Anatole Kaletsky is foaming at the mouth at the possibility that any rescue of Northern Rock will place a big burden on taxpayers. I think he's right to argue against such an outcome. However, I don't really blame the bidders for trying it on, and I suspect the Government will find it hard to refuse, given the inept handling of the crisis by the financial authorities, particularly the Bank of England.
But I have to wonder: can this be the same Anatole Kaletsky who was for many years one of the great apologists for cheap money? He regularly argued that the process of home equity withdrawal (the flipside of excessive mortgage lending) was a wholly-benign, growth-supporting feature of the US and UK economies. In fact, he used to castigate the ECB for refusing to cut interest rates, thereby denying European homeowners the chance to get in on the action. M. Trichet must be glad he didn't take the advice.
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