The Recession, The Banks and Gorefield Conservative Association AGM.

23/01/2009 by Steve Tierney.

The Recession Is Here
Is there anybody who didn’t already know this? The official figures have finally forced the government to admit what everybody has been more than aware of for the last few months. We are officially in recession. People who have read my blog (and moreso if they’ve seen my comments on the FensCF bulletin board) will know I’ve been making economic predictions for several months now, only to see them come true one after another. I find it absolutely terrifying that the self-styled Economic Guru that is our Prime Minister actually seems to have no understanding of economics whatsoever. You cannot cure a debt-bubble by accumulating more debt. You cannot compete with unregulated countries in an international free market if you over-regulate and over-tax your own companies. You cannot (the words of ancient economist John Maynard-Keynes nothwithstanding) create wealth through government spending. Governments do not create wealth. They only redistribute it. You have to have some to redistribute in the first place!

Gordon Brown needs to stop wishing on a star and start taking urgent action. If he does not, Britain will be bankrupt. The IMF will be called in (and even they may not have enough money to bail us out this time). I just hope that the people of Britain will choose wisely next time and elect a Government that understands that money cannot be magicked into existence. If Gordon Brown decides to try and solve his woes by turning on the printing presses and churning out money then all bets are off! Hyper-Inflation here we come! Just In Case, I’d recommend stocking up on canned goods and candles. With this madman in charge it could still get much, much worse.

The Banks
I’m not going to get into the blame game right now. Anybody who thinks: “All this is the banks fault,” is dangerously oversimplifying. The banks have done some really stupid things, but the Banking Crisis is not the disease. It is just a symptom of the disease. The real ailment is a simple one: too much borrowing. You, me, the government, the banks, the world. Too much borrowing, too much debt, too much risk. We have all (by which I mean a large section of the Western World) chosen to live beyond our means and financed that with a decade of finance. Now, our government’s solution is to punish the few people who have done the sensible thing (avoided borrowing and saved) by crippling their savings and borrowing against their future.

The UK is like a teenager who leaves school and accepts three credit cards. For a while, the teenager looks wealthy and successful, buying anything that is required with a swipe. But when the cards hit their limits and the bills come due, the truth comes out. That’s where we are. The sad thing about the banks is that they are mostly structurally bankrupt. And they know it, which is why they can’t lend, and why they wont lend to each other. They must be allowed to rebuild, which cannot be achieved by forcing them to make even more risky loans. And certainly can’t be achieved by putting moronic government ministers in charge of their business plans.

Gorefield Conservative Branch
It was a pleasure last night to attend the Annual General Meeting of the North-East Cambs Conservative Association - Gorefield Branch. First and foremost, its quite unusual for a pleasant little village like Gorefield to even have its own association! But then when you see how hard they work and how much they achieve you have got to admire them! I watched the AGM and then the Committee Meeting thereafter with much appreciation. They put forwards fund-raising ideas and planned events. They all offered to pitch in and do the work required (not a single one of them was anything less then dedicated, as far as I could see). This is the sort of community- and activist-minded group that we need much, much more of. But best of all, they all seemed to be enjoying it and having a great time! A wonderfully positive attitude!
The current Chairman of the NE Cambs Conservative Association Pam Potts addressed the AGM eloquently with her own frank admiration for the work they have done and continue to do. Debbie Clark (Organising Secretary) was no less grateful.

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