ZoomClouds: John Redwood MP for Wokingham

... nter. The volatility of the oil price should act as a warning to the incompetent UK authorities that they should concentrate on fighting downturn more than on fighting inflation. No-one looking at the UK economy today can plausibly think its main problem is accelerating inflation. Its m...

... public sector assets to raise cash. The government should do all three if it is serious about preventing recession or recovering from the downturn. Money is too tight and interest rates too high, just as money was far too loose and interest rates too low for too long in the p...

... ysical Society disagrees with this article™s conclusions. All this is looking very dated, as the world faces recession, credit crunch and downturn. In these circumstances there should be more opportunity to concentrate on practical greenery. Most could surely agree it makes sense to recy...

... rthern Rock and endless changes to the figures that followed. He is now reaping what he sowed. Far from having the best placed economy to handle the downturn we have one of the weakest. I did always think, however, he was a very shrewd politician. He after all was a colossus in a party of minnows...

... tion. The ECB and the Bank of England still think they have a problem balancing their prime aim of cutting inflation with their wish to avoid a major downturn. They have kept their rates on hold. They seem to ignore the delays between tightening credit and the impact it has on prices. ...

... in 1979-81, when it fell by 1.76%. He also says now œIt is going to be more profound and long lasting than people thought which must mean he expects downturn next year as well as this. If just one year shows a drop of 2% (Chancellor™s implied new forecast) that means 4% less National Income, a loss...

... 979-81, when it fell by 1.76%. He also says now â¬ÓIt is going to be more profound and long lasting than people thoughtâ¬ which must mean he expects downturn next year as well as this. If just one year shows a drop of 2% (Chancellorâ¬¢s implied new forecast) that means 4% less National Income, a lo...

The last couple of weeks have seen confirmation of the downturn on both sides of the Atlantic. House prices continue to fall in the USA, and the UK. Latest figures show UK house prices market now down by 12.7% over the last year, with a big fall of 1.8% in August. UK Car sales fell by 18.6% in Aug...

... still think we should be fighting inflation because the pound has fallen and imports are dearer. All the evidence is that the big problem now is the downturn. Inflation will fall rapidly next year. Fewer and fewer companies will have any pricing power. The Stock Market is waking up to the profits s...

... version of the problem, true that the US has many of the largest financial companies that did well out of the credit boom, and was the first into the downturn. The reason markets fell around the world, is the realisation that this is not just a US problem, but a global one. Big ban...

The big increase in the dole queues today should provide more evidence to all those who think our problem is inflation that our problem is now the downturn. When are the authorities going to realise they need to do much more to limit the damage and to prepare for the eventual turnround? strategy...

... e warning signs. They allowed a big inflation to take off, busting the targets they had been set. 2. The Bank of England and the ECB are getting the downturn wrong, keeping interest rates far too high and making recession more likely. The Fed has done better into the downswing. 3. The UK governmen...

... shops and garages, restaurants and factories, will cut the money coming into businesses. They will need to borrow more to see themselves through the downturn, but the banks will be unable or unwilling to help. Just at the time when business needs longer lines of credit at cheaper prices to avoid la...

... ated by recent regulatory and market errors. All the attentions of the authorities should be concentrated on doing œwhatever it takes to limit the downturn and salvage what can and should be salvaged from the financial system of 2007. It is dangerous for governments to think they can plan a brigh...

... cluding by the banks that the government is buying shares in. There are rumours of big lay offs to come in the New Year, and plenty of signs that the downturn is sharp and upon us. I have called for much lower interest rates to ease the pressures on borrowers. Others now have decided t...

... hands. Meanwhile the views of recession are worsening, with most forecasters rushing to catch up with reality and now estimating a longer and deeper downturn. On both sides of the Atlantic governments rightly but belatedly concluded two things in September “ that money markets and banks w...

We learn that the government is planning to borrow more money to cut taxes. Apparently it now wishes to limit the depth and length of the downturn. Yet it was the authorities who brought about this downturn. The MPC late in the day called time on too much borrowing in the private s...

... be many more days like that this winter. Menwhile, the MPC still driving firmly by looking in the rear view mirror has at last caught sight of the downturn. Its Report is likely to bring us more gloom and doom as it seeks to justify its late lurch from high to lower interest rates. Because it has...

... to the business model. The Credit Crunch is cyclical, requiring short term loans whilst the companies adjust to lower volumes for the duration of the downturn. On the other side of the world are car makers whose total unit labour costs are lower, and who make more types of smaller and the...

... hat the state is not taking in taxation from them. Why stop at the £43 billion he forecast for this year™s borrowing? Why stop at the £63 billion the downturn will probably make that? Why stop at the £120 billion needed when you add in the purchase of bank shares and the Bradford and Bingley transac...

... have spurned more modest but more helpful Conservative proposals to assist small business, Council taxpayers and home buyers as they lose out in the downturn. Labour™s temporary VAT cut, far from being a comfort blanket in a crisis, will prove to be a borrowing noose round all our necks. ...

... 1% next year, and growth of 1.75% in 2010. Private sector forecasters are likely to see this as optimistic, with more fearing a continuation of the downturn beyond the second quarter of 2009. The UK™s growth in the last decade owed a lot to the success of banking, property, financial and business ...

... incomes for their businesses will hold up. I am doing all I can to explain the crisis to government and to offer advice to try to lift us out of the downturn. In the meantime against such a background the true spirit of Christmas can make a difference. The work of our local charities and the cou...

... worse, as you have to pay the interest as well. You end up losing more jobs, as BL proved in the 1970s. Good Boards of Directors saw this downturn coming months ago and told their CEOs to cut costs to get ready for it. Good CEOs did so. Bad Boards looked firmly in the rear mirror, accept...

... ear ahead for them to work through. That is why this site was calling for halved interest rates over a year ago, to try to fend off the worst of the downturn. But nothing will work well unless governments and banks work together on how to fix the banking system. Together they wrecked it, a...

... t competitive price for a good. They are choosing the internet in increasing numbers. The third complication specific to 2008/9 is the savage downturn in the economy, undermining confidence and forcing people to keep what cash they have. The retailers and shopping centres have stra...

... y to stave off recession. I explained how œIf the authorities cut interest rates and make more cash available to the banks we can avoid too sharp a downturn. This year I am forced to write about how they could limit the damage of what is likely to be a severe downturn in the UK. ...