Hey big spender

RobC

Ermmmm your last sentence sums it up and yes the public is also aware that the the government is totally out of touch with reality.

Hysteria

"create the impression that ministers are not communicating and that the government is totally out touch of reality."

the IMPRESSION???

socialists run out of other peoples money - the idea of statism has been tested to breaking point.......our breaking point

Sally Chatterjee

He's being alarmist. Because we can keep people in jobs and houses, we can even be "sensitive to the needs of the community", what ever that means.

Yet there are areas to reform and yes, to cut. For example, scrapping ID cards or ending the criminal record checks on school-run mums won't make many homeless. Indeed the savings will ensure healthier public finances and so lower interest rates, perhaps keeping more home repossessions at bay.

Odd to see this unelected minister having to say this. The rest of the Cabinet seem silent these days...

patrickinken

Do you think that Myners has noticed that the Bank has a £175 billion programme of quantitative easing, mainly used to buy gilts?

sinosimon

Myners is clever enough to know what he is saying is a lie. Shameless.......the bond market hasn't been buying only because the government has invented £175 billion and hoovered up debt with almost all of this cash.......something which i would expect any half decent journalist to pick him up on. The standard of journalism on tv in this country is a disgrace.....why are these people allowed to continually evade and even outright lie? Does no-one perform any research or check any facts?

pete-s

Drivel from a man who agreed to an extra 8M payout to fred the shred for what; doing nothing.

Moraymint

" ... the government is totally out of touch with reality".

Er, yep.

Fergus Pickering

Who the hell is Lord Myners. I've never heard of him. How did he get to be a Lord? What has he ever done. This is not rhetorical. I really want to know. Though not enough to google him, that's true. He is evidently an idiot like the TU fallow on the World at One Was it UNITE or UNISON or UPYERJACKSIE? One never knows these days. World of their own. World of their own.

oldtimer

If, as he says:
"We can afford to do it and it's quite evident from the fact that we are able to raise money in international bond market. The willingness to support us is there."
...why does the Bank of England need to print £125 billion of QE money to fund the government`s burgeoning debt?

The answer is, of course, that the government is quite incapable of raising this sort of money from the international bond market at the derisory 0.5%.

drakes drum

He means they are keeping themselves and the quangocrats in jobs and houses!

The man, sadly, sold his principles for a ministerial salary- on top of his pension!

mr alan prince

perhaps we could start with the 250 million£ spent over 3 years on management consultants by haringay council? put the reports in the public domain,and the use they were put to. it is our money and we need to see what we got for it.

brian kelly

We can afford to borrow because the International bond market will lend to us! This is an insane argument and is the prime cause of the bust. Get these people out, for God's sake. What about his rewards and his involvement in Goodwin's severment package. Let's get serious and forensic about these people - after the next election may have to do - but preferable now. IT'S OUR MONEY THEY ARE PLAYING MONOPOLY WITH.

blue.beat

Maybe we are all posting on the wrong site?
Maybe we should be spreading proper thinking on some left wing sites as well.
RATIONALLY explaining to the stupid how tax and spending actually works.
A friend of mine(in mid 20's)
who claims tax credits really did not know that benefits are funded by taxes.How many more cabbages are out there?
Who knows where they thought they came from. SCAAARRRY STUFF

Luke

Spending will need to be restrained and cuts will need to be made, but in truth myners is spot-on in saying that you dont want to do this too soon.

The last thing this country now needs is some right-wing idealogue economic plan to cut spending in 10/11 or 11/12 just as the recovery is taking route. Much better to borrow in these years and pay back in the following 2 or 3.

I know it's not a view shared by most of the people who inhabit this blog, but sensible economic opinion recognises the need for deficits during downturns, and in truth all Myners is doing is reflecting that consensus.

john miller

I think there has been, and still is, a genuine belief by the socialists that Brown, because his other faults are so appalling and obvious, actually has some financial acumen.

They believe that even though we owe over £1 trillion more than when Labour came to power, it's all ok and, hey, we can afford even more.

Well, guys, err, like get your calculator out and try and type in 6% of £1 trillion. Bet you get the noughts wrong.

Because the sad fact is, if we told all the RAF, Navy and Army personnel to just bugger off, that wouldn't actually go a long way to paying the interest on the extra borrowing you've run up.

So when Cruddas (don't tell me - he's another towering intellect isn't he?) says about spending more and Myners spouts the same rubbish, you realise these people don't have a clue. Not a faint glimmering of understanding. Not a tiny inkling that something might be very, very wrong and it's all Gord's fault.

TrevorsDen

Myners made all his millions spending other peoples money and taking his cut.

Spending money and the consequences mean nothing to him.

It's all, Deficits? - Messerchmits! to him.

Nick

"We can afford to do it and it's quite evident from the fact that we are able to raise money in international bond market."

Well, the bond markets may be international, but isn't the main buyer of UK bonds actually the Bank of England ?

