Investors Chronicle on Osborne’s corporate bond purchase programme…

“If banks know they can pass on credit risk to the state, they’ll not bother to assess it properly. Like US mortgage lenders, they’ll lend to every fool and con-man who walks through the door. Yes, lending will flow freely, but to the worst malinvestments – all of them underwritten by you and I.

This isn’t the only likely source of malpractice. What if the government were to buy (say) the bonds of Tesco but not Sainsbury’s? This would give the former a state-sanctioned competitive advantage. Even if we disregard free-marketers’ quibbles about distorting price signals – and we shouldn’t – this is a recipe for lobbying, rent-seeking and outright corruption.”