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supermk

Listed below are comments made by supermk between Monday, 29th June 2009 and Tuesday, 17th November 2009.

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Afghanistan ifs and maybes 3:43pm on 17 Nov 2009 I find the whole situation increasingly unpleasant. The probability of "victory" looks increasingly close to zero meanwhile our soldiers are dying at the rate of two a week (and each one gets just £13 per day in extra money can you believe). This excludes the much higher number who are horribly injured.

It is obvious we are going to get nowhere in meeting any useful objectives, military or political, so why are we prolonging this agony?

Maybe its to please Obama? In any case I wish the politicians (including the Tories) would actually listen to the electorate and as they say "declare victory and get out asap".
The Salmond strategy 8:00pm on 15 Oct 2009 The point about using the hung parliament scenario to extract further financial benefits for Scotland is pertinent. It plays perfectly to put more distance between England and Scotland. If they get it England become even more fed up with the even larger support Scotland gets compared to on average poorer areas of England (eg the North West which has a comparible population to Scotland with nothing like the political clout). If they don't then Salmond can go into overdrive etc. etc. The outcome - increased possibility for Independence, something many Scots and indeed an increasingly large number of English very much want to happen.
No ordinary week for the PM 2:27pm on 26 Sep 2009 The comments about Brown's view of the media speaks volumes - he thinks he is right and media wrong on most if not all issues. On top of this his views are apparently so obsene they cannot be published. This is not good enough from the UK's Prime Minister - its aggressive, unpleasant and basically dishonest.

To put him in touch with reality I suggest you journalist's publish what he actually said. Then we can listen to his denial that he said these things. Then you should all state unambigously that he lies.

I think this might just be enough to get him to resign to the great relief of everyone including most Labour supporters.
The Obama and Gordon card 11:24am on 24 Sep 2009 Its extremely embarressing to say the least for Brown to beg repeatedly for an audiance with Obama but much more importantly it degrades the reputation of the UK.

However, I think we do owe something to Gordon Brown and his complete lack of political understanding - its about time we dropped the pretence of "special relationship" and just looked after our own interests for example as France does - it would be a refreshing and growing up experience. If we realise this Brown has done this country a favour.
The what and when of spending cuts 7:12pm on 14 Sep 2009 In terms of what has been said there is a difference in timing rather than intent on Public Spending.

However, I can't believe Labour really would make large cuts in Public Spending, they just believe in big Government and big spending my it.

I think everyone, including Labour voters know that the Conservatives would make big cuts and therefore have much higher credibility in this perhaps depressing respect.
Hester: fast recovery "dangerous" 1:58pm on 12 Sep 2009 Large scale debt reduction for Government, Businesses and individuals might be the best option if we had a sufficiently large marketable productive sector (e.g. such as Germany and to some extent France has). Consuming activities such as Public Services will not get us out of this mess and cutting them increases the problem. Maybe we should follow Japan and have zero interest rates? That way we can borrow for no cost at all and everything will be like it was in the boom years! Seriously this unfortunately also means the pound would probably fall to zero value as well.

Looks like debt reduction for decades with a miserable income to pay for it.
What RBS's results say about QE 5:21pm on 15 Aug 2009 Almost all QE money has been used to purchase Government debt. The process seems to be - Debt Management Office issues large amount of debt - hedge funds and others buy it - then said parties sell it back to the BOE (making money in the process) - I can't see it affecting the real economy very much - they would be better not issueing any new debt - then it really would boost the money supply when old debt was bought back - am I the only whop has spotted this?
Mandelson fights back 6:52pm on 12 Aug 2009 Mandelson as we all know is a clever politician. However, I think the tories here are leading him into something of an elephant trap. Everyone knows the tories are much better at cutting public spending than labour - the country is going to have significantly lower public spending and the majority of the public accept this (and many of us actually want significantly lower spending as we are fed up with the constant nagging dictats of petty government and many of the so called 'services' are actually nothing of the kind). So this argument plays to the advantage of the tories. I am surprised Mandelson has fallen for it.
A tale of two economies 1:01pm on 11 Jul 2009 "Despite the folklore, the one didn't fund the other - most of the rise in borrowing over the past decade went into the housing market, not new shoes. "

However, equity withdrawl by home owners was enable by increased house prices. Therefore, the borrowing did in a round about way fund a part (maybe a very large part) the spending binge.
When to talk about spending? 7:50pm on 29 Jun 2009 Given that the spending review is supposed to be a stragetic appraisal then I think their is some argument and justification in not having one until things stabilise. Therefore, LM appears to be right, but no one will believe him as he is so political and GB and his Goverment fighting for their lives using everything they can (including can you believe policies it seems from a certain far right party on council housing allocation).

However, what I find refreshing is that the term Government spending has come back into use - GB shouted "investment" for years even when shelling out on obvious revenue items such as benefits.

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