Breathtaking, mind boggling, abject stupidity as well.
In today’s London Evening Standard, Labour Members of Parliament Glenda Jackson, Tony Colman, Jeremy Corbyn, LibDem Members of Parliament Jenny Tonge and Vince Cable and Oxfam Campaigns Officer Rajinder Dadry write in to say.
Together with Oxfam, we are concerned that the Government has given permission for the export of an air-traffic control system with military capabilities at the cost of $40 million. […] We are disturbed that one part of the Government has, rightly, played a full part in the cancellation of debt for Tanzania, but that another part of the Government has played a part in increasing the debt on an unnecessary project…
So let us analyse what is being said:
- The statist MPs and their NGO cheerleader applauds the British Government for cancelling foreign debts on behalf of the Tanzanian Government… debts that the Tanzanian Government freely entered into in the first place by borrowing money from western banks.
- The same chorus of MPs plus NGO cheerleader deplore that the Tanzanian Government is acting irresponsibly and therefore it is the responsibility of the British Government to prevent the duly constituted Government of Tanzania from acquiring military air-traffic control radar that they obviously think they need.
Now read that again, gentle reader, before we continue… are you making the causal links that elude this chorus of clowns?
The Tanzanian Government entered into loans with Western and Japanese Banks in the 1980’s and 1990’s. This money financed years of highly inefficient socialist centrally planned spending (plus a bonanza for the Swiss bankers working for a few inexplicably wealthy ‘retired’ Tanzanian ministers) that resulted in far less of an increase in Tanzania’s ability to produce wealth than was required to service the debt on the funds borrowed. Years later, well meaning and largely socialist elements in the West decide that somehow the actions of an African sovereign government are a ‘stain on Western capitalism’ and a large chunk of the debts are written off (at Western tax payers expense).
And the lesson that we have taught the Governing classes in Tanzania is…?
- Borrow as much as you can get banks to lend you because the consequences for imprudent economic decisions are, well, there aren’t any.
The Tanzanian Government is not acting foolishly in buying this radar, they are just playing by the rules of the game we have written. Have I missed something here or is Glenda Jackson MP and her ilk really as obtuse as I think they are?
