Rising oil prices and the credit crunch are not Gordon Browns fault. This is what is driving inflation and rising prices.
Gordon Brown took us through the most stable economic era ever as chancellor.
haha so wrong...
Rising oil prices are not Gordon Brown's fault, BUT his doggedly sticking to this country's unfair and punitive system of effectively double taxing fuel is what really hits consumers in the pocket. (interestingly, if you read the "justification" for taxing fuel so heavily, it is "to protect the consumer from fluctuations in oil prices"... funny that... every change in the price of oil i've ever seen has been directly passed on to the consumer... just like with mortgage rates).
Gordon Brown, as chancellor, introduced several "stealth" tax hikes during your so-called "stable period", some of which were on fuel, and only came into force months after they were announced.
Gordon Brown does not set oil prices on the markets, but he has a huge and very negative impact on the price paid by consumers, whilst allegedly "protecting the consumer from price fluctuations".
OK... now on to the "stable era" and the credit crunch. Yes, Gordon Brown presided over a period when our economy was in very good shape, BECAUSE OF HIS PREDECESSORS. Everybody knows the effects of economic changes take a long time to be felt and seen by consumers.
Yes, we were in a stable economic condition, during which time Gordon Brown taxed, and taxed, and taxed some more. He also borrowed more and more, raising the national debt in order to fund huge "investment" in health, education, the police etc. (investment which, i might add, in my view was far far more wasteful than any wastage of food). Last but not least, we have the war in Iraq. Which Gordon Brown as chancellor borrowed the money to fund.
It's fine to borrow in a blossoming market, but unfortunately, Gordon's fiscal policies of high taxation, and high borrowing have left this country's treasury in a terrible state. When the US subprime market had a wobble, we were not in a good position to do anything about it. When consumer confidence started to wane, gordon (by then PM) was in no position to do anything about it (but he let Alastair Darling do the press conferences).
But leets look at what they did do... they took Northern Rock into government ownership. Effectively using treasury money, raising the national debt still further, to underwrite the bad debt commitments made by the worst offending UK institution in the US subprime market.
Effectively saying to Northern rock "OK, you played fast and loose in the subprime debt markets... you took more risks than anybody else with your investors money, and consequently you got bitten on the arse really badly... but don't worry, we'll make sure the British taxpayer will keep you solvent."
So... what do we have to show for gordon's tenure as chancellor? A war in iraq which the whole world apart from America was against (even they are now against it). Public services which are not noticeably any better than before Labour got involved, and everyone asking, quite rightly, where all the money went. Admittedly he didn't set the policies, but he was the man who found the money to pay for it. In 10 years he took the strongest economy this country has had for a century and he managed to fuck the whole thing up. If you think that makes him a good chancellor, then you are deluded i'm afraid.
for the money as much as for the fact that's its a shameful waste.
