Faced with the prospect of a global collapse in the banking system, the Chancellor took the decision to bail out the banks by dumping Britain’s gold, forcing the price down and allowing the banks to buy back gold at a profit, thus meeting their borrowing obligations. via Revealed: why Gordon […]
Read MorePost Tagged with: "Bailout"
Gordon Kerr predicts the failure of the Greek bailout
My Cobden Centre and Cobden Partners colleague Gordon Kerr appeared this morning on Bloomberg to explain why the Greek bailout will fail: As I have said in debate, in the context of using the IMF to facilitate bailouts: …If this is not the time of all times to question the […]
Read MoreThe Tory Diary: Now it’s Osborne’s turn to say “no” to Europe
George Osborne yesterday told Eurozone leaders that Britain would not contribute to a special bailout facility that they are establishing at the IMF, specifically to bolster the single currency. The Eurozone nations had been hoping to build a €200bn warchest but Britain’s refusal to participate means it has fallen well […]
Read MoreAnother £10bn to the IMF?
Yesterday, a statutory instrument committee was asked to decide to agree another £10bn for the IMF. With others, I crashed the committee and spoke. You can find the debate here. In addition to rejecting bailouts, I attacked the IMF before questioning our fundamental monetary arrangements. Here’s the section on the […]
Read MoreThe greatest gift to the Greeks might be to let them go it alone – Telegraph
There comes a moment in any decent tragedy when the penny finally drops. The light breaks. The protagonist suddenly realises what a chump he has been – that he has somehow managed accidentally to marry his mother and kill his father – and that all his assumptions about his life […]
Read MoreFT.com – Why our masters insist on breaking the rules
Via FT.com – Why our masters insist on breaking the rules by Jamie Whyte, a brilliant article on the rule of law and how contemporary politicians are ignoring it: Unlike the kings of yore, modern politicians cannot toss you in prison on a whim. But they can still impose debts on […]
Read MoreEurozone Financial Assistance – so much for Parliament asserting itself?
As you can see on today’s order paper, Mark Reckless MP has courageously brought forward the following motion, which I have signed (emphasis mine): EUROZONE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE That this House notes with concern that UK taxpayers are potentially being made liable for bail-outs of Eurozone countries when the UK opted […]
Read MoreOn Vickers: it’s time to end the fantasy that we can consume without producing
I’ll blog shortly about the Independent Commission on Banking’s Interim Report but, as I see Spain is thought by some to be next for a bailout, this quote from Mises’ Causes of the Economic Crisis seems apt: In discussing the situation as it developed under the expansionist pressure on trade […]
Read MoreIreland’s Announcement of a Fifth Bailout Demonstrates that Bailouts Cannot Work » The Cobden Centre
Via Ireland’s Announcement of a Fifth Bailout Demonstrates that Bailouts Cannot Work » The Cobden Centre, a superb article by my colleague Gordon Kerr: During Phase 1 taxpayers were assured that economies would recover relatively swiftly and that the need for the bailout was a unique and unforeseeable banking liquidity […]
Read MoreLoans to Ireland
Over at ConservativeHome’s Platform, I have set out a view on loans to Ireland: Yesterday, the Commons passed the Loans to Ireland Bill using an emergency procedure which saw all stages taken in the House in an afternoon. I supported the allocation of time, on the basis that if it […]
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