Gordon Brown

[_w_]

Thank God Gordon has decided to share his wisdom with us. And none too soon.

If only he could head the IMF. We need a strong, experienced pair of hands to run it in these uncertain times. Just remember this ... he saved the world.

http://www.businessi...g-crisis-2011-5

GORDON BROWN: 2008 Was Just A Trailer For The Next Big Crisis

from Clusterstock by Gordon Brown

In 2008, when we were hours away from ATMs running out of money, small businesses being unable to pay their staffs, and schools and hospitals closing down through lack of cash flow, it felt as if the crisis of the century was upon us. But if the world continues on its current path, the historians of the future will say that the great financial collapse of three years ago was simply the trailer for a succession of avoidable crises that eroded popular consent for globalization itself.

Those who believe that the world has learned from the mistakes that led to the crash are mistaken: on the contrary, Prof. David Miles of the Bank of England now predicts not just one further financial crisis but three in the next two decades; and Andrew Haldane, also of the Bank of England, is already charting the volatile and unsustainable wave of speculative capital flows that are still not fully monitored and operate with no early-warning system, no global financial standards, and no consensus on capital and liquidity requirements for banks.

Yet what happens to the world's economy is not random—it's about the change we choose. Globalization may have unleashed change of a scale, scope, and speed unprecedented in human history—but it has also given our species an unprecedented opportunity to act in concert in order to master the forces that buffet us.

The truth is that the world has seen a shift in productive power over the last two decades that is more dramatic than any since the Industrial Revolution, with more than 2 billion men and women joining the ranks of industrial producers, trebling the size of the world's industrial economy. This year—for the first time in industrial history—the combined forces of America and Europe are being outproduced, out-manufactured, out-exported, and out-invested by the rest of the world. The corollary of this change is that the next 20 years will also see another worldwide revolution, this time in consumerism, and it will be dominated by Asian workers, who will treble the world's middle class. This second wave of change will turn all the old certainties on their head: America, once the biggest consumer in the world, will face an Asian market twice its size. Germany will be just 4 percent of the world's consumer spending and the U.K. just 3 percent—but Asia will be 40 percent. Asia's spending potential will be a staggering $25 trillion.

This transition, to a world with multiple poles of growth, will be directly felt on nearly every Main Street, shop floor, and kitchen table. So, too, will the risks associated with a globalized financial system that remains perilously unregulated. The global flows of goods, services, and capital create global problems that can be answered only by global solutions and by a consensus between world leaders to reach binding agreements for the good of all nations.

First, we need to support the growth of the world's new middle class and foster agreements that allow American and European companies to compete in Asia's booming consumer markets. The much-talked-about decline of the West is not inevitable, but to avoid it we must be prepared to invest massively in technology, science, and education in order to provide the niche, high-value goods that will be needed in Asian markets. Re-equipping Western workforces for the opportunities presented by Asia will be the preeminent challenge of this decade—and neglecting investment in our human capital base will condemn millions of people in the West to long-term unemployment and poverty.

The world needs to act in concert to tackle the threat of further financial crises, too. When our biggest banks came within hours of meltdown, we started to learn the hard and bitter lessons of a system that had developed beyond the control of individual nations. The crash made clear that vast flows of money had to be monitored across the globe, not merely within nations, that early-warning systems were needed from one continent to another, that banks must be properly capitalized, and that we could not hope to manage with merely local supervision the institutions that had outgrown national borders.

For a brief moment in 2009, during the London G20 summit, the world's leaders showed an impressive resolve to act together to create a more prosperous and stable world. Their resolve grew out of the banking crisis and the threat of a global depression, but today that resolve has evaporated in a retreat into national shells. "Mini-lateralism" is now the order of the day. A trade deal is unlikely in 2011 or 2012—the first trade-round failure since 1948.

There will be no climate-change agreement either, even though nuclear worries are escalating and the case for low-carbon investment becomes more obvious by the day. Nor will there be sufficient global support for the unemployed of the Middle East, North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa (who together constitute the fastest growing of the world's young), with all the problems of immigration and insecurity that such neglect will unleash. Global growth will be far lower than it otherwise needs to be, unless the world begins to understand that there is no solution to financial instability, diminished trade, and mass unemployment without a global deal for jobs and justice.

