I’ve only once bet the ranch.
I like the expression but actually I only put my small terraced house on the table after a bad run at Lloyd’s. It could have gone very badly. It went rather well, as it happens. I gave my wife some money to pay an annoying bill she had incurred. She became my ex-wife and the annoying bill was not only tax deductible but was refunded with tax free interest. Interest rates were high then and Lloyd’s started coughing up instead of sending testy letters asking for money.
Well, we all juggle our budgets and I think sensibly draw down on capital as we get closer to the finishing post. If you are the First Lord of the Treasury (current incumbent Boris Johnson) the finishing post is within sight. It is a peculiar aspect of Government UK that the First Lord can put his foot on the pedal while the Chancellor of the Exchequer sitting beside him, like a driving instructor, puts the brakes on to avoid a crash.
Whatever you think about Brexit, at best it’s jam tomorrow. Then, the pesky pandemic popped up at a most in inopportune time. I can tell you that Dishi Rishi ( as I have heard him called; I’d order that curry) has had to bet the ranch. Prime Ministers are seldom / never sensible, and Rishi is trying to get back some of the stupendous bungs he gave to Team UK. How much?
It’s not impossible but it means we all need to pay off £4,500 on our Credit Card UK. Higher interest rates and inflation may defeat the First Lord at the next election. If so, a Labour PM and its chancellor will not be comfy. The usual political cycle is Labour spending and Conservatives paying off their debts. This time Labour has not much to spend. It will make for an interesting General Election; the leaders of the two main parties: Mother Hubbards with bare cupboards.
“The Old Mother Hubbard rhyme allegedly refers to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey and his unsuccessful attempt to get an annulment for King Henry VIII. Old Mother Hubbard is Cardinal Wolsey. The cupboard is the Catholic Church. The doggie is Henry VIII. The bone is the annulment Henry wanted in order to end his marriage to Katherine of Aragon.” (The Hidden History of Nursery Rhymes)