UK Business Confidence

setmefree2

Despite the urge, this is no time for us Brits to indulge in masochism

An Indian businessman who travels the world asked a pointed question at a meeting this week. He wanted to know why the people in Britain were so much more depressed than the people in all the other countries he visited. Why is it that business confidence here is shot through, although Britain's economy is nowhere near as badly hit in this recession as many of the other countries?
The fact is that the British economy thus far is weathering the storm much better than most. We are faring much better for example than Germany, where output fell by almost 4% in the first quarter of this year, or Japan, which is declining similarly fast or Eastern Europe, where some smaller countries such as Latvia are looking at declines of 18%. Yet nowhere did he sense as much gloom as in the UK.
His question is clearly important because depression becomes self-fulfilling and self-feeding. If indeed we are more gloomy here than elsewhere, it could well feed back into a negative loop which will make the economy much worse than it need otherwise have been.

Good Article I thought



http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-business/article-23704092-details/Despite+the+urge%2C+this+is+no+time+for+us+Brits+to+indulge+in+masochism/article.do

StevieJ

Down to the 4th Estate I am afraid Oh and Wookie, Devon, AD, Trampfellow etc. Apologies for any I have left off

baileysbattlebus

We're never happy unless we're miserable.........................

lostinrates

setmefree2 wrote: »

people in Britain were so much more depressed than the people in all the other countries he visited

I doubt its just down to business outlook!

But on that subject, I think it would rather depend what the business is surely: and who he is mixing with?

If its poor AlanM from here, who has had such a hard time then he's going to be pretty low. My father's company has done quite well at times, through this, benefitting from Euro spend for example.

ruggedtoast

Many British people are aware that the most severe effects of the recession have been delayed. Brown has borrowed hundreds of billions of pounds to use as corporate welfare which has supported Finance, and a lot of jobs that would have been lost last year are hanging on. Most people in these jobs are well aware of whats coming and are frantically saving.

We are running out of later, sooner is on the way. There are going to be swingeing cuts in public spending, and taxes are going to rise considerably. Job losses will also rise, as most liklely, will interest rates.

You may as well ask why the passengers on the titanic are so glum when it hasnt completely sunk yet.