October 05, 2011
The NYT reported that British Prime Minister David Cameron was prepared to give a speech in which he would call on households and businesses to pay down their debt rather than spend. This amounts to a gaffe of enormous proportions. It implies that the Prime Minister overseeing one of the world’s largest economies has no clue about economics. If households and businesses responded to the prime minister’s request, it would further reduce demand leading to a second recession and a further rise in unemployment.
While the NYT piece did note that Cameron changed his comments in response to complaints from businesses, it did not go on to quiz his staff in the same way that the media have followed up on other alleged gaffes by political figures. For example, in the weeks following the disclosure of then Senator Obama’s comments about working class Pennsylvanians turning to guns and religion out of frustration and bitterness, news stories were filled with accounts from Obama’s press people and others about his remarks.
Certainly the magnitude of Cameron’s gaffe dwarfs the guns and religion statement from Obama. The media should be pressing his aides to determine whether Mr. Cameron is really as confused about the economy as the text of his original speech implied. People in both the UK and the rest of the world would undoubtedly like to know.
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