The IMF showed a few months ago that if the world worked together, up to 50 million new jobs could be created—millions of them in Europe and America—and 100 million people could be taken out of poverty. This November, at the next G20 summit, under the leadership of Presidents Sarkozy and Obama, we have the chance to take control of the huge and historic changes confronting us. It is not our fate to be at the mercy of financial chaos, decline, and recession: there is an alternative. Securing it will not be easy, but, as I have said before, it is in the space between the possible and the perfect that campaigners for justice must always be.

[bendy]

what a twit

[righttoleech]

Thank God Gordon has decided to share his wisdom with us. And none too soon.

If only he could head the IMF. We need a strong, experienced pair of hands to run it in these uncertain times. Just remember this ... he saved the world.

http://www.businessi...g-crisis-2011-5

He is for turning then...........this is a far cry from the Mansion House speech in which he congratulated the Bankers for their risk taking and encouraged more of the same.

No more boom and bust then bagoshite.

[57percent]

what a twit

+1

With the mistakes he made, you'd think he'd just go away and leave us alone.

This is a mixture of completely ignoring everything he's previously said and done and stating the obvious

[_w_]

I knew this one would be a crowd pleaser

Edited May 17, 2011 by _w_

[billybong]

Not content with having saved the world he now seems to be trying to compete for the Nostradamus role

Then of course there's "no more boom and bust"

Edited May 17, 2011 by billybong

[leicestersq]

There was a phrase "Turning to Brown", describing his reverse Midas touch.

FWIW I too think that there is now going to be the Mother of All Crises, one where we are going to have to turn to that once Barborous Relic for help. The reason we had gold was just in case, something you never wanted to use, but you couldnt be sure that you would never need it, best to have some just in case.

And we sold half of it off for a pittance. Out of all the decisions Brown made, this will be the worst one by far.

[“Nasty Piece of work”]

With DSK being done for attempted rape, GB is over qualified by anally violating us all, repeatedly.

[R K]

So that's his job application in then.

Yet what happens to the world's economy is not random—it's about the change we choose.

I don't remember him giving us the choice. He never stops ranting about the inevitability of 'glow ballisation'.

My choice is cap controls and anti-globalism thanks Gordon. Had you persued that route we wouldn't have had a fecking bankstering crisis.

[Austin Allegro]

+1

With the mistakes he made, you'd think he'd just go away and leave us alone.

This is a mixture of completely ignoring everything he's previously said and done and stating the obvious

Isn't it the case that the really big bucks for Prime Ministers only roll in AFTER they leave No 10? Brown must be looking at Blair jetting around the world selling books, being paid millions to open envelopes etc and thinking that he wants his slice of the pie too. It may have even been part of their famous 'pact'...

[JustAnotherProle]

Flash is completely insane, why his wierd and disjointed thoughts are entertained by anyone other than mental health professionals is beyond my understanding.

[Reck B]

[Si1]

what a tw*t

in one

Edited May 17, 2011 by Si1

[interestrateripoff]

But if the world continues on its current path, the historians of the future will say that the great financial collapse of three years ago was simply the trailer for a succession of avoidable crises that eroded popular consent for globalization itself.

Has there been popular consent for globalization? Shipping jobs abroad to the lower waged I hardly think there was popular support for, I'm sure the ship builders of the UK would have preferred to still be in work rather than seeing a high cost economy price themselves out of the jobs market, same with all the call centre jobs shipped off to India.

As for future historians they will all write what a tw@ Gordon Brown was they'll find hundreds of posts from various people all lamenting the greatest tw@ ever to be PM. Once more he's trying to rewrite history about how he'll be portrayed, he knows he'll be labelled a tw@ by future historians and the future historians will be correct he was a tw@.

There will be a crisis because we still haven't addressed the fecking issue, the one of debt, this is a debt crisis and the debt remains.

Ludwig von Mises describes the endgame brought on by reckless expansion of credit: "There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit (debt) expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit (debt) expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved."

Edited May 17, 2011 by interestrateripoff

[Goat]

+1

With the mistakes he made, you'd think he'd just go away and leave us alone.

This is a mixture of completely ignoring everything he's previously said and done and stating the obvious

Typical Brown.

The country's already told him he's a tw@t; Cameron's told him that he'll veto him and the moron is still lobying for the IMF job.

[cockrobin]

Gordon Is A Moron – Contents Include:

Chapter 1: Gordon Brown: Visionary Or Moron?

