A day or so ago there was a piece on the TV news which implied that the Government was re-evaluating its approach to the way in which the banks were run, prior to the Crunch, and were bringing in more rules and specifications. I was always amazed that the government didn’t treat the banks as it treats businesses that get into difficulties, and leave them to sink or swim. I would have expected them to open a national bank, that had no links with the stock exchange, but would have the billions of taxpayer’s money, necessary to bail out those businesses which showed promise, and could provided some security in itheir assets. This I believe is constructive criticism, whether it is correct or even possible is immaterial, because it is only one man’s opinion, and would be dealt with accordingly.
I find it incredible that companies are still allowed to offer advanced credit as a means of building sales, openly on television, and in the press, when this was part of the basis of the crunch. We are still being peppered with offers of even more credit cards, and the crunch induced a reduction in prices that in themselves can cause the impecunious to make irresistible purchases. I would have thought that this would have been some of the first things that would have been clamped upon.
On the other hand, the leaders of the two main opposition parties, are not offering constructive criticism, they are sniping. They are standing at the dispatch boxes, openly criticising what the government is doing, but are not prepared to offer any solution, keeping these ideas to themselves, in the hope of forming the next government, and then implementing them. The interesting thing I find about this approach is that they are assuming that the electorate is as thick as two short planks, and will thus believe that they, the pundits, have a viable solution, and for us to take it on trust. 30 years ago that might have washed, but today, with our scepticism and improved nous, we are not so easily conned, what we require is constructive criticism, not naked sniping from cover.