Comments on: Labour try silly briefing about the mortgage problems

By: not an economist

not an economist — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:47:29 +0000

Thankyou for arranging for a colleague to send me a copy of this report by email. Very much appreciated.

By: not an economist

not an economist — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:45:05 +0000

Economic Competitiveness Policy review?? I tried that. Simply takes me to an error page with the option of going on to Conservative Home and I cant see a downloadable version there.

Its okay. Thanks for having the patience to try and help me locate it anyway.

By: not an economist

not an economist — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:32:07 +0000

Where is it available to download? I cant see it anywhere. I look in the download section to the right and it is not one of those listed.

Sorry to be a pain and a bit dense to boot but Iwould like to read it.

It is called Freeing Britain to compete and is the last item under downloads, I seem to remember.

By: Dr Dan H.

Dr Dan H. — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:13:24 +0000

A point nobody has touched upon is bankruptcy. I can remember a time (and I'm only 37) when bankruptcy was a major stigma, and was to be avoided at all costs. Over time this stigma and the consequences of bankruptcy were watered down and down, until we have he current situation where in some circles it is seen almost as a Get Out Of Jail Free card.

This wants reversing, to make people much more averse to landing themselves in bankruptcy; this should (after word gets around about the new laws; a few Government-commissioned documentaries might be useful here) make people less interested in running up huge credit balances.

By: mikestallard

mikestallard — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:19:26 +0000

Don't you think the right people to decide all this are the people whom we elect to serve us in parliament?
In the greatest crisis since the 1930's (Newsnight), or maybe the greatest crisis of any sort since the fall of the Roman Empire, parliament is not recalled.
Instead the silent Scottish Genius sits and works it all out for himself with his experienced economist's brain……..

By: Mark Wadsworth

Mark Wadsworth — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:07:31 +0000

Acorn, that's a good summary but it seems a tad politically slanted. I'm with Friedman on all this. In other words, I agree with your conclusions, but coming at it from a slightly different angle.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:06:53 +0000

I feel the mortgage regulation point is a red herring for labour, The FSA took on mortgage regulation in 2005 , the net results are that the costs of taking out a mortgage are higher. mortgage regulation was about having a defined process and taking in consideration client affordability.

Were Northern Rock and laterly Bradford & Bingley came unstuck is not on the mortgage regulation but in a lack of good old fashioned banking supervision. The fsa failed to ensure that its business model was robust and to question why for instance Bradford & Bingley was agressivley expanding such a large proportion of their loan book in to buy to let investment some off plan development in what could be seen as a property market that was reaching its heights.

By: no one

no one — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:17:53 +0000

listening to andrew lansley health speach today i really dont think he gets it

it being how bad the nhs is for ordinary people

i could have done that speach so much better myself, i would have promised you could leave a hospital when its obviously too dirty and go somewhere else, the money following that patient that has walked off that site, with immediate financial impact on that business unit

i would have promised that departments which routinely diagnose or treat prostate cancer several years later than their counterparts in other parts of the country would be closed

getting rid of targets is fine, if patients are genuinely empowered, and can go somewhere else if their wait in A & E is longer than 4 hours

i would have promised that patients making a complaint would be offered a meeting with the senior nurse/doctor of that department and not just fobbed off with the complaints dept

i would have promised legal fees paid when patient need to take a hospital to court, use the courts with proper legal representation instead of a complaints system which does not work, but importantly level the playing field so the complaining patient gets expensive legal team if the nhs decides to use one

really think the health policy needs more work

By: Webloyalty

Webloyalty — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:31:13 +0000

Every political party wants take mileage out of every issue. Labour is no different. At some point of time, I keep wondering if there is any political party that really cares for the people. They just want some issues to pop-up so that they can take political advantage of it.

- David.

By: David Burch

David Burch — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:11:13 +0000

I am getting increasingly worried that there is a certain sense of madness happening with the governments here and in the US unable to react correctly to the "bank crisis". There appears to be a clear message that if this is what is going to happen when a crisis hits the bank sector then all banks are better off nationised as failure is not allowed. That is the conclusion but not one I want at all.

I am heading down the other road of letting then fail one by one until we are left with the remaining probably responsible banks. This conclusion means that bankers are not rewarded for failure.

This is showing up Brown and Bush to be absolute clowns and it is thankful that Cameron is not in power at present otherwise it would effect him as well.

I feel that this crisis goes further into the economy than is at first apparent. The crazy house price situation and the waste in national and local government spending needs a review.

I want a stable economy and government is charged with managing this. That is not what is happening on either side of the pond. Unfortunately the alternatives do not fit into a 45 second sound bite (or one post on a blog), however that is what is needed.