Watching the Osborne speech, at times the Chancellor appeared to stare at the auto cue with a fair degree of incredulity. Such is the danger of auto cue when ideas can be added at the last minute, even the Chancellor appeared bemused by some of the material. This must have been the case with the idea of credit easing. This is a new idea which no one, including the Chancellor, knows anything about. The project appears to suggest SMEs will issue long term bonds with a low coupon, packaged into a series of CDOs, AAA rated by Standard and Poors, bought by the Treasury, sold to the Bank of England and placed off balance sheet in a structured investment vehicle backed by a RMBS (Rumours of Monetary Backing Somewhere) then written off over thirty years.
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