Monday, Apr 20, 2009

CH 4 Mon 20th 8pm

Channel 4 Dispatches: Crash - How the Banks Went Bust

Just before he became Prime Minister in 2007, chancellor Gordon Brown congratulated the city on their ingenuity and creativity during his tenure: 'An era that history will record as the beginning of a new golden age for the city of London'. He couldn't have been more wrong.
Now, thanks to the financial crash, Britain is facing economic catastrophe. The debts the UK is incurring will take generations to pay off. But how did the economy get from boom to bust? In this two-part special, economist and author Will Hutton gives the definitive insider's account of what went wrong.

Posted by little professor @ 04:47 PM (1075 views) Add Comment

11 Comments

1. Dandare said...

“Last year we set out radical proposals for changing the way we regulate: minimising the administrative burdens of regulation; and ensuring that the realities of regulation, as you experience them on the ground, are transformed -- by moving away from the 'old' blanket approach, of 100 per cent form-filling and 100 per cent inspection that is inefficient and wasteful of your time, to a new approach based on RISK…

And I believe, too, we should consider how we can continue to extend our RISK-based approach, applying the concept of RISK not just to the enforcement of regulation, but also to the design and indeed to the DECISION ON WHETHER TO REGULATE AT ALL… ”

Gordon Brown
Speech to the CBI, 5 June 2006

Monday, April 20, 2009 05:08PM Report Comment
 

2. Not Long Now said...

Well....I saw the title and thought: "that looks OK - might even set the Sky+".

The I saw the words "Will" and "Hutton" and thought I would save the memory. I need the spare space for recording some static later on in the week.

Monday, April 20, 2009 06:17PM Report Comment
 

3. japanese uncle said...

Financial deregulation and tax cuts for the rich always serve as vicious prelude to the eventual asset bubble and inevitable collapse. Decision to give Free hand to the MPC/MoE was simply to make sure everything worked that way.

Monday, April 20, 2009 06:31PM Report Comment
 

4. japanese uncle said...

Correction

MoE should read BoE.

Monday, April 20, 2009 06:32PM Report Comment
 

5. mark wadsworth said...

*ahem*

Make that: "economist and author Will Hutton ... who is in charge of fakecharity The Work Foundation which burns its way through £5 million of taxpayers' cash every year, and who also has a large BLT portfolio ..."

*/ahem*

Monday, April 20, 2009 07:45PM Report Comment
 

6. mark wadsworth said...

Yup, as I suspected, this was an orgy of 'blaming the Yanks and the banks', with little mention of the UK house price bubble or deficits.

Monday, April 20, 2009 09:28PM Report Comment
 

7. paul said...

There were a few aspects I didn't like about the documentary. It didn't mention the hypocrisy that has become crystallized by the turn of events:

- David Blanchflower was interviewed to say how he 'predicted' the recession, without mentioning the fact that his voting record on the MPC ensured its creation.
- Hank Paulson's decision to rescue AIG not Lehman Bros was mostly down to Goldman Sachs exposure to AIG rather than Lehmans.
- Sir John Gieve was as myopic and complacent as his other chums at the BoE all now of questionable competence.

Monday, April 20, 2009 09:43PM Report Comment
 

8. fubar said...

I also had a large BLT portfolio but I scoffed it for lunch.

Monday, April 20, 2009 10:32PM Report Comment
 

9. icarus said...

Will "modern service economy with a strong financial sector" Hutton showing clips of Gordon "no more boom and bust" Brown. Pot, kettle, black.

Monday, April 20, 2009 10:33PM Report Comment
 

10. icarus said...

paul - and Blanchflower was predicting the recession as early as...er...last August.

Monday, April 20, 2009 10:39PM Report Comment
 

11. inbreda said...

Blatantly uninspiring program. Shouldn't have been on 4, it was definitely a Beeb style production. Uninformative, complacent, confusing, and generally just BS.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 09:10AM Report Comment
 

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