That the primary cause of this disaster, in the UK’s case, was the total recklessness of the two main Scottish banks, RBS and HBOS, is an inconvenient truth that we could never expect the current SNP leader to confront, especially as he was previously employed as an economist by one of those now zombified institutions.
Even more inconveniently for Alex Salmond, the twin pillars of the once proud Scottish banking sector are now being propped up by the British state (i.e. largely English taxpayers).
Salmond’s response to this economic earthquake has been to blame a pair of Anglo-Scottish traitors, Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling, for failing to regulate the financial sector properly.
This skates over the most inconvenient truth of all for the SNP: up until the crash occurred, Salmond was calling for even lighter financial regulation than that imposed by New Labour. In an interview with the Times on 7 April 2007, he stated: ‘We are pledging a light-touch regulation suitable to a Scottish financial sector with its outstanding reputation for probity.’
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
The economic record of Alex Salmond
There is an telling letter about the economic views and background of the SNP leader in the new London Review of Books:
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4 comments:
Here in Scotland we well remember the Salmond vision of the "arc of prosperity" of North-Western Atlantic states, from Iceland, Ireland, Scotland and Norway.
Well, he got one out three right.
He was also prepared to sacrifice an area of scientific interest for the speculative ventures of his friend Donald Trump.
Miaow! Again. :)
Let's not forget meanwhile that LibDems' prospective Tory partners similarly opposed the FSA as an "over-mighty institution" (Hansard 24 Nov 1999).
Nobody comes out of recent decades smelling of roses. Perhaps that's as it should be.
- Dave P
So he's no better banker than he is as a racing tipster then (the man who tipped the winners of The Gold Cup and Grand National said smugly)
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