Downturn Britain

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

In his speech to the Tory Party Conference 2011 David Cameron finally told the people in the hall, the nation and the world at large what the ordinary person on the street has known for ages.

The Prime Minister has finally noticed that the country, that is to say, Britain, is still in a very deep recession, though to the PM it is a new one; a new recession that is, though it may also be a new one to him that the country is deep in the proverbial mass.

Britain, he said, is back – still, I and the rest of the people, say – in a recession and that the outlook is rather gloomy. Yikes! It took him how long to realize that?

Surprise? Not! We have known that all along and this shows, yet again, how far removed government is from the ordinary people that it took government, and especially the leadership, this long to realize it. With a Prime Minister like that. I am afraid to say, we are all in real trouble.

Fair dues, the Treasury was plundered by the previous Labour regime that ruled – misruled might be better a term – the country for 13 years. But that does not excuse the lack of understanding how the rest of us lives.

The PM then continued to say that we must all apply a “can do” attitude and wartime spirit to overcome this adversity.

I must say that, in a way, he does have a point as to the needed attitude but we all and especially government must come to the realization that this recession is a sign of the times and of a seriously broken economic system and model (see “Broken Economy”).

Britain has been in a downturn ever since the recession began with the credit crunch in 2008/2009 and while it came out a little it has now ended up in a double -dip recession that everyone dreaded but which Mervin King, Governor of the Bank of England, predicted and for which prediction he was castigated.

The truth hurts, as they say, and the truth is that we, as a country, are very much headed down the tube, and this tube is not the London Underground Railway of which I speak.

To our government big boys and girls all of this, and to the Prime Minister especially, seems to have come very much as a surprise and shock even. One can therefore but wonder on which planet or in which parallel universe they actually reside.

Scary, isn't it? And we allow them to run – or should that be ruin – the country. There's but one letter that makes the difference.

© 2011

The world is headed for a new (financial) crisis and the government fiddles

By Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Hello!!! Anyone home? Apparently not.

While the world is headed for another financial crisis and a few others to boot the entire British government, and especially its leaders, have taken leave of their senses and leave of absence. They fiddle in Tuscany and other places while London burns; the financial sector at least, though only literally while not actually being in flames (as yet).

Are we in trouble? Hell, are we ever.

On Friday, August 5, 2011 S&P downgraded the USA's triple-A credit rating but sort of half a point to a AA+ but the markets have been in a nigh free fall ever since the US government could not – properly – agree on how to handle the debt crisis and the Euro Zone going from bad to worse.

They next person who tells me that the recession is over and there is no chance of anything bad happening, such as a double-dip or a full-blown depression, I am, I think, going to give a lesson in reality, and this might be by means of a pickaxe handle.

Now we have had a full blown riot – though nothing to do with the money woes – in Tottenham, North London, with looting and burning and Tottenham, the scene of the now infamous Broadwater Farm slaying of PC Blakelock, resembling a war zone on Sunday, August 7, 2011.

And where are our country's glorious and fearless leaders (and yes, I am being sarcastic as to their titles)? They are and remain on holiday with the Prime Minister being in Italy, the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the USA and the rest of the cabinet in this or that country, including, it would appear, our Minister of the Interior, the Home Secretary.

The riots in Tottenham – and we will be looking at those in another article – could have been dealt with much better and differently if the police and government had the willpower to let looters know that it is a no, no.

The financial situation, however, with the Euro also headed, as it would seem, for a bit of a meltdown, is something that will affect us long-term and for many, many years to come.

As the Governor of the Bank of England not so long ago stated the living standard of the people of Britain may never, ever, return to the pre-crunch level. And especially for people in the public sector, and here very much the lowest paid though the most important ones when it comes to service delivery, are looking at a rather bleak future with all the costs rising and their pay having being frozen for two or more years. In some instances they have had to accept new contracts that even reduced their pay. The unions are rather quiet on that level, though.

But everyone will be feeling the squeeze bar those, obviously, who are the ones who caused the problems in the very first place, the bankers, whose bonuses still are in the multi-million pound range, and that even at banks which are now, basically, owned by the taxpayer. We are in trouble indeed.

Anyone in government who is still saying that we are not is not living in the real world. Then again, they don't.

Prices for everything are on the rise and as an example I just want to list the fact that the price of butter, of Sainsury's Basics butter, went up in two weeks by 40pence. The price of 6 Basics mini-jumbo toilet rolls by 40pence and and Basics full flavor cheddar cheese went up by over 50pence.

On top of that energy prices, that is to say cooking and heating gas and electricity, are on the up and that by several times the rate of inflation, with the companies quoting rising wholesale prices. It is just amazing that when those very same prices go down they very rarely pass the savings on to their customers.

We are in trouble and our leaders remain on holiday. Great one guys. I hope the electorate won't forget that. I certainly won't.

© 2011