(no subject)
I read a financial email every morning, the writer has a good sense of humour, when he feels like it..
"Robbing Peter to pay… well, Peter
The Government has learned the lessons of the subprime crisis rather well. Sadly, what it’s been learning about is financial tomfoolery and off-balance-sheet borrowing, rather than the eventual impact of indulging in it. I’m talking about this great idea to pay off the money loaned to Northern Rock by issuing Government-backed bonds to investors.
So let’s just get this straight. The Government loaned £25bn of taxpayers’ money to Northern Rock. It’s now going to pay this money back to the taxpayers by issuing £25bn of bonds. Which are guaranteed by the Government - and therefore the taxpayer.
Of course, the benefit to the Government is that the issue is kicked a bit further off into the grass. But the fact remains that the taxpayer is still on the hook for a bank whose biggest business was mortgage lending, just as we head into what could easily be the biggest housing slump the UK has seen in generations.
That’s another fine piece of prudent economic management by Mr Brown and his glove-puppet Chancellor."
Whoops - well done Gordy ! :o)
"Robbing Peter to pay… well, Peter
The Government has learned the lessons of the subprime crisis rather well. Sadly, what it’s been learning about is financial tomfoolery and off-balance-sheet borrowing, rather than the eventual impact of indulging in it. I’m talking about this great idea to pay off the money loaned to Northern Rock by issuing Government-backed bonds to investors.
So let’s just get this straight. The Government loaned £25bn of taxpayers’ money to Northern Rock. It’s now going to pay this money back to the taxpayers by issuing £25bn of bonds. Which are guaranteed by the Government - and therefore the taxpayer.
Of course, the benefit to the Government is that the issue is kicked a bit further off into the grass. But the fact remains that the taxpayer is still on the hook for a bank whose biggest business was mortgage lending, just as we head into what could easily be the biggest housing slump the UK has seen in generations.
That’s another fine piece of prudent economic management by Mr Brown and his glove-puppet Chancellor."
Whoops - well done Gordy ! :o)