Back Brown’s bail-out

Oct 12 2008 by Ken Oxley, Sunday Sun

IT’S often said that you can’t solve a problem by throwing money at it. I guess no one told Gordon Brown.

Or if they did, he had the wisdom to ignore them. Because it seems the £500bn bank rescue package he announced this week is the only way we CAN solve this problem . . . in the short-term, at least.

Drastic times call for drastic measures but what I have found surprising — and encouraging — is the relative lack of criticism the bail out plan has been met with.

Sure there are those who are saying it’s “too little, too late” but — with the exception of a few truly visionary economists — most of those making a big noise didn’t see a crisis of this magnitude coming either.

For the Prime Minister, it’s a case of “cometh the hour, cometh the man” and there’s no doubt he has been on the ascendant ever since the economy nose-dived, with Cameron disappearing off the radar.

The once dithering PM’s standing has been buoyed by a sudden attack of decisiveness. The vast majority of financial experts and political commentators are right behind him and agree that the unprecedented cash injection is the only sensible course of action to take. I’ve already resigned myself — as I suspect we all must — to knuckling down and accepting that we’re in for a few lean years.

But you know what? That might not be such a bad thing. I’m a great believer in the free market economy, but could it be that we’ve all had it too good for too long?

Perhaps the credit crunch will force our “I want it now” society to reassess what’s really important now that the consumerism juggernaut is grinding to a halt.

But while it may be the end of the line, it’s not the end of the world.

Yes, we all want stuff . . . new cars, hi-definition TVs, iPods, the latest whizzo mobile phone.

But will it be so painful to forego instant gratification and have to — God forbid — save up for the creature comforts we’re so addicted to?

Perhaps I’m trying to polish a steaming, great turd here, but I’m beginning to think some good old-fashioned austerity won’t do us any harm . . . so long as we don’t have to endure it indefinitely.

The precursor to the credit crunch was a credit free-for-all, when too many of us knew the price of everything and the value of nothing.

If and when we get through this, we might just learn to appreciate what we have without always craving for more.