You know there’s a proper financial crisis on.

As CDS on UK government debt hit a record of 107.5bp, George Osborne, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, was moved to comment (via Bloomberg):

The markets are delivering their own verdict on Gordon Brown’s plan to double the national debt,” said George Osborne, a Conservative lawmaker who speaks on finance. “Thanks to the government, many European countries including Portugal and Belgium are seen as safer investments than the U.K.”

Let’s hope Osborne’s involvement with credit default swaps remains on the level of ‘interested observer’. Politicians plus CDS do not a happy coupling make.

Related links:
The US Treasury default risk meme – Paul Kedrosky
Country default risk as measured by CDS – Bespoke

This entry was posted by Stacy-Marie Ishmael on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2008 at 18:59 and is filed under Capital markets, People. Tagged with george osborne. Edit this entry.