The following (one-sided) correspondence is fairly self-explanatory but basically, after reports appeared in the print and broadcast media (and of course on the Internet) to the effect that the British Government had borrowed over four billion pounds from the banking system in January 2010, the thought crossed my mind that instead of so borrowing (at interest) the Government could do what the banking system has been doing over the past year - simply creating the money out of nothing. If it were to do so, it would save on two counts:
a) there would be no interest to pay on the debt - because
b) there would be no debt!
This ain’t rocket science, the British Government - read the taxpayer - is paying for something it can obtain for nothing. On February 4, I fired off an E-Mail to the Treasury. On February 8, I received a reply - such as it was - from Stephen Timms MP, who is Financial Secretary to that august organisation.
Being distinctly unsatisfied, and after waiting a month in the vain hope of something more substantive arriving in my Inbox, I wrote to the Chancellor himself. Obviously one does not expect an immediate snailmail reply, especially from the man who holds the keys to the nation’s purse strings, but I do not expect any answer now, because the Chancellor does not have one. At least, not one he could make public.
It is now Easter Day, and I would in all sincerity expect to see Jesus Christ return to Earth in a flying saucer before I - or anyone - received an adequate reply to this extremely simple question.
The links below leads to said correspondence (in Portable Document Format). Read it, and make up your own mind.
April 4, 2010.
For the Chancellor’s (totally inadequate) reply, see the fourth link below.
April 10, 2010.
E-Mail to the Treasury
Non-response from Stephen Timms
Letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer
Reply from the Treasury on behalf of the Chancellor of the Exchequer (HTML page)
Reply to Richard Curtis (HTML page)
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