Category Archives: Economy

WHISTLE A HAPPY TUNE.

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Ok, so we may be “officially” in recession but hey, surely things can only get better under The Great Leader! Anyone catch him on “Today” this morning? I see B-BBC regular Notasheep is prominently quoted by the BBC in the link. So what did you think of the Brown interview? I was unable to hear it but for my sins, I did hear a curious interview conducted just after 7am with Nouriel Roubini, professor of economics at the Stern School of Business at New York University. This guru gave a surprisingly upbeat assessment of our economic prospects – I presume his role was that of John the Baptist to Brown’s appearance at 8.10am? I know that the great Roubini is a man whose opinions are much in demand these days and I also know that he is a big supporter of Obama’s economic team, so I suppose no better man to prepare the way for Mr Broon? The BBC select their guests with great care.

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It’s always there.

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The bias I mean. I’ve just watched Andrew Marr’s interview with David Cameron for his regular Sunday mornng show. The first minute or two of Cameron’s performance were used in correcting Marr’s premise that the Conservative position was just to let the recession “take its course”. Isn’t this so typical? The Conservative always placed on the defensive by the casual distrust of the BBC man? If you listen or watch carefully (painful I know) it’s always there.

Earlier on I heard the news report say that Icelanders were rioting over the handling af the credit crisis. This is an interpretation that the BBC prefers. Surely demonstrators are protesting at the occurrence of the crisis itself, and the economic management which brought it about? Cameron was under fire from Marr for not ‘getting the scale’ of things. No mention of Gordon’s not getting the entire economic management “thing” which could have mitigated or averted it. I would say that- given British banking’s swollen role compared with the British economy- Gordon’s management of gold, regulation, taxation and interest rates should very much be on the table as a cause of the world’s crisis. Instead we have Marr lamenting the lack of a positive Conservative response. Where’s the room for positive responses? It’s only damage limitation thanks to Gordon.

The last part of the interview, patiently fielded by Cameron, was Marr’s questioning of Osborne’s position. Prior to that we had “Business Secretary” Peter Mandelson spinning the economy for Gordon. No questioning of his suspicious reintroduction into UK politics, or his ability to take the flak that Darling or Brown should be facing.

It makes me sick listening to the skewed BBC coverage. But whether I listen or not, it’s always there.

Best placed?

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The IMF is not optimistic: it’s cut its 2009 growth forecast for the global economy to 2.2% from the previous estimate of 3%, as this report from the Beeb just about manages to mention at the end. And, more relevantly, in this piece yesterday about the rate cut. But can you guess what nugget of information readers of the Beeb’s reports miss out on?

  • The Independent: Britain, in particular, is heading for trouble, the IMF said, predicting that the UK would suffer a more serious recession than any other developed country in the world during 2009.
  • The Times: Britain is now forecast to bear the brunt of the global slump, with its GDP plunging by 1.3 per cent in what would be the worst year for the UK since the economy shrank by 1.4 per cent in 1991.
  • The Telegraph: Britain’s economy will suffer and will see the steepest decline in G7 club of leading powers, shrinking 1.3pc as the crunch in the City of London leads to more job losses.

Regular readers won’t be surprised, though, because unfortunately this is becoming a bit of a habit at the Beeb.

CHANCELLOR PESTON..

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Is BBC business editor Robert Peston now running the UK economy, or merely ruining it? I ask this having endured watching him droning away on The Ten O’Clock News and reading this latest entry on the BBC news portal. He hails the Brown £50bn bail out as our banking system is partly nationalised, suggesting that it will make the banks stronger and more ready to lend. It’s been interesting to see a lot of criticism across the blogosphere directed the BBC’s way over the hysterical financial grandstanding by Mr Peston and his apparent admiration for Labour. We are not alone.

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Financial crisis: Is it time for stricter regulation?

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Not my question, the Beeb’s. The reflex never fails, does it? These have your say things are a joke when the question more or less determines the whole structure of debate. One question, which some would consider moot, means that reasonable answers to that question will inevitably tend to fall within the BBC’s comfort zone.

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TIME TO QUESTION CAPITALISM?

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I got a few brickbats the other day when I chose to tackle Evan Davies application of his economics training in an interview he conducted with TUC comrade Brendan Barber on Today. This morning in an interview Davies conducted (8.50am)with Larry Elliot on a new book which he even admits “comes from the left” attacking the institutions and systems that has led to the credit crunch, Davies asks “if the current crisis should not make us question the fundamentals of the capitalist system that got us here” I bet. The BBC struggles with free market capitalism and always will be hostile to it because it exists in a timewarp, protected by the license tax from the very market which it critiques.

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Who ate all the pies?

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More nonsense reporting from the BBC. A generous portion of the BBC’s bias lies in giving credence to outlandish leftist notions- such as that the cause of food shortages is obesity.

Why exactly the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine is calculating the costs of John Prescott’s sad “condition” is one of many unanswered questions from this report.

Let’s just consider some real news shall we? How about Alistair Darling’s attack on EU grain tariffs, which actually do keep food prices high? I couldn’t find a BBC story on it or the backlash. Or how about the story mentioned in this report of how the UK Treasury is dealing with its debt problems by raking in from the high fuel prices which make food so expensive?

How about a bit more on the impact of biofuels on food production? Some number crunching there would be more than welcome.

The war on fatties is pure diversion from the machinations of politicians. The BBC is entirely complicit in these. Politics, statism, and the manipulation of the populace is the BBC’s stock in trade.

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Fair and balanced

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– the BBC gets in its response to the US Federal Bank’s rate cut.

“One analyst said the Fed was “obviously panicked” by the threat of recession.

“Unfortunately they have no power to reverse what in my opinion is the worst post-war recession,” said Michael Metz, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer in New York.”

Doubtless this article [actually, as I write it has been; initially it ended with Mr Metz’s quote] will be updated, but the BBC has a strange kind of spitefulness ready for such measures- lest anyone should get the idea that the US financial system cares or is competent or anything bizarre like that. The final comment struck me as especially odd, given that only a month ago, Alan Greenspan put the risk of recession at 50%.

The BBC also say that the move is a “complete surprise”, which, er, well, surprised me having read this call for action early today. I therefore, unlike the BBC, was not surprised. Larry Kudlow also says “Much of this is panic over a U.S. recession threat that has yet to clearly materialize.“

In this world of multiple sources we can see the BBC bias in sharp relief.

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