Do we have to face the "Worst recession in 3 centuries"?

While the incumbent government continues its attempt to fly deprivation and misery under the radar of the Covid pandemic, comparisons with WW1 and WW2[1] have been bandied about. What a load of lazy flannel.

Let me tell you what happened during the dying embers of the dystopian end of WW2. Bretton Woods happened, that's what. All 44 of the "Allied" nations got together to plan to avoid the devastating financial collapses that had occurred during the 1918-39 interregnum.

They signed an agreement on the 22nd of July 1944, i.e. almost a year before the end of the war. The participants did not want the misery to continue and were prepared to do something about it. The guiding light was macroeconomist John Maynard Keynes, a particularly influential human being who sadly died less than 8 months after the war ended. He was thereby denied the pleasure of witnessing his vision in action.

And for those rich kids running the UK today who would label anyone to the left of Enoch Powell and Nigel Farage as Marxists or communists I'll remind you of this:
"His (JM Keynes's) radical idea that governments should spend money they don't have may have saved capitalism," according to Time magazine, which, in 1999, included Keynes among its "Most Important People of the Century". Time could hardly be accused of being an organ of socialism.

​As far as the recovery plan is concerned, the 44 nations got together in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire before the end of the war. They co-signed an agreement to ensure that its aftermath could be ameliorated as soon as possible. Like all systems, Bretton Woods ran its course after 28 years but its legacy should not be ignored.

​Especially when the alternative is that our economy is steered into penury for the less privileged by a gang of people so protected by enormous wealth that will cushion them from any of the draconian measures being proposed and implemented. 

Reducing foreign aid in 2021 will only mean that resultant misery in recipient nations will increase the desperation to emigrate from the worst hit areas. Ironically, many of these people will perceive that the UK and USA have streets paved with gold, thereby increasing the "First World" desperation to repel boarders with abominations like the US/Mexico wall.

With tens of millions in one's back pocket, it is easy to weather a storm like the one our chancellor is forecasting. However, the majority of the British population will not be so lucky in a corrupt environment that is robbing the poor to pay the rich.

There is another way ...

​The UK Government has tinkered around the edges of spending a teensy bit of extra money to keep the economy staggering along. It is clearly not enough if we are to mitigate the nightmare of the worst recession in 300 years. The money supply needs to be radically adjusted upwards and delivered appropriately to those who most need to spend it to jump start the economy. If you give a billionaire another billion, it will only end up boosting that person's personal wealth portfolio (with one or two philanthropic exceptions). 

In the words of Mr Keynes, "Words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assault of thoughts on the unthinking."

If we are to follow this logic, Mr Chancellor, please just stop trying to pin your incompetence on Covid-19. You need to follow Mr Keynes's advice that "the social object of skilled investment should be to defeat the dark forces of time and ignorance which envelope our future."

It is time to take the helm to ensure the transfer of today's hoardings to the building of tomorrow's sustainable future. If you are unable to assume this responsibility you must stand aside for someone who will accept the baton and do something with it.

And, if you think Bretton Woods died more than 40 years ago and JM Keynes more than 70, I'll leave you with some advice[2] from Kristalina Geogieva, current MD of the International Monetary Fund:

"[we need to embrace] the values of cooperation and solidarity on which a sisterhood and brotherhood of humanity is built.
"Today we face a new Bretton Woods moment ... untold human desperation in the face of huge disruption and rising poverty for the first time in decades.
"Once again, we face two massive tasks: to fight the crisis today— and build a better tomorrow."

Her conclusion: "The best memorial we can build to those who have lost their lives in this crisis is, in the words of Keynes, “that bigger thing”— building a more sustainable and equitable world," 

Endnotes:

1. World War 1 (1914-1918) and World War 2 (1939-1945)
2. A New Bretton Woods Moment, By Kristalina Georgieva, IMF Managing Director Washington, DC​​