Home » Posts tagged "Bailout"

Tag Archives: Bailout

Revealed: why Gordon Brown sold Britain’s gold at a knock-down price – Telegraph Blogs


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 Brown sold Britain’s gold at a knock-down price – Telegraph Blogs. My review of Gold Wars is here. I would not be at all surprised if the thrust of the […]

Tags: , , , ,

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 fundamental basis of our financial system, I do not know when we ever shall. … To conclude, we are in danger of simply kicking a can down the road and, […]

Tags: , , , , ,

The 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 short. via Now it’s Osborne’s turn to say “no” to Europe The Tory Diary. My recent IMF speech is here.

Tags: , ,

Another £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 IMF (I insert a minor correction I have requested from Hansard): [T]he IMF was created as part of the Bretton Woods system of currencies. We tend to talk as though […]

Tags: , , , , ,

The 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 are upside down. And the really awful thing about the tragedy now playing on the streets of Athens is that we haven’t even reached that bit yet. Read more via […]

Tags: , , , ,

FT.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 you. And, as with the kings of yore, their arbitrary powers are rarely used to benefit the little guy. In recent years, American, British and other European politicians have transferred […]

Tags: , , ,

Eurozone 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 to remain outside the Euro and, despite agreement in May 2010 that the EU-wide European Financial Stability Mechanism (EFSM) of €60 billion would represent only 12 per cent. of the […]

Tags: , , , ,

On 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 created by years of cheap interest rates policy, one must be fully aware of the fact that the termination of this policy will make visible the havoc it has spread. […]

Tags: , , , , ,

Ireland’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 hiccup which would be fixed by the proposed drastic action. But the bailout surgery has failed. The drain of lifeblood from economies by way of tax to fund bailouts will […]

Tags: , , ,

Loans 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 needs doing at all, it is an emergency. I abstained on second reading – for I didn’t have the heart to rebel – and then supported Douglas Carswell’s amendment to […]

Tags: , , , , ,