Britain on the brink of an economic depression, say experts

[PM-Junkie]

But according to Cyberman, asset prices should only ever go up. I think you've missed something there :-)

I wouldn't know - I haven't seen one of his comments for weeks.

Happy days

[bobhope]

This recession was inevitable, and sorely needed.

But according to Cyberman, asset prices should only ever go up. I think you've missed something there :-)

[AlfredJPruffock]

Cheer up ! Theres life in the old dog yet ...

Cosmetic surgery is booming in Britain... despite the credit crunch, figures show.
More than 34,000 procedures were performed last year – a leap of more than five per cent on 2007.

Boob jobs rose by 30 per cent.

[BrilloPad]

If you haven't got a war chest of dosh to survive for 6-12 months (preferably longer), and you've been doing this for more than 2 years, then you deserve everything you get.

You have never been divorced have you?

[PM-Junkie]

Some people are living in cloud cuckoo land. You'll be lucky to find a rat to eat before this is over. Remember: it's different this time.

And some people seem so delighted at any bit of bad news that comes out, they really should seek professional help.

FACT - the pound was over valued, and needed correcting. This has benefits.
FACT - people were borrowing too much and needed a kick up the backside and a sharp dose of reality
FACT - a lot of companies had forgotten the golden rule...to always watch your cash flow and don't over-leverage
FACT - there are quite a few companies who were going to the wall anyway...Woolworth's for one
FACT - recessions are fantastic opportunities for entrepreneurs. A lot of huge companies have been born during recessions....eg Google.
FACT - companies will use the excuse of the recession to shed staff without making their shareholders nervous
FACT - the banking system and regulatory system are completely screwed. At least these events have shown that to the general population and there is a big demand to fix it.

If there is one group of people who should be well suited to ride the recession and come out of it earlier than most, it should be the members of this forum. If you haven't got a war chest of dosh to survive for 6-12 months (preferably longer), and you've been doing this for more than 2 years, then you deserve everything you get.

And given the hardship that some people are going to go through, people with a lot fewer marketable skills than most of the people on this forum have - some of the people here should be damn well ashamed of themselves.

This recession was inevitable, and sorely needed.

[BrilloPad]

Some people are living in cloud cuckoo land. You'll be lucky to find a rat to eat before this is over. Remember: it's different this time.

I disagree. It will be a heavy recession but not depression :-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/c...-1933-yet.html

But it is not yet like 1933. That second leg down was the result of "liquidation" policies by a Dickensian leadership blind to the dangers of debt deflation. By then the Gold Standard had degenerated into an instrument of torture. It forced the Fed to raise rates from 1.5pc to 3.5pc in October 1931 to stem gold loss, with predictable results for shattered banks.

.
.
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It is the second phase of depression that does terrible things.

[Purple Dalek]

Some people are living in cloud cuckoo land. You'll be lucky to find a rat to eat before this is over. Remember: it's different this time.

[Stan.goodvibes]

Well I should quantify my statement by admitting that I am actually English myself, although only just.

And yes, things ARE bad, but perhaps if some of these columnists were a tad more optimistic (or even realistic) then this recession wouldn't turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Perception is reality in our society - you will know when the UK is coming out of recession when people start talking optimistically about the future - once that optimism gains enough momentum nation-wide, everything will pick up and you'll return to growth.

And lets be honest here - after those extreme boom years we needed a serious correction. We now know that if the credit market had been tighter in the last few years we would have had an earlier and shallower recession, so we should be glad that its happened now and the bubble didn't get any bigger.

And quite frankly - everyone on here should be pretty damn happy that we are in a high-paying reasonably secure industry that means its highly unlikely that any of us will lose our homes. The worst we will probably go through is a bit of belt-tightening for a year or so before we go back to plenty of contracts and rates getting back up there again...

[Shimano105]

Amen to that Stanny boy. I've always thought that we are truly the most miserable brats on the planet.

On the plus side, as long as I am still earning money I am absolutely loving this period of cheap prices. Hell, even builders have stopped trying to rip me off!

Definitely boom time so far!

[Stan.goodvibes]

You English ARE a fantastic source of unintentional humour. Just when you think the press can't get any more negative (the Telegraph particularly) they reach even greater heights as purveyors of doom. I don't know why they just don't come out and say what they REALLY think - which is that you may as well all kill yourselves now, civilisation is over!

Heres some good news from the news for you....

Despite a week of increasingly awful news, some experts believe the whole drama is exaggerated. Research by Goldman Sachs claimed that the cost of the bail-out to the state should not exceed 8 per cent of GDP – painful but not fatal.

Some experts predict household disposable income to grow this year at 1.4 per cent, twice last year's level and almost 50 times faster than in 2007.

The optimists point out that business has complained about the strength of the pound for years: its weakened state should encourage manufacturing and deter imports.

With house prices down, the magical bottom step of the property ladder is much lower; lower oil and gas prices will also help consumers.

They say last week's events must be seen in the context of the government's long-running rescue plan which is now entering its fifth month.

One Treasury insider said: "Nothing that has happened this week wasn't predicted in November. This is not a panic reaction. This was prepared months ago. We hoped not to get to this round but government was ready."



OK? Its called a 'Recession'. It will only last for a year or so. The world will not end. You will not all end up living in mud huts eating rats. in a year so you'll all be back to debating whether its a good time to get into BTL, and going on about the weather and how the Olympic Village is turning into another Millenium Dome....

i.e. the same miserable bastards you always are...

[Gonzo]

......

and I really like the sound of that "debt Jubilee"

Is that anything to do with that film Toyah was in?




IGMC

[HairyArsedBloke]

Britain on the brink of an economic depression, say experts



Mind you, in another article here in today's Doomagraph, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard sounded a tentative note of optimism, which from him is almost unprecedented:

True

and I really like the sound of that "debt Jubilee"

He nicked the idea from the FT over christmas. It is a silly idea - does that also mean that savings go too because they are a debt the bank has to you?

[BrilloPad]

Who exactly are these "experts". Who can predict the future.

If we carry on talking about depression we might end up there.

[OwlHoot]

Britain on the brink of an economic depression, say experts

Families must brace themselves for a slump of far greater severity and longevity than the recessions of the 1980s and 1990s, they warned. They said the current crisis will be of a scale to rival the biggest peace-time crisis in modern history — the Great Depression.

The warning was delivered by economists and politicians after the Office for National Statistics revealed that the economy shrank by 1.5 per cent in the final three months of 2008 alone.

The contraction follows a 0.6 per cent fall in gross domestic product (GDP) — the most comprehensive measure of Britain’s wealth generation — during the previous three months. This means Britain fulfils the criteria for a technical recession — two successive quarters of negative output.

The news sent the pound sliding to its lowest level since 1985. Sterling dropped more than three quarters of a cent to $1.3688 as investors speculated that the Bank of England may be forced to cut interest rates towards zero in response to the recession.

..

Mind you, in another article here in today's Doomagraph, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard sounded a tentative note of optimism, which from him is almost unprecedented:

there are tentative signs of a thaw in the global credit system. Libor lending rates in the US, Britain and Europe have fallen sharply. US mortgage rates have dropped from 6.5pc to 4.88pc since October. Companies can issue bonds again

and I really like the sound of that "debt Jubilee"