mirror, mirror on the wall…
Posted by ewancrawford on March 30, 2009
Sometimes it’s not good for your health – or other people’s – to listen to the radio while driving.
This morning my blood pressure was suffering as I listened to Labour MP, John McFall (who is sometimes treated as if he is some sort of apolitical commentator rather than a party politician), slamming the management of the Dunfermline Building Society for their “reckless” decisions and “folly”.
Speaking on Good Morning Scotland, Mr McFall also had a needless dig at Alex Salmond, failing to disguise the political capital the Labour Party has been trying to make out of the difficulties faced by Scottish financial institutions.
Of course the Dunfermline has clearly made some poor decisions. But this was all in the context of Gordon Brown’s abolition of boom and bust. Mr Brown, and no doubt Mr McFall, told us constantly that the UK economy was in great shape, record employment, low inflation, with a lot of it due to the financial deregulation engineered by the great leader.
Not only that but Mr Brown had abolished the economic cycle and was rubbishing anyone who suggested that the credit bill was unsustainable.
On top of that the Dunfermline had to compete against Northern Rock and others who were gorging themselves on the lax regime created by Mr Brown’s financial brilliance.
In those circumstances, is it all that surprising that the Dunfermline got involved in commercial property and other areas of business it might regret?
So, Mr McFall might stop to consider who was truly reckless and guilty of folly here – was it the Dunfermline or was it the Labour Party (member – John McFall) who created this massive credit bubble in the first place?
