No crisis is so severe that it cannot be exacerbated by government intervention. The new proposed policy is, as The Times puts it, “a short-term populist response with little economic logic”.

“Never again will American taxpayers be held hostage by a bank that is too big to fail,” says the 44th president. But American taxpayers never supported the bail-out in the first place. In the United States, as in Britain, the political class pursued a policy which, according to every opinion poll, was unpopular. As usual, the politicians were wrong, the people right: the oxen had more sense than the grasshoppers.

Why did MPs and Congressmen support a policy that their constituents disliked? Partly because of the “Something Must Be Done” fallacy: the baleful modern notion that the government’s response to a crisis must be proportionate to the degree of media anxiety rather than the scale of the problem. Mainly, though, because ministers allowed their policy on banking to be determined by bankers. As Douglas Carswell says, we are in the world of Atlas Shrugged, a world of back-room deals, of ententes between big government and big corporations, of conspiracies against the public weal hatched in the name of necessity.

What would my alternative have been? The alternative to nationalising financial instititutions is, you know, not nationalising them. The alternative to rescuing some very rich individuals with taxpayers’ money is to let taxpayers keep their money. I have told the story before of how, in New Zealand, the withdrawal of agrarian subsidies prompted fears of a banking collapse. On that occasion, though, ministers refused to give the bankers the bail-out they demanded, with the result that the banks had to sort the problem out themselves – thereby almost certainly averting the meltdown that a bail-out would have provoked.

No one forced either Barack Obama or Gordon Brown to hand over our billions. No one held them hostage. It really is a bit rich for them, of all people, to start attacking the institutions which they insisted on subsidising without our consent.

Why the EU keeps growing


You don’t like the Commission nominees? Tant pis!

Americans are putting a stop to big government. Europeans are about to get more of it. Why? Because, unlike the good people of Massachusetts, Europeans don’t get a vote. Come to think of it, wasn’t it precisely to stop laws being passed and taxes levied without popular consent that the people of Massachusetts led the Revolution in the first place?


Source: Telegraph.co.uk

Daniel Hannan is a writer and journalist, and has been Conservative MEP for South East England since 1999. He speaks French and Spanish and loves Europe, but believes that the EU is making its constituent nations poorer, less democratic and less free.

Views: 28

Comment

You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!

Join 12160 Social Network

"Destroying the New World Order"

TOP CONTENT THIS WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!

mobile page

12160.info/m

12160 Administrators

 

Latest Activity

Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post This Memorable Anthem Given by Nick Freitas Hit the Nail on the Head Please Listen!
"Burbia Charlie Kirk's wife is a real firebrand! God bless that poor woman! "
15 hours ago
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post This Memorable Anthem Given by Nick Freitas Hit the Nail on the Head Please Listen!
"Burbia thanks for the videos! "
15 hours ago
Doc Vega posted blog posts
16 hours ago
Burbia commented on tjdavis's video
Thumbnail

Charlie Kirk: Grief And Outrage From Turning Point USA in Phoenix

"Early reports said a.second shooter was there. Talk of Dischord chats. Peyton Gendron was coerced…"
yesterday
tjdavis posted a video

America In Crisis: Illegals and Drug Smugglers Have Us Beat

An inside look at how bad the situation is at the Arizona/Mexico border. This exclusive tour with retired Arizona Sheriff Mark Lamb reveals just how bad thin...
yesterday
Burbia posted a video

Sam Hyde Show: This is You

support the show: https://www.mde.tv/▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬🔥 BUY EXTREME PEACE on MDE.TV 🔥https://www.mde.tv/series/extreme-peace▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬...
yesterday
Burbia commented on Sandy's photo
yesterday
Burbia commented on Sandy's photo
yesterday
Sandy posted a photo
yesterday
tjdavis posted a video

Charlie Kirk: Grief And Outrage From Turning Point USA in Phoenix

We went to Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA headquarters in Phoenix to talk with people who were there to pay their respects.►Join my community to get exclus...
Saturday
Doc Vega posted blog posts
Saturday
Burbia commented on Doc Vega's blog post This Memorable Anthem Given by Nick Freitas Hit the Nail on the Head Please Listen!
Saturday
Doc Vega posted blog posts
Friday
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post A Few More Rats in Your Skull Concerning Charlie and the Rampaging Left
"cheeki kea, Yes that was released on to book sites 19 hours before the tragic event and also there…"
Friday
Burbia commented on Sandy's video
Friday
Sandy posted a video

Charlie Kirk Was Terrified Of Israel

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
Friday
Sandy posted a photo
Friday
cheeki kea commented on Doc Vega's blog post A Few More Rats in Your Skull Concerning Charlie and the Rampaging Left
"The internet is fractioned that's for sure but it never sleeps and the big question of the day…"
Friday
Burbia commented on Doc Vega's blog post A Few More Rats in Your Skull Concerning Charlie and the Rampaging Left
"It seems America has many meanings to many people. The internet has fractioned everybody. I had…"
Thursday
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post Plausible Explanation Behind Recent Cryptid Sightings in the Wild!
"Cheeki kea I'm glad that the giant Moa downsized to this turkey looking land walker.!"
Thursday

© 2025   Created by truth.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

content and site copyright 12160.info 2007-2019 - all rights reserved. unless otherwise noted