One is disappointed...

[AtW]

Really? By the end of JM's term, Britain was growing steadily, out of recession and the deficit was in control for the first time in a century. AFAIK that was the last time Britian had any sort of current a/c surplus.

Exchange rates to USD since 1990:



Source: http://fxtop.com/en/historical-excha...DD2=23&LANG=en

Average of 1.638459 in 1997, now who is the tulip PM: John Major or May?

[DimPrawn]

Exchange rates to USD since 1990:



Source: Historical exchange rates from 1953 with graph and charts

Average of 1.638459 in 1997, now who is the tulip PM: John Major or May?

You don't earn in USD obviously.

[sasguru]

Exchange rates to USD since 1990:



Source: Historical exchange rates from 1953 with graph and charts

Good graph.
There have 3 major falls in US-GBP since 1990:
1. Recession starting 1992.
2. Recession starting 2008
3. Brexit, 2016.

The latter is probably semi-permanent.

[Paddy]

I think there was four USDs to the pound in the 1940s. War Loan was paid back in the 90s when the USD was about 1.20 to the pound. Very very costly to get US help.

[DimPrawn]

I think there was four USDs to the pound in the 1940s. War Loan was paid back in the 90s when the USD was about 1.20 to the pound. Very very costly to get US help.

What price to keep the Germans from controlling Europe?

Oh hang on.......

[AtW]

You don't earn in USD obviously.

80% of SKA Inc sales are exports...

[malvolio]

Modern youth, eh? No understanding of the past...

Britain's economic health was not down to Major but was Thatcher's legacy that he had enough wit to leave alone. It lasted several month's into the early Blair government until Brown got hold of things and realised that if you ignore the future you can make Socialism work for a while. About one year, in fact.

The Pound/Dollar exchange rate is not the indicator either. Compare the FTSE to Wall St., they are still pretty much on parity. Blaming Brexit is immature as well - it hasn't happened yet. The current drop is part realignment, part uncertainty. It's far too early to say what the end result will be but even if the pound stays where it is there are many good sides as bad.

HTH. BIDI.

[darmstadt]

Who believes in polls anyway: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histor...United_Kingdom

1 Clement Attlee
2 Margaret Thatcher
3 Tony Blair
4 Harold Macmillan
5 Harold Wilson
6 John Major
7 Sir Winston Churchill
8 James Callaghan
9 Edward Heath
11 David Cameron
12 Sir Alec Douglas-Home
13 Sir Anthony Eden

[AtW]

The Pound/Dollar exchange rate is not the indicator either. Compare the FTSE to Wall St., they are still pretty much on parity.

Exchange rates are more important to vast majority of UK residents - a lot of stuff are imports and very few people got investments in a mother-bubble of a stock market. Next year inflation will hit big time.

Brexit has not happened yet, so things will get a lot worse than they are now - I expect 10% drop once Article 50 is triggered, and it will be triggered because the current lot only got wit as part of a word fookwit.

[sasguru]

Modern youth, eh? No understanding of the past... .... It's far too early to say what the end result will be but even if the pound stays where it is there are many good sides as bad.

Fuddy duddy old fools eh?
Fail to realise that supply chains are so complex nowadays (e.g. components in car manufacturing can cross borders up to 5 times) that low levels of sterling won't boost exports.
And never have in the past when sterling fell.
The negatives from high external costs though - well that's another matter.

HTH, BIKIW.