Men of Munich?
In the time of crisis we must co-operate. No more wrangling. Stick together. Thus David Cameron today.
Salieri heard some different views immediately afterwards. A Tory frontbencher was deeply disappointed by the commitment to work with the government on bank regulation. ‘It won’t work’, he said, ‘and then ten months down the line when things are even worse we won’t be able to complain about it without looking hypocritical. And the extent to which we are joining into the bash the capitalists is quite wrong. Banks should be allowed to go to the wall, not propped up in way which brings wealth creation into disrepute’.
That’s not an isolated view. It isn’t just rapid Republicans who distrust the degree of state intervention which they view as not only wrong but playing into Labour’s hands. Plenty of delegates share the views of Republicans in the US that the nationalisation of the finance sector will be a disaster - and worse, will play right into Gordon Brown’s hands.
Of course every reasonable person supports the Paulson plan - or if not that then at least some form of intervention. But the views of the majority are not always right. Everyone thought Neville Chamberlain played a blinder at Munich in 1938, but he was just storing up trouble for the future. The parallel might seem far-fetched, but we could all pay the price of hasty intervention in the financial markets now for generations.