This morning, on the Today radio programme, John Humphrys interviewed the Archbishop of Canterbury. You can listen to the whole event, here.
The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has issued his Christmas message. In a wide-ranging interview, he gives his views on the economic downturn, the invasion of Iraq and the possibility of disestablishment of the Church of England.
This interview has also provoked a considerable volume of comment, including from the Prime Minister. Here’s some of the reporting:
BBC Economic crisis a ‘reality check’ by Robert Piggot
Guardian
Brown’s spending plans like ‘addict returning to the drug’, says archbishop and
Spin, Brown style: or how to bash the Tories with a bishop
Telegraph
Martin Beckford Archbishop of Canterbury: Gordon Brown’s recovery plan like ‘addict returning to drug’
James Kirkup and Martin Beckford Gordon Brown hits back over Rowan Williams’ economic attack
The Times
Philippe Naughton Archbishop of Canterbury welcomes credit crunch ‘reality check’ and
Brown slaps down Archbishop of Canterbury in credit crunch row
The Archbishop’s Christmas Message can be found here.
The archbishop failed to communicate clearly enough. The return to the drug is this: what was the problem? Generating too much debt, consuming beyond means. What is the solution? Public debt, to try to restore consumption. The analysis instead should be the change in the economy after a collapse, where public debt is fine so long as it generates physical demand and adds value: this means infrastructure type projects, especially producing social housing (as this would reduce asset price inflation in the future). The issue in the economy is not producing lots of thingies as such, but adding value in… Read more »
The Archbishop failed to communicate thoroughly enough? True, he is often a challenge to understand, but your sentences make very little sense, Pluralist.
As I interpreted him, Rowan was asking what is the place of debt in our society? I can confidently say that the US is much too indebted as a nation for its own good. Rowan obviously feels the same about the UK. It’s true that up to a certain point, a country, a business or a person should take on debt to invest in something that will produce a higher return, like infrastructure, new factories or education respectively. While the US and UK have no choice but to take on debt to invest in themselves and keep their economies going,… Read more »
Williams – as ever – is simply wrong.