We have a plan

摘要

Over the past year the British government has looked asleep at the switches as the credit crunch accelerated. No longer. On October 8th a far-reaching plan was revealed that for the first time addresses the full gravity of a crisis that now imperils both the banking system and the wider economy.rnBefore the markets opened on Wednesday, the Treasury unveiled an historic bailout of Britain's beleaguered banks, including a capital injection of state money that amounts to partial nationalisation. Then at midday the Bank of England broke with its usual practice of announcing interest-rate decisions on Thursdays and nudging rates no more than a quarter-point. In a coordinated move with other central banks, including America's Fed and the euro area's ecb, it cut the base rate by half a percentage point, from 5.0% to 4-5% (see chart).