'Calamity' Brown and 'Captain' Darling

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Greenspan was appointed by Reagan back in '87. Not only has he served under Clinton, he is also an advisor to Gordon Brown. Difficult to blame him on GWB.

Yes he does hold some responsibility for this pile of poo we are in.

Fair points, well made.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Intrestingly HBOS - at least the Bank of Scotland component - still prints its own Sterling Notes in Edinburgh - I wonder if the future BOS Bank Notes will have Gordo's face on them ?

Why would they?

[Peoplesoft bloke]

I think a number of financiers could turn out to be good heads of Gov't - after all, a Gov't should run as efficiently as a good company and a PM should be the equivalent of a Chief Executive. After all, they say that the current President of the US is Paulson, not Bush. I do have a problem though with amateur/incompetent politicians like the above-mentioned (Brown/Darling) to get their hands 'dirty' in mergers/aquisitions. Unless of course, one day they will be asking for their 'commission' in cash or in kind - ie a seat on a bank's board (a bit like Tony Blair being an 'advisor' of JP Morgan)?

Interesting concept - I wonder what the equivalent of downsizing would be (I don't mean shrinking the civil service which would be a start) - I mean how would they get rid of the "deadwood" citizens who don't contribute?

Also, as we've seen from recent crashes, the priority of those at the top of bankrupt organizations seems to be to feather their own nest at others' expense - so maybe they aren't that different from politicians after all.

[AlfredJPruffock]

Intrestingly HBOS - at least the Bank of Scotland component - still prints its own Sterling Notes in Edinburgh - I wonder if the future BOS Bank Notes will have Gordo's face on them ?

So it goes...

[Dow Jones]

Pm = Ceo

I think a number of financiers could turn out to be good heads of Gov't - after all, a Gov't should run as efficiently as a good company and a PM should be the equivalent of a Chief Executive. After all, they say that the current President of the US is Paulson, not Bush. I do have a problem though with amateur/incompetent politicians like the above-mentioned (Brown/Darling) to get their hands 'dirty' in mergers/aquisitions. Unless of course, one day they will be asking for their 'commission' in cash or in kind - ie a seat on a bank's board (a bit like Tony Blair being an 'advisor' of JP Morgan)?

[HairyArsedBloke]

Whilst I'm not fan of Gordon (or Darling) it's hilarious that everyone's suddenly an expert. I've read and listened to no end "informed" commentary recently - one geezer claims it's all Alan Greenspan's fault, so so much for GWBs brilliant sidekicks.

The truth is, any government at present will be damned if they do and damned if they don't.

Greenspan was appointed by Reagan back in '87. Not only has he served under Clinton, he is also an advisor to Gordon Brown. Difficult to blame him on GWB.

Yes he does hold some responsibility for this pile of poo we are in.

[Board Game Geek]

I blame the voters of the government...afterall, it's them who put these people in power.

[Cyberman]

Whilst I'm not fan of Gordon (or Darling) it's hilarious that everyone's suddenly an expert. I've read and listened to no end "informed" commentary recently - one geezer claims it's all Alan Greenspan's fault, so so much for GWBs brilliant sidekicks.

The truth is, any government at present will be damned if they do and damned if they don't.

The fact is that the government and the BofE decided in their 'wisdom' a year ago to deny any funding to banks even though all other Central Banks had been allowing extra liquidity for months. It was only after the run on Northern Rock that HMG and the BofE(after quoting 'moral hazard etc) got their fingers out of their arses. That was gross negligence and incompetence and should never be forgotten.

Now they appear willing to lend to anything that moves, but they deserve to be damned for their sleeping on the job last year!! Northern Rock also requested loans against assets last year to see it through the money market turmoils, but the authorities then refused..... and now they are allowing it!!!

[DimPrawn]

Whilst I'm not fan of Gordon (or Darling) it's hilarious that everyone's suddenly an expert. I've read and listened to no end "informed" commentary recently - one geezer claims it's all Alan Greenspan's fault, so so much for GWBs brilliant sidekicks.

The truth is, any government at present will be damned if they do and damned if they don't.

I blame Thatcher.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Whilst I'm not fan of Gordon (or Darling) it's hilarious that everyone's suddenly an expert. I've read and listened to no end "informed" commentary recently - one geezer claims it's all Alan Greenspan's fault, so so much for GWBs brilliant sidekicks.

The truth is, any government at present will be damned if they do and damned if they don't.

[Dow Jones]

Someone ought to tell these two bumbling buffoons to stop meddling in the UK financial markets.
The pair are acting like a couple of salesmen, trying to flog off multi-billion busineses to the lowest bidder.
While the effects from 'saving' HBOS are now becoming clearer (huge redundancies up and down the country and less competition in the high street), I was reading in the Telegraph yesterday that they are now trying their hands on B&B, another beleagured player.
Anyone that has worked in Investment Banking should tell you that the first rule of the markets is 'don't panic!' as things have got a habit to even themselves out eventually.
So what does the man with the opposite of 'Midas touch' do at the sign of HBOS being in trouble?
Picks up the phone and asks a competitor for 'assistance'! If he'd only waited until the next day or picked up the phone to Mr Poulson (US Finance Secretary - who engineered the huge capital injection on US markets on the same day!), he would have saved at least 40,000 jobs! Just shows you that he's completely isolated both internationally and at home. Whereas George Bush - for all his other faults - shows that he is surrounded by capable people and he's prepared to pull out all the stops to avert a crisis - Bumbling Brown is completely out of his depth and not content with screwing up education/health service/etc/etc he is now attempting to be a financial guru. Could someone please put him in an induced coma until the next election, so that he will not cause any more harm to the UK
*rant over*