Not flush, just Gordon

Perhaps Gordon Brown should travel more often. The lugubrious British prime minister, out of sorts at home and seriously adrift in the polls, has been styled as a swashbuckling conductor in the Spanish press and a magician in France. Europe has apparently bought into Mr Brown’s conviction that this is a severe but transient crisis of confidence that can be overcome by piling on more and more government debt. While the wisdom of that strategy is questionable, it is clear that there is strength in numbers. If governments all muck in together, using taxpayers’ money to recapitalise banks while providing guarantees on new debt issuance, they sacrifice their balance sheets en masse. Some budget deficits will widen more than others. But if they cock a collective snook at fiscal rules and targets, they will discourage capital... [read full story]