Nationalise away!

Also on Comment is Free, Matthew Elliott of the Taxpayer's Alliance says taxpayers should not have to bail out banks. As the standfirst puts it (I can't be bothered to read the article)

There is no reason why wholesale nationalisation should be the outcome of the current economic turmoil

Well, he's right on the first point, but if we are giving them our money, we should nationalise them. At the moment, we taxpayers seem to have a lot of the risk and none of the profit.

Hang them from the lamposts

On Comment is Free, Simon Jenkins wants retribution:

If the mistakes that have collapsed the world's financial markets had been made by statesmen and had led to war, there would be corpses swinging from lampposts. If they had been made by generals, they would be falling on their swords. If they had been made by judges or surgeons or scholars, some framework of professional retribution would be rolling into action. But those responsible for our finances can apparently vanish into the forest like Cheshire cats, leaving only gold-plated grins. Not for them a Hague tribunal or a Hutton inquiry. They are not just good at shedding risk - they shed blame.

Confused? You will be

The Telegraph has a very confused story, whose premise is that:

Families are having to cut back on groceries, eating out and holidays as the credit crisis starts to have a profound effect on household spending.

Except that it isn't anything to do with the credit crunch:

With the cost of living going up by £1,800 a year for the average home, the first evidence has emerged of how families are changing their spending habits to cope with the economic squeeze.

Disposable income has been affected by a range of increased costs. Gas, electricity, water, food and drink bills, council taxes and mortgage payments have all increased by more than the rate of inflation.

In fact, the best evidence the story can offer of "austerity" is that:

Aldi, the budget supermarket, has reported a 25 per cent increase in sales, with rising numbers of middle-class customers.

And:

although shoppers were buying flat-screen televisions, laptops and fridges in money-off promotions, they were shunning full-priced products.