Astonishing what you can get away with. A 2% cut in interest rates within a month indicates that someone is either being very clever in revitalisingthe economy or they don’t know what they are doing, nor have they for quite some time.

There should be a lot of red faces in the country at the moment. I can’t help feeling that there are a lot of people in charge who are squeaking their way out of trouble when they should be held to account.For a start our “super” regulator as they were announced in the late 90s, has failed miserably.

It is all very well giving a light touch approach to regulation and then only reacting with a heavy hand when something goes wrong, but it depends upon which part of the financial services industry you are talking about. If it is a sector which through incompetence, deviousness or greed can bring the nation to a grinding halt, then one would perceive that a little more prescriptive regulation and control would be a good idea!

Yes I know the credit crunch all started in the USA, but the fact is the UK and elsewhere jumped on the gravy train. Little thought was given to the impact of re-packaging such high-risk debt or enough attention paid to the risk rating of capital to ensure sufficient reserves were retained by banks.

 No one could foresee the global impact of this debacle as it unfolded last month, but let’s face it, there have been some clues along the way and one would imagine that our “super” regulator would have had access to information enabling them to deal with potential risks before they got out of hand. It would seem they have at least admitted their own incompetence with senior individuals working in banking regulation leaving over the last 12 months.

Now what about the Bank of England? They all seem like jolly good chaps. But for years we have heard the Monitary Planning Committee telling us that the changes (or lack of them) being made to interest rates are with foresight to cope with the economy in 18-24 months time and meeting inflation targets.

They have also been very quick to point out the boom and bust impact that large interest rate cuts would have on us all. Industry has been crying out for cuts for months with a lot more foretelling despite the Bank of England’s protestations of what this might do to inflation. In the main the cries fell on deaf ears until….

….Mr Brown, Mr Darling and their band of merry men appeared suddenly all to save us and get us out of a crisis. They have had absolutely nothing to do with us getting into the crisis apparently. They have come up with several new and innovative ways to halt a recession and give us long lasting stability and growth.

Cutting interest rates (sorry the Monitary Policy Committee is supposed to do that aren’t they?) and telling the banks to pass those on immediately will save a bit of face. Borrowing huge sums to prop up the financial system in the short term will save a bit more. I get the feeling that someone has recently realisedjust how unpopular he is and is trying to win us all over. Whatever next – tax cuts?