To be honest, I don't think you needed to be a genius to work out that the ludicrously unsustainable debt bubble built up during the Noughties would lead to major, major problems, but for those who did foresee the brown stuff hitting the fan Ann Pettifor must surely be a bit of a heroine; an economist bravely swimming against the tide and getting the truth spoken on public platforms inaccessible to the rest of us. Despite the (inevitable) dismissals and ridicule visited on those with unwelcome news she insisted on administering the warning - many times in fact. Here for example:
Wednesday 17 May 2006
“There are many among the world's financial elites aware of the danger of housing and stockmarket "bubbles" financed by borrowing; of debt "imbalances"; of the potential of a crash and prolonged crisis … This is a terrifying lose-lose game. We are in it, because of the reckless abuse by the private finance sector of the powers granted them through deregulation and liberalisation.”
Sunday 28 January 2007
"Tottering on the brink: The inherent instability of the giant Ponzi schemes underwriting the world economy means financial meltdown is a huge threat."
And how right she was then.
Now with the appointment of former Goldman Sachs banker Mark Carney to govern the Bank of England she's at it again with the dire predictions:
Monday 26 November 2012
“So be very afraid. Business-as-usual will prevail. And nothing will be done to constrain the City, and therefore to prevent the next collapse of the financial system.” Check out what she has to say at The Guardian, or her blog here.
Back in November 2010 I observed that Wikipedia was calling it "The Financial Crisis of 2007 to present", but they have now separated the crisis into two discrete pages called "Financial Crisis of 2007 - 2008" and "2007 - 2012 global economic crisis". But soon we'll be into 2013, then 2014 and so on.
What will it morph into next?
The clue is in the name - "Ann" Pettifor.
ReplyDelete"Can you hear me?"
Blimey Mr W, that was quick.
ReplyDeleteSadly either you are outdoing yourself in crypticness (crypticity?) or I am outdoing myself in obtuseness.
Why not explain?
Who knows what it will morph into? I remember when all the madness was going on I could not believe it. And then it kept going on, and on, and on for so long that I thought I was the one who had gone mad, and was missing out on seeing some knew economic wisdom that the borrowers/apartment buyers had cottoned on to!
ReplyDeleteMy wallet is now suffering, having to bail-out these gobshites, but at least I have the comfort of knowing my sanity was not in question.
Small comfort, I know!
OK - Back in the days when I watched TV, when there was something worth watching, there was "The Fast show" with Arabella Weir who you may remember for "does my bum look big in this?" but who also played the "invisible woman" who tries to converse with a group of men but is completely ignored, only for a man in that group to repeat what she said and receive congratulations from the others for such a good idea.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Show
... after which she would say "can you hear me?"
ReplyDeleteWell spotted...oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Goldman Sachs in charge of the economy. Wow. How absolutely terrifying.
ReplyDeleteOh I know that feeling well. And that feeling.
ReplyDeleteAs for Ms Pettifor's most recent prediction, only time will tell, but it appears that Mrs Governor is some kind of a champagne eco-warrior:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/9704385/New-Bank-of-England-Governor-Mark-Carneys-wife-an-eco-warrior-who-says-banks-are-rotten.html
And someone called Bob B, who regularly has plenty of interest to say at Liberal Conspiracy, opines:
29. Bob B
"The illuminating aspect in today’s news about the choice of Mark Carney to be the new Governor of the Bank of England on Sir Mervyn King’s retirement next July is that Carney is not an advocate of the “light touch regulation” school of central banking.
As Governor of the Bank of Canada he practised proactive, interventionist central banking with regulation of financial markets to keep toxic assets out of the national banking system and rein back high risk lending and borrowing. He is so respected by other central bankers that he was made chairman of the Basel-based Financial Stability Board, an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system.
Deregulators can only weep and gnash their teeth – Carney evidently doesn’t believe that bankers are best left to do what they believe to be the profitable thing to do.
Recap: in an interview on the BBC Today programme on 4 November 2011, Bob Diamond – late CEO of Barclays Bank – said that the Banks must accept responsibility for what went wrong. In the interview – which I listened to – he repeatedly said that banks must work towards a situation where banks could fail without taxpayer support and without causing systemic instability.
So much for the notion that unemployment is the fault of the unemployed."
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2012/11/26/tory-mp-wants-unemployment-benefits-to-become-a-repayable-loan/#comment-425274