Matthew Parris explains why we’re in the state we’re in…
“We have been living beyond our means. We have been paying ourselves more than our efforts were earning. We sought political leaders who would assure us that the good times would never end and that the centuries of boom and bust were over; and we voted for those who offered that assurance. We sought credit for which we had no security and we gave our business to the banks that advertised it. We wanted higher exam grades for our children and were rewarded with politicians prepared to supply them by lowering exam standards. We wanted free and better health care and demanded chancellors who paid for it without putting up our taxes. We wanted salacious stories in our newspapers and bought the papers that broke the rules to provide them. And now we whimper and snarl at MPs, bankers and journalists. Fair enough, my friends, but, you know, we really are all in this together.”
Bullshit. The Salacious stories were provided by certain newspapers to satisfy the Murdochs’ greed. If they had dished up something else they would have read that.
The easy credit was available because the politicians and the banking system was largely incompetent and provided little control.
I guess Matthew Paris thinks we are responsible for the criminal classes working at Barclays fixing the Libor too.
If you ever voted or bought a newspaper then yes you are responsible.
Economic growth was fueled for centuries by wage growth linked to productivity growth until governments discovered debt and asset price inflation to drive demand.
In the 1980′s bankers like John Gutfreund and Michael Milken were encouraged by governments to leverage lend to investors so they could buy even more treasury and corporate debt in a global ponzi scheme.
Where it all seriously went wrong in 2002 is when London financial insurance wizards started selling credit default insurance to banks so they would be protected if the borrower defaulted. The banks went on a lending spree, because they didn’t care if the borrower defaulted as the AAA rated insurance company would carry the can.
Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, George Bush and Alan Greenspan loved it as all this new money magicked out of thin air gave the illusion of economic growth and the end to boom and bust.
Where Gordon Brown, his two Treasury lieutenants Ed Balls and Ed Miliband, Mervyn King, Paul Myners, Hector Sants and Callum McCarthy all failed was not applying normal debt provisioning to this new bank lending covered by credit default insurance. This allowed 30% more money to be lent to people and countries that previously were not a good risk and is the seed of our current dilemma.
So couple governments keen to borrow and spend to get re-elected with avaricious bankers keen to earn fees and pass risk on to the next mug punter and we have the greatest ponzi con of all time.
The question is now which currency will be deflated quickest in this global competitive round of devaluation. So follow government policy and borrow as mush as you can, buy physical assets like property, natural resources and non repeated items like Bugatti’s and Picasso’s and watch your debt evaporate
Do you know how much they changed the rates? less than 1/8 in most cases up and down and it would never affect the man on the street. Libor is a reference rate, it is not and never has been an actual dealt rate. The rate is referenced + a margin for borrowers depending on their credit rating in the interbank market.
Murdoch’s greed was not fulfilled by printing articles the public weren’t interested in
Sorry. Sponge. Parris has a very good point. The easy credit was available because to get elected, the parties had to promise jam today. The banks supplied what the politicos asked for, starting with Clinton’s “a home in every pot”, promise and ending in Brown’s “no more boom and bust”. Every paper did it’s bit for smut, and the Mirror Group was as venal as NI. As to the criminal classes,looters in Tottenham or looters in Canary wharf all come from the society we live in. We allowed it because we were to idle to care. We are reaping the fruits of the harvest we sowed.
+104 times 2.
Parris, will you marry me – and I’m not even a poove…?
The easy credit was not just restricted to the UK (but the newspaper problem was, I think).
Agreed. Complete bullshit.
We have no say, no vote, in any issues bar the next thief in Westminster, and when it comes to Peers, none at all.
With no say, there is no responsibility.
So if its wrong to fix interest rates like Barclays, look at Mervyn King. Not only did he fix the interest rate, he bet against the fix working when it comes to his pension.
Well the dumbing down of education/exams certainly shows up in the quality of politicians we are now presented with.
Absolutely correct. First thing Osborne should do is slash wages at the top in public sector and pressure private sector to follow suit.
And in the public sector increase the wages at the bottom end. Cut Entertainers and BBC presenters and Football pundits who are paid over the odds with our money. Then the big one introduce part free part insurance for the NHS otherwise we will all be Greek init peeps
BBC presenters & Football pundits are so incisive as they interview each other how else would you get our opinion.
