Comments on: Redwood wrong on borrowing

By: Liberal Conspiracy » Redwood wrong on borrowing | Politics Blog

Liberal Conspiracy » Redwood wrong on borrowing | Politics Blog — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:47:42 +0000

[...] Mark Pack wrote a very interesting post today. Here’s a quick excerpt:About the author: Chris Dillow is a regular contributor to Liberal Conspiracy. He is a former City economist and now an economics writer. He is also the author of The End of Politics: New Labour and the Folly of Managerialism. … [...]

By: Bob B

Bob B — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:15:59 +0000

John Redwood is a historian who, like George Osborn, thinks he is therefore a dab hand at economics.

I suggest pointing him to the recent comments of Sir Alan Budd, chief economic adviser at the Treasury 1991-97, on the risks of a double-dip recession from early steep cuts in public spending:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tories-economist-criticises-partys-plan-for-cuts-1917785.html

Btw reportedly, Sir Alan proposed starting inflation targeting as a central feature of government economic policy after Britain was driven out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in September 1992.

By: IanVisits

IanVisits — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:00:32 +0000

The Bank of England’s survey of credit conditions shows that the availability of bank credit to companies contracted sharply in 2007 – before the big surge in government borrowing – and improved last year, as government borrowing soared.

The banks were able to increase lending not due to lending to both government and private sectors, but because the Bank of England pumped some £200 billion of fresh cash into the banks.

The idea that less risky sovereign debt tends to crowd out more risky private borrowing is a well understood concept – and the fact that the Bank of England was printing cash with gay abandon does not change that underlying fact.

By: Liberal Conspiracy

Liberal Conspiracy — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 09:45:29 +0000

Redwood wrong on borrowing http://bit.ly/a5YM53