A Place to Stand

Yesterday Radio Scotland's Newsdrive informed us about the Irish economy. Apparently it is in deep trouble with a massive deficit & recession. Not like here then. The thing that really got the BBC is that Ireland was going against "international opinion" by cutting spending to reduce the deficit. Something that, with their duty to uphold the British government as wonderful, seemed very strange to them. In exasperation at the question "we are they doing it that way" I emailed

"Ireland - why are they doing it that way";

Because they are sensible

& of course it is only BBC spin that all the other countries agree with Gordo in the advantages of borrowing & spending.

which got read out with the amused remark that the BBC don't spin & that nobody in the BBC knows him well enough to call him Gordo.

Of course had I been inclined I could have taken longer to go into detail about why spending more than you have & borrowing as much as possible indeed isn't what sensible people do, & that the international community doesn't agree with Gordon & Obama on kiting cheques either. For example Putin says "Excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state's omnipotence is another possible mistake...Nor should we turn a blind eye to the fact that the spirit of free enterprise, including the principle of personal responsibility of businesspeople, investors and shareholders for their decisions, is being eroded in the last few months. There is no reason to believe that we can achieve better results by shifting responsibility onto the state...The unjustified swelling of the budgetary deficit and the accumulation of public debts are just as destructive as adventurous" which makes the ex-KGB operative infinitely less socialistic (& far more honest) than Gordo & the BBC.

I suspect had I put in that longer post it would not have been read out - call it a hunch.

Strangely enough online they are slightly less committed

"There's method to his madness. And also some lessons for the UK."

"The first lesson is that, if you're lurching further and further into debt, there comes a point when fiscal stimulus isn't very stimulating at all."

Proof that, even when it is the same people Online is an intrinsically more thoughtful medium (& one where your words are remembered).