What a load of bollocks! Typical MP explanation- blame anyone but themself for their supervisory incompetence…….well he was an MP once.
Zorro
bollocks with regards to the way he abdicates the MPs of any responsibility…..’You made us do it….no MPs were too drunk with power to stop buying votes….so even though what he says is right, the fact that he says it immediately gets my back……Right let’s see Murray lose his rag.
Zorro
Parris never says”you” It is always, WE”
… because he want to avoid those who are responsible for the mess having to take the blame.
Let’s assume he was right; it would merely be a damning indictment on party politics itself; because the party machines have failed to deliver what was needed, rather than what was wanted.
And now the party machinery wants to have right of total control to the House of Lords, the only body with (theoretically) the power to stand up to the party machines.
Ban politicians from the Lords, I say.
Sponge
we take a bit of critism can’t we or are we all too sensitive?
What happens if he is right and we are all to blind stipid or arrogant to see it?
Do we all just walk off the cliff into the ravine to a finality?
+1
I was not party to any of the above and I have witnesses to prove it.
Fair enough in some causality respects, but enough of this all-inclusive ‘we’ business on who is to blame.
I get enough of that from the BBC, when by ‘we’, ‘they’ mean ‘me & the other peons compelled to front up for what ‘they’ want, both directly via the licence fee and also being expected to cover the consequences of whatever advocacy they can wangle via whoever they can uniquely ‘report’ on in a skewed enough manner to big up some bits and leave out anything that doesn’t suit the narrative. In their little bubble, there is what they can say and do… and the rest of ‘us’. And ne’er the twain will even be seen on the same planet. Now some poncy Central London chatterati journo is weighing in too?
Doubtless he too is swayed by Mr. Miliband’s latest bit of selective memory ‘heroism’ in tackling the banks he was party to helping getting us in the mess they did.
All I have ever sought were leaders who lead, were smart, took tough decisions, weathered inevitable assaults with fortitude, were honest and actually had the interests of the country at heart.
What I seem to have got currently is Cameron, Clegg and their bizarre mix of kindergarden Ritalin addicts and care home dementia patients.
The only problem is the guys who control the edit suites and have 24/7 access via a £4Bpa PR/media monopoly are pushing an alternative that is far, far worse, purely though interest-conflicted self-interest and an inability to actually report vs. trying to meddle in every single facet of our lives either directly or via their political proxies.
What really sucks is near very one of these political and media pond-dwellers is a public sector operative actually co-funded by me, yet I appear to have near zero say or ability in hitting them where the message that they are all unfit for purpose may actually resonate.
What’s with the ‘we’ ?!?!? Parris can speak for himself and then eff off with this collective guilt drivel. I didn’t want any of the stuff on that list, and have been shouting about impending debt plague since the mid-nineties.
“We have been paying ourselves more than our efforts were earning.”
I haven’t
“We sought political leaders who would assure us that the good times would never end and that the centuries of boom and bust were over; and we voted for those who offered that assurance.”
I didn’t.
“We sought credit for which we had no security and we gave our business to the banks that advertised it.”
I’ve never sought credit.
“We wanted higher exam grades for our children and were rewarded with politicians prepared to supply them by lowering exam standards.”
I have no children. Also exam standards are not lower. Teachers become better at teaching the national curriculum, because they, like anyone else in any other job, improve with experience.
“We wanted free and better health care and demanded chancellors who paid for it without putting up our taxes.”
I’ve always been prepared to pay higher taxes for better services.
“We wanted salacious stories in our newspapers and bought the papers that broke the rules to provide them.”
I’ve only ever bought broadsheets. I’m not interested in salacious stories.
“And now we whimper and snarl at MPs, bankers and journalists. Fair enough, my friends, but, you know, we really are all in this together.”
Says a former MP and journalist trying to pass the blame onto the people for their lack of standards.
“…exam standards are not lower.”
“I’ve always been prepared to pay higher taxes for better services.”
You are a member of the Labour Party, working in the state education sector, and I claim my £5.
