I Didn't Say "no More Boom And Bust" - Gordon Brown

[Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/c...icle4944288.ece

On Saturday the results of an encounter between the journalist Allison Pearson and Gordon Brown were published. After a load of the usual stuff about eating cold lamb chops with his children and so forth, they finally get down to business. Pearson asks if the Prime Minister “if he has any regrets about his boast: ‘No more boom and bust'”.

And here is his priceless reply: “I actually said: ‘No more Tory boom and bust'.” Yes, that really was what he told her.

What is the best route to go down with this? One is the “how on earth does he think he can get away with such a barefaced lie” route. He repeatedly pledged that there would be no more boom and bust without mentioning the Tories. He did it all the time. And so did his mates.

The second route is the “excuse me while I fall about laughing” route. Mr Brown is the king of the cat ate my homework excuses but, even for him, this is risible. If he had said that he would do away with Tory boom and bust I think voters would have been entitled to conclude that he intended to do this by getting rid of boom and bust, rather than by retaining boom and bust and getting rid of the Tories.

I intend to go down the third route. Which is to take him seriously. Because I think that when you do that, the real truth of the events of the last month becomes clear. This has not been a triumph for Mr Brown, it has been a catastrophe. It is said that he is having a good war. I think this success is confined to the fluency of his signature on the surrender documents. He is having a good war, in the same way that the Kaiser had a good war. Some of his supporters argue that the last week has been his Falklands. True. And he is General Galtieri.

Edited October 14, 2008 by gruffydd

[pyewackitt]

I want to write something... but i'm lost for words...

[Sinking Feeling]

He just has to ask his friends at the BBC to get rid of tapes where he says it, just like they got rid of those inconvenient tapes when they reported that WTC 7 had collapsed when it was clearly still standing in the background!

[Guest anorthosite]

You missed another good bit:

The old boom and bust consisted of rapid fluctuations, with medium-sized boom followed by medium-sized bust. This time we have had a long period of growth, followed by a bust so bad that it has almost destroyed the financial system. And if we accept this idea, it means looking at the past decade anew.

For the past ten years the Government has been boasting of the stability it has brought to the economy, of the growth it has seen on its watch, of low interest rates and of the money it has been able to spend on public services. And this narrative has, generally, been accepted. Yet now this record appears very different.

In his book The Black Swan, the financial analyst Nassim Nicholas Taleb provides a useful analogy. In the months before Thanksgiving, turkeys begin to build up a theory about mankind. Man is benevolent. Every day he appears with more food, and the turkey is allowed to get fatter and fatter. And then, about a week before Thanksgiving, the turkey will, as Taleb puts it, “incur a reversion of belief”.

[The Spaniard]

The lad himself:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QiV9j-hsfhY

[blankster]

Edited for fun

Edited October 14, 2008 by blankster

[ʎqɐqɹǝʞɐɥs]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/c...icle4944288.ece

On Saturday the results of an encounter between the journalist Allison Pearson and Gordon Brown were published. After a load of the usual stuff about eating cold lamb chops with his children and so forth, they finally get down to business. Pearson asks if the Prime Minister “if he has any regrets about his boast: ‘No more boom and bust'”.

And here is his priceless reply: “I actually said: ‘No more Tory boom and bust'.” Yes, that really was what he told her.

What is the best route to go down with this? One is the “how on earth does he think he can get away with such a barefaced lie” route. He repeatedly pledged that there would be no more boom and bust without mentioning the Tories. He did it all the time. And so did his mates.

The second route is the “excuse me while I fall about laughing” route. Mr Brown is the king of the cat ate my homework excuses but, even for him, this is risible. If he had said that he would do away with Tory boom and bust I think voters would have been entitled to conclude that he intended to do this by getting rid of boom and bust, rather than by retaining boom and bust and getting rid of the Tories.

I intend to go down the third route. Which is to take him seriously. Because I think that when you do that, the real truth of the events of the last month becomes clear. This has not been a triumph for Mr Brown, it has been a catastrophe. It is said that he is having a good war. I think this success is confined to the fluency of his signature on the surrender documents. He is having a good war, in the same way that the Kaiser had a good war. Some of his supporters argue that the last week has been his Falklands. True. And he is General Galtieri.

