Chapter 683 Short-term and long-term

"We need more comprehensive policies to reduce the impact of the post-crisis recession on the country, Mr Prime Minister."

After the news of the divorce came out, Barron did not appear in public for a period of time - of course, this actually did not change much from his previous life, because in the past two years, Barron's life has been greatly reduced. In order to face the camera, he only appears in front of the public during some charity activities or more important activities of the British upper class, such as the annual social season.

Of course, this does not prevent him from meeting some friends, such as the Prime Minister.

Barron said to Brown in front of him:

"So far, other countries, including the United States and Europe, have introduced a series of promotional policies aimed at restoring the economy. Compared with this, our response strategy in the UK is relatively monotonous."

"It is true that there are more ways to discuss it now, but we will adopt a cautious attitude towards relevant policies, Your Highness the Duke."

It seems that Brown has also considered this. He said:

"Quantitative easing policy can indeed stimulate the economy currently in recession, but it can also easily lead to inflation. We need to strictly control the intensity of relevant policies."

At present, policies in various countries are generally similar in response to the economic recession after the subprime mortgage crisis.

It is roughly divided into measures such as government investment, tax cuts and subsidies for disadvantaged groups.

For example, in the initial stage of government investment, the government mainly injects funds into relevant banks and other financial institutions, and nationalizes these institutions to save them and avoid the collapse of the financial system.

After stabilizing the financial system, government investment began to expand into areas of public investment, such as increasing infrastructure projects and providing subsidies to some industries.

These can be divided into two strategic purposes: short-term and long-term. In addition to providing more jobs in the short term to avoid further economic decline, it can also lay the foundation for future economic growth, such as for some technologies and people's livelihood. investment and subsidies for other projects.

In addition to these government investments, there are also tax cuts and subsidies for disadvantaged groups.

As Barron said, compared with the more types of rescue policies in the United States and European countries, the current policies introduced by the United Kingdom are relatively monotonous. In addition to the previous large-scale investment by the government in financial institutions such as banks, the current main measures , still focusing on tax cuts.

"In fact, I don't think some of these policies are necessary, sir, such as the rescue of banks and some lending institutions. In fact, one of the main causes of this crisis is some financial-related Companies need to be eliminated because they are 'harmful' to society - many of our consumption methods are not considered healthy, and we pursue excessive consumption while ignoring the role of savings. This makes the entire society's ability to resist risks very fragile. In negative factors After it accumulates to a certain level, it will inevitably explode..."

Barron shrugged and said to Brown:

"As a businessman, I would welcome this habit of advanced consumption. After all, it is conducive to the development of commodity consumption and private credit, but for us in England, this is not a good thing... and this crisis itself , is a process of eliminating those financial institutions that operate too aggressively. However, because of the need to maintain social stability, the government has to rescue these institutions that should be eliminated, which is equivalent to artificially delaying this process... "

Of course, it is not that no one has noticed these things, but the problem is that the definition of "correct approach" has completely different considerations in different situations.

For example, rather than suffering short-term losses and achieving long-term healthy development, countries such as Europe and the United States will inevitably choose to maintain stability in the short term and obtain eye-catching data.

Because on the one hand, the Labor Party needs to face a general election - from Brown's point of view, the general election is less than a year away, so they will inevitably consider more short-term effects when formulating economic policies. After all, even if If they formulate policies based on long-term healthy development, then if the economy is still at a low point next year and the Conservative Party comes to power, what will happen next will have little meaning to the Labor Party.

It may even allow the Conservative Party to reap the benefits of their long-term economic policies during the cycle, but make it more difficult for Labor to return to power in the next general election...

In addition, these governments will face capital pressure - from banks to financial institutions, they are all inextricably linked to the top capital in each country. When they need government funds for rescue, the final decision-making results , one can imagine.

No, no, you don't really think that the governments voted for by Europe and the United States really represent the interests of the "people".

For example, President Ao Guanhai, who took office at the beginning of this year, said during his campaign that he would punish Wall Street and legislate to strengthen supervision of the financial market - this is the common wish of ordinary Americans.

Ao Guanhai has been working on a financial regulatory bill since he took office, but has been blocked by the Xiang Party and Wall Street capital, and so far there has been no result...

In the original time and space, the Donkey Party government repeatedly compromised, and the bill was passed by Congress in July 2010. However, the core content had been removed, and the issue of Wall Street's financial derivatives was basically untouched.

The bill focuses more on how to detect and resolve crises rather than fundamentally preventing crises from occurring.

The U.S. economy is in recession, and the consequences of the financial crisis are still hurting the American people every day, while people on Wall Street still receive high salaries and high bonuses.

In addition, it was also under the pressure of Wall Street capital that Ao Guanhai had to carry out quantitative easing policy in advance, and its scale became larger and larger. This was actually contrary to his initial campaign promise, but There was no way, he knew who he couldn't afford to offend.

The United States is like this, so of course it's not much better in Europe.

The reason why Barron discussed this topic with Brown is not to say that Barron is really worried about the country and the people... Of course, he would like to see better development in England, but he certainly would not say that he would rather Even at the expense of one's own interests, one must achieve such a goal.

Barron is really not that great, but as the Duke of England, England can have more say in the world, which is also good for him.

In addition, his current industry, even the financial industry, whether it is DS Group or Standard Chartered-Merrill Lynch Group, has nothing to do with the companies that "need to be eliminated" in the subprime mortgage crisis. On the contrary, he is still happy I have seen some banks enter the phase of elimination...

Of course, Barron also knows that in the face of the fierce coming of the Conservative Party and the pressure of next year's general election, he wants Brown to really ignore short-term interests and value the long-term development of Britain more, so as to clean up the financial industry and support some The high-end manufacturing and technology industries do not have much hope either.

But it is better to have some effect than to do nothing at all.