The (UK) Telegraph – Gordon Brown brings Britain to the edge of bankruptcy:
They don’t know what they’re doing, do they? With every step taken by the Government as it tries frantically to prop up the British banking system, this central truth becomes ever more obvious.
Yesterday marked a new low for all involved, even by the standards of this crisis. Britons woke to news of the enormity of the fresh horrors in store. Despite all the sophistry and outdated boom-era terminology from experts, I think a far greater number of people than is imagined grasp at root what is happening here.
The country stands on the precipice. We are at risk of utter humiliation, of London becoming a Reykjavik on Thames and Britain going under. Thanks to the arrogance, hubristic strutting and serial incompetence of the Government and a group of bankers, the possibility of national bankruptcy is not unrealistic.
The political impact will be seismic; anger will rage. The haunted looks on the faces of those in supporting roles, such as the Chancellor, suggest they have worked out that a tragedy is unfolding here. Gordon Brown is engaged no longer in a standard battle for re-election; instead he is fighting to avoid going down in history disgraced completely.
And of course the people supposedly in charge of the U.S. economy don’t know what they’re doing either. Witness Paulson’s flip-flop on what he wanted to do with the money for TARP – money that we had to have immediately, but whose purpose changed, and most of which still hasn’t been spent.
LATER: The (UK) Indepedenet – British Banks are Technically Insolvent