Unbelievable. This whole decade could be summed up with the words LIAR LIAR LOANS ON FIRE!!!

[casper_uk]

Someone has to find the video of him saying "no more boom and bust" now! I want to make a website out of it lol

[Guest Skint Academic]

He just has to ask his friends at the BBC to get rid of tapes where he says it, just like they got rid of those inconvenient tapes when they reported that WTC 7 had collapsed when it was clearly still standing in the background!

Can anyone find it on youtube? I thought it would be easy to find but it isn't.

[Guest KingCharles1st]

I want to write something... but i'm lost for words...

I'm not- he's a ****

[Guest sillybear2]

"I will not allow house prices to get out of control and put at risk the sustainability of the recovery."

Gordon Brown's 1997 Budget Statement

"Under this Government, Britain will not return to the boom and bust of the past."

Pre-Budget Report, 9th November 1999

"Britain does not want a return to boom and bust."

Budget Statement, 21 March 2000

"So our approach is to reject the old vicious circle of the...the old boom and bust."

Pre-Budget Report, 8 November 2000

"Mr Deputy Speaker we will not return to boom and bust."

Budget Statement, 7 March 2001

"As I have said before Mr Deputy Speaker: No return to boom and bust."

Budget Statement, 22 March 2006

"And we will never return to the old boom and bust."

Budget Statement, 21 March 2007

[bimyo]

"I will not allow house prices to get out of control and put at risk the sustainability of the recovery."

Gordon Brown's 1997 Budget Statement

"Under this Government, Britain will not return to the boom and bust of the past."

Pre-Budget Report, 9th November 1999

"Britain does not want a return to boom and bust."

Budget Statement, 21 March 2000

"So our approach is to reject the old vicious circle of the...the old boom and bust."

Pre-Budget Report, 8 November 2000

"Mr Deputy Speaker we will not return to boom and bust."

Budget Statement, 7 March 2001

"As I have said before Mr Deputy Speaker: No return to boom and bust."

Budget Statement, 22 March 2006

"And we will never return to the old boom and bust."

Budget Statement, 21 March 2007

Well found

[The Spaniard]

"I will not allow house prices to get out of control and put at risk the sustainability of the recovery."

Gordon Brown's 1997 Budget Statement

"Under this Government, Britain will not return to the boom and bust of the past."

Pre-Budget Report, 9th November 1999

"Britain does not want a return to boom and bust."

Budget Statement, 21 March 2000

"So our approach is to reject the old vicious circle of the...the old boom and bust."

Pre-Budget Report, 8 November 2000

"Mr Deputy Speaker we will not return to boom and bust."

Budget Statement, 7 March 2001

"As I have said before Mr Deputy Speaker: No return to boom and bust."

Budget Statement, 22 March 2006

"And we will never return to the old boom and bust."

Budget Statement, 21 March 2007

7-0

The boy done well.

[Guest sillybear2]

“Everyone loves an early inflation. The effects at the beginning of inflation are all good. There is steepened money expansion, rising government spending, increased government budget deficits, booming stock markets, and spectacular general prosperity, all in the midst of temporarily stable prices. Everyone benefits, and no one pays. That is the early part of the cycle. In the later inflation, on the other hand, the effects are all bad. The government may steadily increase the money inflation in order to stave off the latter effects, but the latter effects patiently wait. In the terminal inflation, there is faltering prosperity, tightness of money, falling stock markets, rising taxes, still larger government deficits, and still roaring money expansion, now accompanied by soaring prices and ineffectiveness of all traditional remedies. Everyone pays and no one benefits. That is the full cycle of every inflation.” -- Jens O. Parsson’s book, “Dying of Money: Lessons of the Great German & American Inflations.”

Everything you need to know about the past decade.

[Sinking Feeling]

“Everyone loves an early inflation. The effects at the beginning of inflation are all good. There is steepened money expansion, rising government spending, increased government budget deficits, booming stock markets, and spectacular general prosperity, all in the midst of temporarily stable prices. Everyone benefits, and no one pays. That is the early part of the cycle. In the later inflation, on the other hand, the effects are all bad. The government may steadily increase the money inflation in order to stave off the latter effects, but the latter effects patiently wait. In the terminal inflation, there is faltering prosperity, tightness of money, falling stock markets, rising taxes, still larger government deficits, and still roaring money expansion, now accompanied by soaring prices and ineffectiveness of all traditional remedies. Everyone pays and no one benefits. That is the full cycle of every inflation.” -- Jens O. Parsson’s book, “Dying of Money: Lessons of the Great German & American Inflations.”

