So, my little grasshoppers, calls have been made for Mervyn King (Governor of the Bank of England) to resign following his “revelations” to the US Ambassador in London, Louis Susman, that David Cameron and George Osborne “lacked experience”.
It is a time honoured tradition, my brave grass nibblers, that, when all else fails, one attacks the messenger in order to obscure the message. Pugilius prefers to face squarely the issue at hand. It is in that spirit that he now takes a look at King’s proposition.
First of all, let’s start by saying that none of this would have been news to the esteemed Mr. Susman. After all, Barry Soetoro (stage name Barack Obama) had already labelled the helium-filled Cameron a lightweight after an initial, brief meeting. No doubt Susman might also have read the same thing over and over again on ConservativeHome prior to the election.
But are we being fair? After all, Cameron’s CV isn’t totally blank. Pursuant to Eton and Oxford (can you still buy degrees from Oxford?) Cameron joined the Conservative Research Department (a veritable brains trust). He then became a “Special Advisor” before being bestowed a Directorship at Carlton Communications (all those connections). Enough weight there to keep an average helium balloon firmly grounded. What about George Osborne?
Oh dear. Not even trace gases here, lightweight or otherwise. Osborne’s “experience” seems to consist of a brief stint entering the names of the deceased on a database for the NHS (admittedly useful when fiddling the electoral register, much less use when running an economy). A prospective career in journalism was then cut short when the boy turned instead to the Conservative Party (always a smart move for any baronet-in-waiting).
So, there we have it folks; conclusive evidence that these lightweights are, indeed, wholly lacking in experience. Don’t know about you, truth seekers, but Pugilius might have taken the same tack as King, After all, his own credibility would have been instantly destroyed had he claimed that these two dreamers were likely to come up with a coherent plan.
But, hold on grasshoppers, we can’t leave it there. In the interests of balance, don’t we need to look at the other side of the coin? Pugilius has done just that and takes the line that Mervyn King shouldn’t resign due to stating the obvious, instead, he should resign because he’s useless. Yes, my low yield account holding chums, Mervyn King is unfit for purpose.
Perhaps instead of being caught unawares by the crisis in global credit markets, by his own admission, someone might have nudged the arrogant, sour faced toad and pushed the regular reports from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) or the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) under his porcine nose. These would have highlighted the massive growth in non-market traded, speculative derivatives held (and “priced”) by the banks. The gruff waffler may then have noticed that the notional value of these derivatives had exploded since 2000 and was now many times the size of global GDP. If all of this proved a bit much to absorb, the pompous prevaricator might at least have convened a meeting where the significance of that data could have been explained to him. Armed with that knowledge, and aware that he had contributed greatly to his own debt-fuelled bubbles, the vainglorious chair warmer might then have had at least one eye on the major source of global systemic risk through the bottom of the champagne glass.
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