Just doing their job
Of course it's the job of organisations like the BRC to highlight the struggles of their members. First among the mission statements published on the BRC site is the desire to "make life easier for our members by campaigning to promote and defend retailers' interests."
Usually this means painting a picture of retail in trouble in order to encourage the Bank of England to lower interest rates, which in turn should encourage people to spend more down the shops. However, with interest rates at their lowest level ever, the BRC has had to shift its focus.
"This is no time for the Government to be piling new burdens on a major job-supporting sector such as retailing," said Robertson. "For example, its plans to push retailers' business rates bills up by £1.6 billion over the next two years urgently needs revising."
David Frost, the director-general of the BCC, added to the clamour. "A clearly defined National Recovery Plan will need to be rolled out as soon as possible, involving all politicians," he said.
He was backed up by the BCC's chief economist, David Kern. "A prolonged recession can still be averted, if the authorities adopt urgent and additional forceful corrective measures," he said. "Interest rates will have to be reduced to almost zero early in 2009. But interest rate cuts, though important, are no longer adequate on their own.
"New and more far-reaching measures like a further fiscal stimulus and quantitative monetary easing should be introduced. If the risk of deflation worsens, businesses will face new threats, and the authorities must be ready to introduce emergency policies. The smooth flow of finance to businesses must be sustained at all costs, and business taxes will have to be cut."
Quantitative monetary easing is essentially a euphemism for printing more money - a highly inflationary measure. While deflation remains a concern this could possibly be justified, but the big worry is that when things start to pick up again, inflation will suddenly shoot up. That could end up being just as damaging to the economy as the current recession is.