Robin of Loxley

"We can afford to do it and it's quite evident from the fact that we are able to raise money in international bond market." - Myners

- that's a lie. The Bank of England is printing money to buy UK Government Debt. Does this 'Lord' think everyone is a berk? We know 99.9% of the media are, even so-called financial kournalists, but why doesn't someone call him on this? - is the central bank of UK monetising the debt of the UK by printing money to buy UK gilts to give the appearance of a continuing ability to finance debt levels north of 10-15% of GDP for years to come? It's happening in America - see Peter Schiff and Karl Denninger for two, calling the US Fed doing the same - printing money to buy unwanted US Treasury bonds. What is wrong with UK; the British people? Is it ignorance or fear?

Andy

"We can afford to do it" No, we can't! The bailiffs are lining up and even the family silver has been sold. Get real!

seb

Sally C.

I'm sure that the rest of the cabinet is too busy filling in foreign visa applications or signing on with Jobs-4-U or some such agency to give a monkey's what Winston Brown, Wendy Darling or Lord Myners are up to.

Michael

What a stupidly short sighted view. How on earth did this man manage to hold down city jobs for such a long time. Oh... short sighted, short term, all fits really. We really HAVE to weed these kind of people out. A 'Stay in the job for a bit and get out before the problems arise' type.

TrevorsDen

Luke - just to show you how dim you are --- go look at the Govts own red book. It points to cuts in the very years you quote. It claims it will cut the deficit by half in 4 years.

Of course it does not say how it will make the cuts. And in truth THIS govt will not cut the deficit anything like that unless it is forced to by say the IMF or the credit ratings agencies.
Now Myners is saying the opposite.
just how long can the govt face two ways at once?

In fact the only thing protecting Britain's credibility is the fact that no one expects Brown to be in power beyond next May.

JONNY

The only reason you old fool you can still raise money in the markets, is because of the expectation of a Tory win in a matter of months.

A J Scott

This man Myners is the perfect example of why people "en-nobled" for political reasons - and nothing to with ability or competence - should be taken away quietly into the long-term care of the NHS.

Chuck Unsworth

'There can be no rewards for failure' - except if your name is Myners, of course.

This is another Useful Idiot, elevated to the peerage by NuLab.

Moraymint

"We can afford to do it and it's quite evident from the fact that we are able to raise money in the international bond market. The willingness to support us is there ...".

When will the TV journalists learn their jobs?

How did Myners get away with a Death Star sized porkie like that?

Hasn't anyone in his Government told him on the QT that the snake is eating its own tail? We're printing money and handing it to the Government to give the impression that the Government's almost incomprehensible level of debt is being funded.

What happens next, My Lord, now that Merv has switched off the printing presses?

Hello! Hello! Is anybody there?

dorothy wilson

In the Business Section of today's Sunday Times Myners is quoted as saying that "the Tories will be found out by the voters." He appears to think that Labour will win the next election.

And Luke, whilst "sensible economic opinion" [or some of it!] might "recognise the need for deficits in a downturn" surely there are deficits and deficits. Labour seem to be operating on the kind of mentality that moves a massive credit card debt over to another card provider offering 0% interest for a few months - forgetting that leads to paying interest on interest and that the original loan is still outstanding.

Mike Spilligan

Has Myners made any progress since he admitted a few months ago that he had to look up quantitative easing in Wikipedia?
A J Scott: Perhaps a more complete solution - pour encourager les autres, of course.

Stephen

The country is living on tick. It has to stop. 10 per cent cuts now, another 10 per cent next April. Otherwise the private sector will never flourish.

The previous level of economic activity was based on excessive debt. It follows that the sustainable level of economic activity has to be lower. Look at disability benefit to name but one.

Blue.Beat

had a look at Labourlist and they hate Brown as well.

BigAl

Meddlesome was on the radio telling us about the reduced spending (not cuts) - so why is Myners contradicting him? More Labour duplicity!

Procrustes

BigAl -duplicity suggests an organised approach. Mixed messages suggest a lack of direction and complete chaos -just what the country needs right now.

Interesting that Myners thinks he can predict when we are coming out of recession. After all.he and others have said that the slump was unforeseeable. Presumably he is using a new set of indicators to prove the reverse trend? That makes him either a liar or a fantasist

David Bouvier

Luke - there is an argument for counter-cyclical deficit funding, but Labour was running a structural deficit of c. 5% of GDP before QE or counter-cyclical spending is considered.

That is just living beyond our means. The UK is not as rich as it seemed. And getting used to being c 10-15% poorer than we realised is going to hurt a lot of people, some unfairly so.

Luke

Just in response to a few of the points on here. I agree that there is a structural deficit of about 3-5%, although i also think it wasnt clear it was that until the downturn made the economic cycle much more visible.

So the structural deficit does need to be addressed - but it would be a huge mistake to try and do that in one single bound and during the recovery. 10/11 and 11/12 need to be years of sustained spending and deficit growth (and you can have a good debate about where to do that). And all I interpret myners as doing really is reflecting that pretty widely held consensus view.

You then do indeed need to bring the deficit down after that - as the govt has in fact set out.

Arnie Sagnussen

"...we're keeping people in their houses..."

Keeping me in mine anyway. Would like to go for a pint but can't afford it.

Stumpichimp

Luke.

"So the structural deficit does need to be addressed"

Gerraway?

Are you staying on campus this year or digs?