What a jolly-good so-called recession we’re having, according to Lord Young. Interest rates are down so we’re paying less on our mortgages, and losing 300,000 jobs in the public sector is well within the margin of error. We’ve never had it so good! While we’re at it, why not let them eat cake?
Lord Young has now retracted and apologised for his comments, with what possibly counts as the understatement of the year – “inaccurate and insensitive”. What remains, though, is the dawning sense of realisation that the UK electorate appears to have got Marie Antoinette and her chums to run the country, during what is already a very difficult time for those below the 90th income percentile. (And remember, earning about 50k puts you that 90th percentile!)
One has to wonder whether a cabinet of millionaires – some self-made like Lord Young, others living off trust funds while telling us no one should get something for nothing like George Osborne – is in the best position to steer the country through the tough economic choices we’re facing and act in “the national interest” – if such a thing exists in the first place. Lord Young’s pronouncement is only the latest in a series of examples of members of this government being hopelessly out of touch with reality.
So maybe next time we’ll think twice before hiring Marie Antoinette to run the country. In the meantime, where’s that cake?
I agree with Lord Young. For those of us who live with at least some small assets and without debt, we never have had it so good. Prices are falling. We’re in a buyer’s market while sellers are being forced to divest of assets which they couldn’t afford – no shortage in the sales market, yet little credit available for other buyers. Might as well buy assets, there’s no point doing institutional investment. There is almost no venture investment, hence little new competition emerging in business. The job market for skilled people is buzzing and I can work anywhere I please. What more can I ask, for myself at least?