It's no surprise that the subject of 'quantatitive easing', also known as 'printing money', is on the table at BBC Question Time now. Andrew Mitchell, Tory shadow on International Development, noted that such schemes had not worked in Japan.
Douglas Alexander for the Government picked up the point saying it was not right to say it had not worked stating that it did work 'but it took eight years'. Something tells me the official line from Government won't be 'the recession will be over in 2017' though.
He did say eight years though.
4 comments:
Investment tip:
Buy wheelbarrows
They will be much in demand in coming years.
Japan is still in the shit. They barely left the shit if at all.
Our bubble has been forming for twice as long as theirs, and their economic slide lasted more than a decade before bottoming out. What does that suggest for us?
I have heard Niall Ferguson making the point that chief economists usually fight their current battle with the solution to the last one, despite no two economic crises being quite the same.
The one undeniable fact is we don't know what will happen. That won't stop the politicians tinkering though, as they feel they must do something while ignoring the risk of doing the wrong thing.
Adopting some Canadian banking practices might be beneficial. They have yet to suffer. If UK banking capital reserves are half what Canadian banks are, we could increase them by a percentage point a year. A steady stroll to probity rather than a mad (taxpayer funded) dash.
Maybe Brown and Darling should ask Mr Mugabe if they can borrow his printing press.
Oh, an economic miracle that Labour will claim credit for half way through the Tories' second term!!
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