Gordon Brown slip today

[Bagpuss]

On the news earlier saw a interview where he was talking of keeping interest rates down and thereby inflation

Now hang on, raising interest rates controls inflation not lowering them, is he a total economic muppet ?

OR

is he admiting that the largest component of family spending is mortgage repayments and therby mortgage funding is a large determinate of inflation
despite not being counted in inflation figures!

[KackAttack]

Don't worry, he has already told us that he has removed the boom and bust cycle so this won't be a problem.

In fact, apart from the fact we have had the dot com boom/bust, house price boom and now bust he has clearly demonstrated how effective he has been in this endevour.

[xoggoth]

Never really understand economics but when so many price rises are outside UK control, energy and food mainly, I can't see how raising interest rates can reduce inflation. Not really necessary to control wage demands either when the fear of a recession acheves the same effect.

[Cyberman]

On the news earlier saw a interview where he was talking of keeping interest rates down and thereby inflation

Now hang on, raising interest rates controls inflation not lowering them, is he a total economic muppet ?

OR

is he admiting that the largest component of family spending is mortgage repayments and therby mortgage funding is a large determinate of inflation
despite not being counted in inflation figures!

It can be argued that high mortgage rates and Gordon's never-ending tax increases reduce disposable income and thus employees may be going to employers for higher wage rises, which will push up inflation. Also, high interest rates put up the cost of borrowing for businesses which again put up production costs and therefore inflation.
Raising interest rates would therefore be nonsensical in the current economic climate. Lowering taxes would be a pretty normal strategy but of course our 'prudent' Gordon has left no room for manouvre, so we can forget that idea.

[max]

On the news earlier saw a interview where he was talking of keeping interest rates down and thereby inflation

Bank interest rates are set by the "independent" bank of england...so nowt to do with him...(apart from the fact that he made them independent)

Now hang on, raising interest rates controls inflation not lowering them, is he a total economic muppet ?

Probably he's not a muppet...however he believes you(joe public) are.