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39 comments on Winchester Lets Brown Have Both Barrels
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PP - what you're forgetting is that the economy is fundamentally strong;-)
I agree with everything you say here. No way we could compete with consumer goods manufacturing with other countries but the capital goods industries - like building nuclear power plants or windmills - really needs a shot in the arm.
As I see things the £ will down - parity with with € ? - and perhaps 8 to 9 NOK - as the gas import bills with Norway mount up. So all our imports will get more expensive and we have inflation that the bank cannot tackle for fear of ruining "the economy" and inflation will rise - erasing the debts and pensions that folks believe they earned making unsolicited phone calls from call centers that add negative value to the economy.
The current mess we are in is 100% down to Gordon Brown. I don't know when he did it, but changing the BOE inflation measure from the RPI (all inclusive) to the CPI (excludes property) was the license for the current boom in property and consumer spending that has provided a mirage of prosperity. The RPI has been running at over 4% due to hyper inflation in the property market that is about to unwind - I would guess values will fall by 50%. Did you see the Panorama (BBC) earlier this week highlighting fraud within the property market - there is a story there with teeth that will run and send folks to prison.
Thanks to Rune for the cartoon.
"our economy is fundamentally strong" is Alistair Darling's favourite catch phrase (that too makes my blood boil!). Applying Westexas' "assume the opposite theorem filter" this becomes "our economy is built on quicksand".
I don't know how house prices will play out, but using the house boom as a substitute for real wealth creating activity seams dubious at best to me, but I'm no economist only a lowly engineer. I think the pension system will turn out to be one of the greatest delusions of our time. My last employer doubled our contributions, and at the same time reduced the scheme from final salary to career average earnings. This was a massive downgrade. The pesion system is floating on melting ice.
I think the RPI is what affects most people including pensioners and is the higher value. The CPI is what the goverment uses to make things look rosy. (correct me if I'm wrong). This means pensioners real income is falling, but the government is able to claim pensions are rising at the rate of inflation.
As for the governments constant upbeat energy rhetoric, I too wonder how the uk intends to pay for our energy from Norway and Russia or in liquid form from the ME. I was 14 whem M Thatcher came to power and the country was in financial ruin, she sold off the countries assets and had the North Sea as a saviour. Current economic activity has come from borrowing against house price inflation. Eureka Perpetual motion!
We have a new unit of currency, it is called a 'Northern Rock' :-)
Nothing is expensive unless it costs at least one of these!
1 Rock = 100 giga £
1 Rock = 0.1 tera £
Are they still sponsoring Neuk United - success spreads eh?
I think people are only just beginning to understand what he has done over the past 10 years.
Today, I got a leaflet with my weekly printed MoneyWeek.com that described the contents of a book called Gordon is a Moron by Vernon Coleman. Seriously hard hitting book.
His previous book was "Oil Apocalypse" so he knows the score!