The Day Gordon Brown's Luck Ran Out

[Churchill]

What we really need is a violent and bloody civil war!

F**k the election. Let's tear it up and start again!

[AtW]

Not yet! I'm still in Sterling.

[Ardesco]

Time to start shorting GBP in the FX markets perhaps?

[TimberWolf]

How quickly do these things (Sterling going pop) happen? Too quick to move?

[TimberWolf]

The business investment data for the fourth quarter of 2009 are truly dire.

The substantial fall in business investment in the fourth quarter of 2009 is a horrible surprise and extremely disappointing. It dilutes hopes of an upward revision on Friday to UK GDP growth of 0.1% quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter of 2009 and even raises the spectre that this minimal growth could be revised away.
That’s right, its “raises the spectre that this minimal growth could be revised away”.

Which would be music to the ears of Jim Rogers, who for the umptenth time in recent memory, is predicting…guess what? A sterling crisis.

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2010...itish-krona-2/

..

[Gonzo]

Guido is reporting that the BBC's political news teams have been told not to go away this weekend.

http://order-order.com/

Maybe it would be wrong to read too much in to this. The 2009q4 revised GDP figures are due tomorrow, some are predicting that growth could be doubled from 0.1% to 0.2%, any sane person might expect Labour to leap on this positive news as evidence that their policies have steered the country out of the "global recession" and go to the polls there and then and that may be all that is on the minds of the bods at the BBC.

We'll see.

[Gordon Brown]

You are almost as funny as the Dim one

[TimberWolf]

Roll on the election. Dave, it's all yours.

You are almost as funny as the Dim one

[Gordon Brown]

Roll on the election. Dave, it's all yours.

[TimberWolf]

The Day Gordon Brown's Luck Ran Out

Not yet! I'm still in Sterling.

[OwlHoot]

The Day Gordon Brown's Luck Ran Out

When the real story gets to be told, the long reign of Gordon Brown over Britain, will be explained by two words - spending and debt. The economy Brown inherited in 1997 was as orderly and successful as any in the world. Debts were lower than any time since WW2. Growth was rising. Unemployment low and investment strong.

Thirteen years later, Britain faces ruin. Government spending in 2009/2010 is over GBP 800 billion (not the GBP 620 billion claimed), with revenues around GBP 450 billion down from GBP 600 billion two years before. Revenues are still falling.

The markets have accepted all that has happened to date and taken it in their stride, allowing politicial leaders to keep face and claim that the 'recession' will soon be over.

But yesterday that all changed. The realisation dawned that the debts of the high spending countries, of which Britain is the world's most glaring example, are beyond anything that the countries can possibly cope with. The spending of the British government will need to come down by at least one third, and probably more as revenues keep tumbling.

Brown's expanded state is insupportable, and markets are no longer willing to look the other way.

There is no longer anywhere to run. Britain is locked inside the EU, which bars us from access to world markets. Read the piece below taken from the FT (no links as it's subscription), and feel the level of desperation in its words and the sentiments, coming from Mervyn King.

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