Gordon Brown and Quantitative Easing: A Missed Opportunity To Bridge The Inequality Gap.
A great mistake which has consigned the Labour party to the political wilderness for a generation and led to the Brexit vote.
The world in September 2008 was on the brink of cataclysm, with the banks having woken up to the reality that it was perilously close to having zero liquidity. This problem was brought on by the irresponsible gambling of the hedge fund managers, arbitrageurs, speculators and above all, the audit agencies and the big insurance companies, who knew fully well, that the numbers did not add up.
The CEOs of the investment banks, who had for a very long time disdained politicians, government oversight and regulation of any form, were forced to go to the very people they loathed for money, to keep the system afloat.
The solution recommended by the Bank of England, which was sanctioned by the government of the day, came to be known as quantitative easing (QE).
So what exactly is quantitative easing?
According to Wikipedia, Quantitative Easing is the monetary policy, which entails the scale purchase of bonds and financial assets in order to inject money to expand economic activity. In practical terms in 2008, QE entailed the printing of money, in order to fuel liquidity, which…