Cheeky bastard

David Cameron is threatening to block Gordon Brown's appointment to the IMF because

 it was important that the role went to someone who "gets" the dangers of excessive debt and deficit. 

Er… that's true. Gordon Brown's utterly guilty of encouraging the banks and other speculators to go mad. The idea was that taxes from the City would fill in the gap where proper industries that employed lots of people used to be. More generous benefits and better schools, hospitals and so on would go some way to ameliorating the fact that we had an economy but fewer and fewer jobs other than hairdressers and Starbucks waiters.

In a swipe at Brown, Cameron raised doubts about his suitability for the post, saying he was someone "who didn't think we had a debt problem in the UK when we self evidently do".

But I'm not taking this from Cameron. (It's not true, for a start: lots of countries have far worse deficits and higher debts and get along fine: he's just using the recession as an excuse to cut public services for ideological reasons).

Cameron's the multimillionaire son of a stockbroker who spent his entire time in opposition calling for less regulation of the banks. He actually thought that the minimal rules in place under Labour should be weakened even further because he has this idea that 'creative chaos' will produce an innovative society. Bashing Brown is a deeply cynical attempt to rewrite history, and I'm shocked he's been this blatant. The pair of them thought that a global economy could and should be run on massive multiples of debt - but Cameron was by far the worst of the two.

What we need at the IMF is someone who isn't white and western, who isn't a man, and who isn't a capitalist. The IMF shouldn't be the first-aid kit for a system that's failed: it should be a toolbox for a more sensible and redistributive economy. It was pointed out recently that the entire crash was the result of too much money sloshing around, not too little: the IMF is guilty of punishing those countries who resisted these overbalancing attacks (particularly the South Americans, who've ridden the storm very well) and rewarding those who've got into the worse messes through their own greed.

Boo to Brown and Cameron can just feck off.

Ireland bankrupted: capitalism wins

The Irish government's budget has been announced: cuts in public services, cuts in pensions, cuts in welfare benefits, the income tax threshold brought down to €15,000, cuts in the minimum wage (because obviously the poor caused the recession).

There is good news though: corporation tax is staying at 12.5% (as opposed to the 25%+ current in every other European and Western nation).

So that's alright. Corporations can continue to channel their disgraceful tax evasion funds through Ireland while beggaring that country and their countries of origin. Their reckless behaviour bankrupted Ireland and the rest of the global economy, and yet they're still being treated like favoured guests. A tax rise to 15%-20% would still be lower than most other countries and attract corporations, while making a huge difference to Ireland's economy.

Is anyone else bothered by this? Making the poor suffer to bail out banks and the rich?

Three Cheers For George Osborne

So awfully kind of George to offer we Irish a few billion quid to get us out of a hole. Although it's perhaps a small way of making recompense for the hundreds of years of imperial exploitation.

After all, 'George Osborne' is really Gideon George Osborne, and when Daddy dies, he'll be the 18th Baronet of Ballentaylor (Tipperary) and of Ballylemon in Waterford (despite Ireland being independent for 90 years and a Republic for 61 years, the aristocracy hangs on to the glory days).

One city financier (via Paul Mason's very good blog) reckons that Osborne's offer is actually a bit of a cheat: it's a way of handing more British taxpayers' cash directly to the banks to get the economy going without using the magic words 'helicopter money' (i.e. quantitative easing, or throwing cash at the country to keep it circulating) and to prevent more British banks going bust:

City economist Graham Turner issued the following note to clients:

"In truth, the rumoured £6-7bn of support for Ireland is effectively QE2 by the backdoor. Despite the UK chancellor's denials, the bi-lateral aid for Ireland is absolutely an attempt to pre-empt further difficulties for UK banks. The huge increase in wholesale liabilities of UK banks due to roll over in 2011 shows that perhaps the UK had more than any other country to lose from an outright default of Irish bank and sovereign debt." 

Still, beggars can't be choosers. As this photograph demonstrates: the well-dressed gentlemen are from the International Monetary Fund, come to take Cowen and Lenihan's calculator off them. The seated gentleman - well, he's Ireland. Much respect to photographer Peter Morrison.

He's got an even better one: