Banana republic with a banana shortage

Daddy, right about most things, often told Sir Compton that printing money led to inflation. It happened in Germany after the first war, it happened in Europe before the euro and it happens yet in Zimbabwe, a country whose money supply policy Britain is now emulating. What a terrible day.

The start of quantatitive easing - ie, the injection of £75 billion into the economy - might well encourage banks to lend - though they can equally just sit on the money to build their balance sheets - but it will not encourage people to borrow - and therefore to spend - for the simple reason that they have no confidence in their jobs, the value of their homes, the measures being taken by the govt. All that will happen is that the value of the pound in your pocket - to coin a phrase - will decline.

The best thing to do is take the bundles of money up into helicopters and throw them out over centres of population. That might encourage people to spend, but only to have a hell of a hooley and forget their and the nation's troubles.

Sir Compton's mortgage is one basis point below the bank rate and he expects very shortly to receive cheques from thre Halifax, ie other taxpayers. He's said it before, he'll say it again...we are totally f*****.