Everything you need to know about the past decade.

Nice quote!

[tinker]

Someone has to find the video of him saying "no more boom and bust" now! I want to make a website out of it lol

Visit Order-Order (Guido), I think this has been picked up here.

From comments

"I will not allow house prices to get out of control and put at risk the sustainability of the recovery."

Gordon Brown's 1997 Budget Statement

"Under this Government, Britain will not return to the boom and bust of the past."

Pre-Budget Report, 9th November 1999

"Britain does not want a return to boom and bust."

Budget Statement, 21 March 2000

"So our approach is to reject the old vicious circle of the...the old boom and bust."

Pre-Budget Report, 8 November 2000

"Mr Deputy Speaker we will not return to boom and bust."

Budget Statement, 7 March 2001

"As I have said before Mr Deputy Speaker: No return to boom and bust."

Budget Statement, 22 March 2006

"And we will never return to the old boom and bust."

Budget Statement, 21 March 2007

[Guest sillybear2]

1) Tony Blair: 1997 Conference Speech

I want this to be the New Labour Government that ended Tory boom and bust forever.

2) Tony Blair: 2000 Conference Speech

The first big choice: a government with the strength to deliver stability, or a government that takes the country back to boom and bust.

3) Tony Blair: 2005 Conference Speech

In the first two terms we corrected the weaknesses of the Tory years: boom-and-bust economics

4) Tony Blair: November 2003

If we want to contrast what we have done in the past few years on delivery with what the right hon. and learned Gentleman delivered, let us remember the interest rates at 10 per cent. to 15 per cent., the 1.5 million fewer people in work, the boom and the bust and the borrowing at 8 per cent. of GDP.

5) Tony Blair: November 1999

We have the best chance of ending boom and bust in years.

6) Tony Blair: November 1998

...examine the legacy that we inherited and what we did. We had boom-and-bust economics and a doubled national debt.

7) Tony Blair: 2006 Conference Speech

In 1997, we faced daunting challenges. Boom and bust economics.....

Now, for all that remains to be done, dwell for a moment on what has been achieved.

8) Tony Blair: February 1999

Moreover, for decades we have been prone to far greater swings in the economic cycle than our continental counterparts. It has been boom and bust....Under this Government, there is an entirely new framework for economic management in place

9) Yvette Cooper: May 2004

We know that they want to turn the clock back, but it would be foolish to turn it back to a policy of boom and bust.

10) Alistair Darling: January 2000

On top of that, we have a healthy and stable economy and an end to the boom and bust that characterised the Tory years.

11) Alistair Darling: March 2005

As I said, there are two approaches—first, a strong economy, stability and helping families or, secondly, the Tory cuts, the undermining of stability, and a return to the boom and bust of the 1990s.

12) Alistair Darling: June 2007

...acknowledges the outstanding performance of the economy under this Government with the longest unbroken economic expansion on record, in contrast to the boom and bust of the previous Government

13) Gordon Brown: March 2007

We will not return to the old boom and bust

14) Gordon Brown: December 2006

Boom and bust is a term that applied to the Conservative years and two of the worst recessions in history

15) Gordon Brown: March 2006

I have said before: no return to boom and bust.

16) Gordon Brown: March 2001

We will not return to boom and bust.

17) Gordon Brown: November 2000

Our approach is to reject the old vicious circle of the '80s--rising debt, higher long-term interest rates, higher debt repayment costs, lower growth, higher unemployment, then enforced cuts in public spending. That was the old boom and bust.

18) Gordon Brown: March 2000

Britain does not want a return to boom and bust.

19) Gordon Brown: November 1999

Indeed, Britain was set to repeat the old, familiar cycle of boom and bust. Since then, we have created and rigorously adhered to a new framework of modern economic management

20) Gordon Brown: November 1998

Britain was set to repeat the boom-bust cycle that led to 15 per cent. interest rates for one whole year in the early 1990s.