“You have been living beyond your means. You have been paying yourselves more than you were earning. By subterfuge. And when it was about to be revealed you fought tool and nail to hide it. You set yourself up as political leaders assured that the good times would never end while you were in power and that the centuries of boom and bust were over; and you drank the wine and ate the food of those that offered that assurance and lucrative employment opportunities or those who would print your words and hide your misdoings. You sought credit for the work of others when things went your way and someone to blame when they didn’t. You wanted higher exam grades for your leugue tables and were rewarded with politicians prepared to massage figures and lie to support how well they were doing or how badly there opponents were. You wanted to claim you were providing better health care and hid the taxes you were putting up and when it didn’t work you blamed doctors and nurses in the hope that when you came to take hard earned pensions away the public would be on your side. You wanted salacious stories in your newspapers to discredit opponents and only squealed when you were on the receiving end. You became friends of papers that broke the rules to provide stories in your favour and only took action when they became a liability to the majority of you than of use to the minority. And now you whimper and snarl at each other and disown bankers and journalists. Fair enough, my friend, but, you know, we know you really are all in this together.”
I take my hat off to you,
Care to stand for election to the House of Lords?
Touche
A rewrite is needed ——-
“Politicians have been living beyond our means. They have been paying their friends more than our efforts were earning. They sought political leaders who would assure the public that the good times would never end and that the centuries of boom and bust were over; and lied to ensure we voted for those who offered that assurance. They sought credit for which they had no security and they gave our business to the(ir) bank(er)s who willingly soaked up the profits. They wanted higher exam grades for our children and we were rewarded with political sock puppets prepared to supply them claiming no lowering of exam standards. We wanted free and better health care and chancellors paid for it without using our taxes efficiently. They were content with salacious stories in our newspapers and closed their eyes to the papers and friends who broke the rules to provide them. And now we snarl at MPs, bankers and journalists. Fair enough, my friends, but, you know, you really are all in this together.”
Well edited, shame you would never get a job in the media, you can’t write truthful edits like that. it is bad for circulation and on the BBC would be considered biased…you can only be biased if you are a Member of Parliament and have tax payer funded duck pond. Sorry Mathew Parris, that is my lynch mob mentality…don’t worry we will save some space on Madame guillotine for you too.
What sanctimonous utter garbage and drivel Paris has come up with.
That old nutmeg the “we” as others have pointed to.
Another classic Press line of utter duplicity is that ‘its what the public want’.
No – Paris you deluded rat-fink – It’s what the likes of you and your paymasters have been ‘constantly FEEDING the public.
The public “did not steal” all the pension funds – when pension holidays were ‘suggested’ – but the Presspack – latterly pushed the line that the public were to blame for the pension thefts – because the public had failed to pay enough into their schemes in the first place.
Hang your head in shame Paris – you are a disgrace to you and yours of the Press Pack – Running with the hares but actually hunting with the (Press)Hounds.
Democracy comes with a price not always what we deserve, the alternative is communism not my choice.
Democracy comes hand in glove – with black markets & criminality (as does Communism) as is its way. I would choose Democracy any time over Communism. Communism cum its little brother socialism is for sheep who bow to an oppressive state.
When the Checks & Balances and I profusely apologise for any repetition here (I can openly and transapretly apologise because I am not a lawyer nor a politician nor a judge and I thus cannot be sued for any contradictory or misleading statements – while ‘they’ in their world have to be very careful! – the beauty being they’ve entrapped themselves into it – how beautiful is that?) …
to get back to the point … when the C’s & B’s upon those at the top; the captains of politics & industry [?] have withered away such that no one at the top is criminally liable for their actions – then we have reached a ‘tipping point’.
The tipping point has been reached – and was reached some years ago. Those at the top are just desperately trying to stave off that the whole system is rotten to its core. The thieving cannot go on. The public will not have it.
Either those at the top – admit it and pay back their ill gotten gains or the chaos will only get worse and the communists and their marxist string-pulling brothers will prevail.
Please read because I cite it as ‘published’ – the article in the Daily not always quite the truth Mail by Lord Carey former Archbishop of Canterbury. Page 19.
It is the ‘content’ of his written article that is key – not whatever any reader might think of Carey. Its the content stupid.
The UK’s Political Circus – and all the ‘posturing pathetic and pitiful politicains’ really do need to grow up. They are the laughing stock of the world and of that there is no doubt.
