As Mr Brown ponders his autumn economic recovery plan, plus the minor problem of his own survival, it is accepted as official, by all and sundry in this Country that the economy is ‘derailed’ ‘unplugged’ ‘, even ‘duff’ according to my 14 year old son.

The ‘Credit Crunch’ celebrated its first birthday over a month ago. Accepted to be the result of ‘over cooked’ American mortgage companies lending policy (short sighted greed in other words) plus a surge of demand for oil. That’s it…. everything explained then..! I’ll just work an extra 10 hours a week to keep my family fed.

Look into my eyes….picture the  words…… ‘Credit Crunch’ all is explained…. Not quite..!  People cannot be bamboozled any more.   Accepting the above to be true should we not examine more deeply the crisis that has been directly manufactured in the corporate boardrooms of the country in pursuit of short term profits. Not to mention a country at present where Banks are permitted to misuse investors money; where poor performance is rarely punished; where rewards bear no resemblance to performance; where ordinary shareholders have little clout. Housing prices are plunging faster than in the 1990s crash and unemployment has increased for six months in a row, with last months 20,100 increase in the number of people claiming jobless benefits the largest in 16 years. The present Government responded to the collapse of Northern Rock by nationalising it. Why was it not monitored, regulated, called to account. Simple explanation, the present structural weakness of the Financial Services Authority. For example, The Companies Act of 2006 introduced some worthwhile measures, but lobbyists ensured that several measures were watered down. When it came to tax dodges of the non-doms the Government was shamed into action only after we (the Tories) pledged to introduce a levy. Then after more lobbying the Treasury caved in.

Many homeowners are at present battling to re-mortgage their homes, scrape together the money to pay their latest fuel bill. Nobody really cares what happened in 1992. They want the asurity they have a front door to come home in the next six months.

Their distress is not helped by the fact that almost every day another bright idea for a quick fix economy solution is posted from some mysterious corner of the present Government, only to be squashed the following day. The worst example of this being the latest gaff in relation to the introduction a Stamp Duty holiday this autumn. Suspend the duty, suspend the potential chance of any sales until the autumn. I wonder which highly paid strategist of the Government came up with that one.

Look into my eyes………’It’s yet another reason for the buyers to stay away from the estate agents’……..

Cllr Mick Jones
Cheadle & Gately

This article, by Cllr Mick Jones, was first published by the Stockport Express 17/09/08.