21) Gordon Brown: June 1998

rigorous financial discipline that, together with monetary stability, ends once and for all the boom and bust that for 30 years has undermined stability

22) Gordon Brown: May 1998

The Government have put in place policies to deliver that objective and are determined to avoid a return to boom and bust.

23) Gordon Brown: April 1998

We will not return to the stop-go, boom-bust years which we saw under the Conservatives.

24) Gordon Brown: November 1997

I am satisfied that the new monetary policy arrangements will deliver long-term price stability, and prevent a return to the cycle of boom and bust.

25) Gordon Brown: July 1997

Today, the Bank of England has agreed with me that, if we are to prevent the cycle of boom and bust, inflationary pressures in the economy, which the previous Government negligently failed to tackle, must be brought under control

26) John Prescott: January 2005

Labour economic stability has replaced Tory boom and bust

27) Alan Johnson: February 2000

The Government's first priority on coming to office was to secure long-term economic stability and put an end to the damaging cycle of boom and bust.

28) Douglas Alexander: June 2006

there are genuine questions to be asked about why we now have the highest level of employment in many decades, contrary to the position during the boom-bust years of the Conservatives.

29) Ruth Kelly: November 1999

The Government have rejected the boom and bust of the Conservative party

30) Ruth Kelly: May 2002

We must avoid a return to the days of boom and bust that manufacturers had to endure for a long time under the Conservatives.

[enrieb]

The lad himself:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QiV9j-hsfhY

OMG Alan Partridge is running the country

[Guest Shedfish]

that's some list

can i just add a couple of links to corroborate, before Winston Smith gets to them?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/s...000/3806313.stm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2000/se...ference.labour6

[tinker]

1) Tony Blair: 1997 Conference Speech // snip

So we are not sure whether the term No More Boom And Bust was used.

I suppose we could have imagined it.

[Guest sillybear2]

that's some list

can i just add a couple of links to corroborate, before Winston Smith gets to them?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/s...000/3806313.stm

Interesting. Read the context :-

"Arguments that it was a first step towards achieving European Monetary Union were quickly rejected on the basis further legislation would be needed before the bank achieved the total independence required by the Maastricht Treaty."

An independent central bank is a pre-condition of euro entry under the Maastricht Treaty, it's a model based on the post-war Bundesbank. That was still a very real ambition in 1997, remember Brown's "five key tests" for Euro entry? Brown always take credit for BoE independence, whilst ignoring the fact he appoints half the MPC, sets their remit, their policy target and the inflation measure. I don't suppose he has much else to boast about, nationalising half the banks and selling our gold reserves at the absolute bottom are unprecedented, another one of his 'since records began' boasts?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2000/se...ference.labour6

Yup, he only references "boom and bust" five times in that single speech.

I think we get the picture.

Edited October 15, 2008 by sillybear2

[godless]

Defensive Stance when asked

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QiV9j-hsfhY

[Si1]

Someone has to find the video of him saying "no more boom and bust" now! I want to make a website out of it lol

someone should use a sample in a contemporary electronic dance song that the young'uns listen to

[Nicholas Cage]

***** *** **** ***** a ********** **** **** ***

[Guest sillybear2]

So we are not sure whether the term No More Boom And Bust was used.

I suppose we could have imagined it.

You could well have, this is how spin and NLP works, Mandelson was f**king brilliant at this in the early days, you read the public, tell them what they want to hear, then the public consumes and misinterprets the soundbite or takes its presented meaning at face value, then the politician adapts the argument and soundbite like a mutating virus and regurgitates the public's false interpretation back to them. Repeat it often enough whenever possible and then you have proof by assertion.

It also works in reverse, hence "no more boom and bust" becomes "no more Tory boom and bust" again. Ignoring the very salient fact Labour's "new boom and bust" is like a clusterf**k on such an epic and consuming scale that it eclipses anything in living memory, "the worst in 60 years" as Darling puts it.

As somebody has said about Mandelson :-

"He is a master tactician and helped to import from the Clinton victory a whole new way of adducing the thoughts of the voters and selling those thoughts back to them. He developed an advertising-like way of speaking to each citizen as if they were a consumer".

What you're seeing is an attempt at the old dark arts, unforunately this isn't 1994 anymore, there's too much history and people are too well informed, too cynical and analytical. To us such lies, distortion and deficit are worthy of Animal Farm. It doesn't wash on the wider public either.