I can remember when we all believed what we read in the newspapers, what we were told on the radio, and what it was alleged the government was saying. The older I get the less I believe, and now I am in a state of total bemusement, because what I’m told, what I read, what the parliamentarians tell me on television, and the television presenter’s hammer at me at every news broadcast, seems to make no sense to me, or even to some of my brighter friends, from the evidence of our own eyes and experience.
On Friday morning at ten o’clock I couldn’t find a parking space almost anywhere, and certainly not near the entrance to Tesco’s, and when I had selected my few paltry items, I had to queue to pay for them. I have some young friends and relatives who are self-employed, and telling me that they’re so busy, they’re looking forward to the Christmas break, and this is only November. Try and book a plumber, I understand that they are still finishing off building contracts. Those who frequent them tell me restaurants, the pubs, and even the banks seem to be functioning as they ever did. One of the things that we are being told, and seems to be borne out by the slackness in house turnovers, reduction in house prices, losses of jobs in estate agents, that I can prove, is all blamed on the fact that the banks are not lending money to one another and mortgages are like hens teeth. This fact is creating unnecessary hardship to small, apparently successful businesses, to allow them to expand, and we all know, in this new day and age, business either grows or goes under. Previously it was our house shortage that put up the prices to an unrealistic level. Now the prices are coming down, but people can’t get mortgages for the lower prices.
So, if all these people seem to us to be spending all this money, and only the banks withdrawing lending facilities, except in exceptional cases, seem to affect, say 10%, where in hell is all the money going? I know from my point of view I have lost money because my shares have dropped and the dividends are small; why I’m not sure. But apart from that, I still run my car, eat well and even treat myself to a Scotch. Is it really true? Or is it just all talk? Are people being sacked unnecessarily? Are we to believe all that we are told on TV? At grass roots level it seems to be the reverse, there doesn’t seem to be a credit crunch, but the doom and gloom that people like the PM and Osborne are spreading is certainly having its effect. Is it any wonder I’m bemused?
The other day I castigated Osborne for making frightening statements without giving the reasons of how he had arrived at them. So I think it would be very foolish of me to wander into the realms of supposition as to how we have arrived where we are, but merely to say someone somewhere knows it all in detail.