A Letter to Mr Brown

Dear Mr. Brown,

For a man who started his PM role as a self-proclaimed financial prodigy, you seem to have little understanding of financial matters. And by this I am not referring to the financial turmoil itself. It was not your fault.

But in the same way, it was neither the fault of those you blame: the greedy bankers, the immoral short-sellers and the Icelandic government. It’s the blaming and threatening like a simple bully that makes me doubt your financial credentials. Prove me wrong!

Let me tell you why those you blame are not at fault. For decades now, governments all over the world encouraged greed. They loved quick earnings and the spiralling property value. It gave them the spending power they wanted.

In our culture, quick money has become the measure of success; insurance has become a way to make money rather than a way to protect those who suffered damages; fines have been used as a source of income for governments and councils rather than a way to deter crime and anti-social behaviours. So how can you blame us for greed? This is the way the government, you, and most of us, wanted it, choosing to ignore a basic universal principle – things do change.

Some call it Yin and Yang, and you don’t have to be religious to appreciate the wisdom behind the biblical story of Joseph who become second to king Pharaoh because he’d realised that bad years come after good ones, and that they needed to save resources during the good years to be used when things turned bad. In financial terms it’s called reduction of volatility. It’s also called the economic cycle. But if we kept increasing our debt – private and national – during the best of times, what did we think would happen when things turned bad? Did we really think it would never happen? My grandmother knew better, you should have learnt from her, and she wasn’t a financial genius.

You see Mr. Brown, there is no one to blame. You, together with us, preferred to ride the wave of mediocrity and the path of least resistance. Now we are reaping what we sowed.

One more question if you don’t mind Mr. PM; how did you reach the £500 billion bailout figure in only a couple of days? It can only be a very rough estimated, and if it is, I have some suggestions for you:

First, why don’t you use only £460B for the bailout, and keep the extra 40 to fix the education, and legal systems. After all, it was only money that stopped you from doing that earlier, and now you seem to have resolved the problem of raising money.

Second, can you please stop blaming the poor Icelandic government? Professionals at the government and councils put the money there because they got better rates. As professionals they must have known that higher rates meant higher risk. Did you really believe that a 300,000 fishermen country could guarantee UK savings? And besides, if you already raise £500B, why don’t you simply raise 501B and leave the poor Icelandic people alone. Neither you nor anyone else would even notice the difference. On the other hand, if you abuse terror laws, we will all notice.

And one last suggestion Mr. Brown, we all know that now, when we have less money, you are going to increase the taxes to pay for the bailout. I well understand that you have no other viable choice. But why don’t you start immediately by raising the tax on alcohol and tobacco instead of blaming supermarkets for selling it so cheap, and hence encouraging anti-social behaviour. Price of alcohol is not their moral responsibility, it’s yours, and you are given the opportunity to kill two pigs in one bullet.

Remember, it’s just too easy to find scapegoats. But they may only work in the short term. In the long term you reap what you have sown. The challenges you are facing are greater than any post-war prime minister had to face. So please stop finding blame, stop making empty phrases and gestures, and stop being hypocrite. Show us what a prodigy can do. This is your chance. There is nothing more anyone can ask of you.