Ben Delicious writes from London: We have the real world of economics which is in pretty dismal shape at the moment and the world of fancy stats and silly credit figures, including credit ratings. Yes, the fine men and women from the credit agencies, who have managed to miss practically all calamities in the past including the biggie, the financial meltdown of 2008 even though the writing was on the wall for years, have now flexed their muscles again and have given their verdict on Britain’s credit rating, keeping it a cool AAA. Despite, I hasten to add, the small matter of the British economy having one of the fiercest recessions in recent memory.

Yes, the lads and lasses from Standard & Poor ratings agency have confirmed their authority and sharp instincts by confirming Britain’s triple ‘A’ credit rating, opening all sorts of  mouthwatering possibilities for the government to  borrow even more money cheaply while claiming that it is successfully battling the budget deficit and the national debt generally. (So that you know, the UK  national debt officially stands at just over £1 trillion, but with all the hidden extras like pension black holes and liabilities under private finance initiatives is closer to £5 trillion.)

Although it is still unclear how exactly S&P came to its conclusion about Britain’s strong financial worthiness Chancellor George Osborne, who is facing calls to step down for his handling of the economy, has been quick to do a celebratory song and dance, claiming among other things that the world still has confidence in Britain. George provided some very strange lyrics for his songs though saying that the budget deficit has fallen by a quarter and that employment was rising and more than 800,000 new jobs were created, without mentioning how many jobs have folded and how many people are without work. He also sang that Britain is now exporting more to the world than is the rest of Europe. Yep, that is how it is in la-la land economics: Britain is going through a recession and still manages to outstrip all of Europe, including the mighty Germany, when it comes to exports. (Men in white coats, you better keep a close eye on George.)

The great thing about la-la land economics is that you can make any sorts of statements you want and quote any sorts of figures you desire, as long as you manage to keep a straight face and not burst out laughing. Just look at the Governor of the Bank of England Sir Mervyn King and the way he talks about the rate of inflation in Britain that is supposedly falling, currently hovering over 2 per cent, even though everyone knows that it is closer to 10 per cent. No one really says anything to Sir Mervyn when he mentions his figures, as he looks very serious when he provides them. And no one says a word to him about the base interest rate of 0.5 per cent that he has  kept low for something like eternity now, even though it hits millions of savers and pensioners and has nothing to do with the real world where the interest rates rise up to 30 and more per cent, sometimes reaching up to 4000 per cent.

So George is on a roll today, even though there’s nothing to celebrate really. Alice in Wonderland stuff, all this.

–End–

1 Comment

1. longbettlisa says:

   August 1, 2012 at 12:19 am

   Well done George, Ben and everybody here some people must think I living in La La land when I say I sure the Olympics will turn this economy around. There is also a lot of substantial evidence to show, yes we can all be like Alice in Wonderland, living the dream rich or poor some great fantasy stuff. I like the way you compare things with Alice in Wonderland its funny, well done George he obviously has his ear to the ground too. My favourite character in the film is the smiling cat played by Stephen Fry. I sure somebody knows what to do with this dreadful economic crisis. Lets hope we can all sing happy days are here again sometime soon. Maybe Jonny Depp can sort out the world’s economic crisis, or a meeting between Jonny Depp and George Osborne one of them must know what’s happening, no?