New Bretton Woods Politics
The Politics of Gordon Brown
It was back in April 2008 that former Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti requested a New Bretton Woods conference, and it wasn’t the first time he had asked. However, by October it was Gordon Brown being lorded as the man introducing this initiative, with headlines like, “Gordon Brown’s call for a new Bretton Woods gains traction” flying off the presses.
The truth is that in his decade as Chancellor of the UK Gordon Brown presided over and championed the credit bubble, and only now as a matter of political expediency in his role as Prime Minister is he taking on the clear thinking of visionaries such as Tremonti.
But all politics aside what does New Bretton Woods mean for the world economy?
That will depend on the ability of the politicians to agree the rules of a new system of international finance. With so many competing interests can we really expect Gordon Brown to lead a successful initiative?
This is the same leader who has single-handedly ruined the lives of thousands of British savers in his mishandling of the Icelandic banking crisis:
The Kaupthing IoM Debacle
Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander (KSF) Isle of Man (IOM) is an Isle of Man based subsidiary of Kaupthing hf, based in Iceland. KSF IOM has many customers, including many UK residents currently overseas.
On 7th October 2008, the UK government seized Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander UK’s assets using Anti-terror legislation. KSF IOM had 60% of its depositor’s funds in the UK and therefore a real and immediate liquidity problem. Kaupthing hf, itself suffering liquidity issues, reneged on the Parental Guarantee and refused transfer of funds to help KSF IOM.
Gordon Brown refuses to acknowledge the government’s role in bringing down the KSF IOM bank, and more significantly refuses to return the 60% of depositors funds that he seized.
