Inconsistent talk from the Chancellor
As stock markets the world over continue to convulse, the UK Chancellor Alistair Darling has told MPs that European countries need to work more closely together when responding to the financial crisis. But at the same time as he called on EU members to co-ordinate action, he stopped short of following the example of other governments in guaranteeing all bank savings. “When member states take unilateral action, it does have a knock-on effect,” he said.
Ah, but globalisation, whether we see it as good or stinkingly bad, requires countries the world over to work together—which they seem unable, so far in this crisis, to do.
Talking about the importance of cooperation in the same breath as saying we’ll go our own way, you go yours, does indeed have a knock-on effect. It is nonsensical, and confusing, and demonstrates that this and every other government is responding not with sound policy decisions, but panic measures concocted on the fly.
tags: Chancellor of the Exchequer, credit crunch, governments, money, policy, stock markets
