Economic meltdown .. when did it become our fault?

[NAE NOOKIE]

A couple of threads on here got me thinking.

A few years back some stupid decisions driven by unbelievable greed led to a world wide economic disaster. This was caused by people on salaries in the millions taking stupid risks in order to get even richer ... probably a simplistic view, but that appears to me to be how it was.

Now we are in 2013 and if the Tory government and right wing press in this country are to be believed our current economic problems are not the result of this at all. In fact the reason we are so skint is down to dole bludgers, public sector employees and left wing agitators who just cant wait to see the country go down the plug hole.

Apparently the billions spent keeping the banks afloat werent the cause of our huge deficit. The reason we are in the doo doo is because everybody who cant find a job is a lazy tax payers money wasting parasite .... because there are thousands of public sector workers doing sod all and draining the public purse and anybody who doesnt agree with that outlook is a Commie pinko left wing looney.

I'm not saying that as a result of what happened that public spending should or would be immune from the fallout ... such things are inevitable in situations like these. What is totally wrong about the situation is that we have a government and press in this country who instead of showing a little humility, given that it was their Eaton, Harrow, Yale and Princeton educated bedfellows who caused the problem, turn the whole situation around to make the folk who suffered as a result of their greed look like the bad guy.

Whats worse is that too many folk in this country are allowing themselves to be suckered into agreeing with this historical revisionism ..... where the right wing mafia have turned for example the unemployed and immigrants into the new Jews.

[steakbake]

A bit OTT.

People mortgaged themselves up to the hilt, took on more credit than they could afford and now we are in the down time, we're all wondering what's happened.

On benefits: they're there as a safety net not a lifestyle choice. Some of the universal benefits were ridiculous and no wonder it drained the account. There needs to be some rebalance, ensure that benefits are available to those in genuine need and have no other choice.

The bankers have brought about the financial situation but the books needed balanced and it's the government's budget that needs to do the balancing.

[(((Fergus)))]

What were the risks/actions taken that caused the collapse?

[Phil D. Rolls]

What were the risks/actions taken that caused the collapse?

Lending money that you had no chance of getting paid back, then selling the debt on. RBS, buying ABN Amro for much more than it was worth, and taking a whole lot of toxic debt that they didn't know was there,

If they had done their sums right they'd have seen that it would bring the bank down. They didn't, and it did. So the taxpayer had to bail them out.

Amazingly some of the directors of RBS are now running other banks.

[hibsbollah]

Its a triumph for Tory PR. Like it or not, polling shows most of the UK believes the domestic downturn was a result of a Blair Brown spending spree. (and the global financial crisis of 2008 and the reckless global borrowing that accompanied it were mere coincidences) The argument is already lost, and Cameron and Osborne have made it clear that eternal austerity is the only game in town. Even if the UK goes into the black, austerity will continue, for ideological reasons.

[Miguel]

Its simple really:
If you look at what type of societies and economies have worked reasonably successfully over sustained periods of time to the benefit of most of their people, Scandanavian-style social democracies seem the best bet, and extremes of left or right the worst.

[Jack]

A couple of threads on here got me thinking.

A few years back some stupid decisions driven by unbelievable greed led to a world wide economic disaster. This was caused by people on salaries in the millions taking stupid risks in order to get even richer ... probably a simplistic view, but that appears to me to be how it was.

Now we are in 2013 and if the Tory government and right wing press in this country are to be believed our current economic problems are not the result of this at all. In fact the reason we are so skint is down to dole bludgers, public sector employees and left wing agitators who just cant wait to see the country go down the plug hole.

Apparently the billions spent keeping the banks afloat werent the cause of our huge deficit. The reason we are in the doo doo is because everybody who cant find a job is a lazy tax payers money wasting parasite .... because there are thousands of public sector workers doing sod all and draining the public purse and anybody who doesnt agree with that outlook is a Commie pinko left wing looney.

I'm not saying that as a result of what happened that public spending should or would be immune from the fallout ... such things are inevitable in situations like these. What is totally wrong about the situation is that we have a government and press in this country who instead of showing a little humility, given that it was their Eaton, Harrow, Yale and Princeton educated bedfellows who caused the problem, turn the whole situation around to make the folk who suffered as a result of their greed look like the bad guy.

Whats worse is that too many folk in this country are allowing themselves to be suckered into agreeing with this historical revisionism ..... where the right wing mafia have turned for example the unemployed and immigrants into the new Jews.

Even worse than individual money men making millions from playing fast and loose with other folks cash the very same individuals are making more millions 'facilitating' the bail outs around the world.

Double whammy for the majority of people, not just the poor and feckless, sponsoring their extravagant lifestyles.