Chapter 2: Fiddling The Inflation Figures

Chapter 3: The Great Pensions Theft

Chapter 4: How Brown’s Performance Target Culture Has Destroyed Public Services

Chapter 5: Statist or Fascist?

Chapter 6: The Imprudent Chancellor And The Worst Budget Deficit In W. Europe

Chapter 7: The Architect Of Britain’s Housing Crisis

Chapter 8: Strangling The Economy With Red Tape

Chapter 9: Creating A Society Dependent Upon The State

Chapter 10: Selling Off The Family Gold At Rock Bottom Prices

Chapter 11: Tax Credits: A Tool For A Control Freak

Chapter 12: Destroyer Of Family Life

Chapter 13: The Sinking Ship

Chapter 14: PFI: Perfidious Financial Innovation

Chapter 15: The Tax Collector

Chapter 16: Means Testing – Another Aspect Of Practical Fascism

Chapter 17: An Army Of Bureaucrats

Chapter 18: A Man Dedicated To Waste

Chapter 19: A Scot Who Loathes England?

Chapter 20: A Collapse In Savings

Chapter 21: Global Warming: An Opportunity For More Taxes

Chapter 22: Squeezing The Poor Until The Pips Squeak

[_w_]

Has there been popular consent for globalization? Shipping jobs abroad to the lower waged I hardly think there was popular support for, I'm sure the ship builders of the UK would have preferred to still be in work rather than seeing a high cost economy price themselves out of the jobs market, same with all the call centre jobs shipped off to India.

As for future historians they will all write what a tw@ Gordon Brown was they'll find hundreds of posts from various people all lamenting the greatest tw@ ever to be PM. Once more he's trying to rewrite history about how he'll be portrayed, he knows he'll be labelled a tw@ by future historians and the future historians will be correct he was a tw@.

There will be a crisis because we still haven't addressed the fecking issue, the one of debt, this is a debt crisis and the debt remains.

Ludwig von Mises describes the endgame brought on by reckless expansion of credit: "There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit (debt) expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of a voluntary abandonment of further credit (debt) expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved."

This quote is intersting...

But if the world continues on its current path, the historians of the future will say that the great financial collapse of three years ago was simply the trailer for a succession of avoidable crises that eroded popular consent for globalization itself.

tfh hats on. Brown to TPTB: I'm not getting my golden retirement job, I'm not getting my millions. If you don't deliver what you promised I spill the beans on how we hoodwinked people into remaining passive in the face of globalisation.

[Ruffneck]

Whats with all the haters here?

Brown saved the world , i mean the worlds financial system.

The man is a genius!

[South Lorne]

Whats with all the haters here?

Brown saved the world , i mean the worlds financial system.

The man is a genius!

...as mentioned before ...irony doesn't work well on this style of forum....

[Cinzano Bianco]

I couldn't read it, as all I could think of was that mouth breathing thing he does whilst talking at everyone about how fantastic he is.

The fùcking wąnker.

[tahoma]

Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

Don't bother expecting him to display a hint of self-awareness or remorse, the wires just are not joined up.

[Bloo Loo]

Whats with all the haters here?

Brown saved the world , i mean the worlds financial system.

The man is a genius!

I just wish I knew who everyone is talking about.

Sounds an interesting character... a Globalist apologist, saver of bankers and well loved by the City....if he was in the Labour Party, this was a great fete.

[Ruffneck]

Brown is probably still hurting after Cameron refused to endorse him for the IMF position a couple months ago.

This new report is himself trying to boost his ego again , that said he is probably on a large number of antidepressant drugs like George W Bush was/is.

[_w_]

http://www.forexlive.com/blog/2011/05/18/and-now-a-message-from-the-swedish-finance-minister/

And now a message from the Swedish Finance Minister…

Gordon Brown is not the right man for the job of IMF managing director, says the Swedish Finance Minister. The 11% of GDP deficit Brown left in his final year as UK prime minister means Brown has no credibility in restoring fiscal responsibility in countries like Greece. Ouch.

Double Ouch!

[wonderpup]

Again we get the mantra being repeated that we need more highly educated people in the UK- why is that then?- is starbucks running short of baristas?

What we needed was the industrial base that was exported east whilst both labour and conservative governments chased the fantasy of the 'knowledge economy'- failing to grasp the reality that know how and practical application are a continuum, not two discrete functions that can be segmented.

R&D goes where the factories go.