Diamond isn’t going to admit any wrong or go ‘down’ (bar a pay off!!!) unless he brings down all of the pitiful politicians who have been so craven to he and his ilk. lets get real here. The front page of the D Mail might satisfy some but this problem is not going to go away – whether Dacre or Cameron like it or not. Cameron most likely thinks and believes that he can get away with it like blair did – but blairs days are numbered.
Best to own up and start out with a clean sheet.
Obviously you won’t read this in a Sunday Newspaper – because they’ve all got their ‘political point scoring’ to get on with in their deluded world.
Enough of the public wanted “just enough,” of enough of the things Matthew Parris is banging on about, to constitute just enough of a working majority of the electorate/reading public who actually give just enough of a shit to vote or read, to which any cynical politician or media mogul would pander for the purposes of lining their pockets, the ultimate consequences be damned. I am put in mind of an old Twilight Zone episode, in which a petty crook dies and, in the afterlife, meets a “guide,” who is able to satisfy every desire this twisted little creature wants. The crook quickly reaches a point of satiety and says he’s bored out of his gourd– he never thought heaven could get so tiresome; SPOILER ALERT! The guide tells him, “What makes you think you’re in HEAVEN?” And yes, there are enough now of those who didn’t buy into any of this BS, either in part or in full, to be able to say “Tolja so!” But frankly, is this the kind of thing you WANT to be right about? Your sagacity will not be appreciated now, as it was not then either, since it will be considered schadenfreude. So you have to be basically like the “good friend type” who would say in those old buck-up-old-chap wartime flicks when someone would go mental during an air raid: “Don’t go off the deep end now, just ‘coz everything’s turning to shit– you’re gonna need your wits about you to figure a way out of this! We all will!” Of course, you’ll need to be slapping the person around as you’re saying it, but eventually, if the films were to be believed, the one being slapped always thanked the one doing the slapping with “Thank you– I needed that!”
I’m pretty sure that’s the reaction Matthew Parris thinks he’s going to get. Will he be proved right?
As an ex-banker, was talking to some friends from the construction ind. One said, “all this debt is obscene, I can understand the need for mortgages, help people to buy homes”. I said my friend, if there were no mortgages, as a professional, you would be able to afford a home. Now you cannot because of debt. Once it is consumed, more is always needed.
Spot on for the elite of this country, the rest of us buggers got nothing in the firat place!
The unemployed soldier eating from a dumpster and sleeping rough, the old lady who dies alone as she couldn’t afford to put the heat on, the family who can’t meet the mortgage because dad lost his job, the child joining the local gang because it provides more hope than school and the woman dying of preventable cancer because the local hospital cut screening…All in it together with the guy snorting cocaine because his bonus hit 6 figures. What he meant to say was “let them eat cake”
I’ve seen Parris’ name mentioned from time to time and got the impression that he was someone who, at least occasionally, had something sensible to say. Clearly I was mistaken; I shan’t bother reading any of his output again.
We have a system of government which has been rigged to allow the country to be raped and pillaged by politicians who claim to represent us but who, in reality, are mostly in it only for their own gain. They refuse to listen to us once they’ve attained power and pretend that they know better than us when plainly they do not. If there was any justice in this country the majority of our politicians would be banged up for many years.
Don’t go blaming us, Parris, and saying we got what we deserved; we weren’t given a real choice. Demcocracy this ain’t.
Parris rather grandly assumes a lot about “us”, by his use of “we”. I certainly don’t recognise myself, my family and any number of friends and acquaintances as being guilty of “wanting” the things he lists.
I will admit to a hankering for honest and capable politicians, who will work for the greater benefit of the country, without party slavishness, hidden agendas, overweening self-importance and primary concern for their own interests. That might be considered Panglossian by some, but it seems like first principles to me.
Parris is just plain wrong to point the finger at the Great British Public, because, at the end of the day, we have no alternative but to take politicians at their word, always assuming we listen to them and intend to use our votes.
As surely as night follows day, we will be betrayed by them, whoever they are. The only workable methods of correcting this behaviour, as used in recent history have been those espoused by Hitler and Stalin.
absolutely right Mr Parris
describe the gullible mob’s antics and the consequences – and they surely don’t want the mirror held up to them
that said, the ‘manipulators’ of politics, the media and finance – do they have any self-knowledge?
or are they, like Lickcheese, ‘doing it for the children’?