CEBR: UK could drop out of the world's top 10 economies by 2015

Really2

mardatha wrote: »

I don't see how Australia can overtake us, I read last week that they dont export anything at all !

They do raw materials to china.

Google China and Australia Raw materials.

Generali

mardatha wrote: »

I don't see how Australia can overtake us, I read last week that they dont export anything at all !

Aus imports more than she exports rather like the USA and the UK.

Australia is a huge gross exporter of raw and semi-finished materials, Australian food exports are particularly important when looking at pan-Asian trade.

mardatha

Raw and semi finished what ? Not being cheeky, just wanted to learn ! When I was at school Australia exported meat to us...so that shows how old I am !

Generali

mardatha wrote: »

Raw and semi finished what ? Not being cheeky, just wanted to learn ! When I was at school Australia exported meat to us...so that shows how old I am !

Raw materials are stuff you dig out of the ground (eg wheat and iron ore).

Semi finished materials are things like flour and rolled steel, things you can turn into something actually useful.

Finished goods are cars, T-shirts and bread. Things that you and I consume directly.

Obviously there are crossovers (for example I have flour in my cupboard as well as bread) but these things are broad categories and not meant nor able to be precise.

lostinrates

Wine
Meat
Iron, Steel, Nickel
Opals
Chemicals
Pharmaceuticals

(things austrailia exports)

kabayiri

StevieJ wrote: »

And of course Thatcher did loads for maufacturing :rolleyes:

Politicians of any colour don't understand manufacturing, or design, or logistics for that matter.

All they can do is create an environment where these things are allowed to grow and flourish.

The list of inventions arising from this country is truly impressive. Sadly, translating these into world class competitive advantage has not been so easy.

donaldtramp

StevieJ wrote: »

And of course Thatcher did loads for maufacturing :rolleyes:

Stevie,
Have a read at this thread before you go opening your mouth and letting your belly rumble:rolleyes:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2128337

I think you'll find Thatcher protected manufacturing better than the present government has.
Unbelievable but true.
Get your facts straight. It is Mr Broon and his party that has got us into this mess. They have been in power for 11 years!!
What exactly does Thatcher have to do withour current state of affairs?

donaldtramp

The quote from the article again,

The importance of manufacturing to the economy declined more rapidly under Labour administrations since 1997 than it did during the Margaret Thatcher era, according to a Financial Times study.
The big winners in the same period were bankers, estate agents and public sector workers, whose sectors’ share of output increased under the Labour governments of Tony Blair, the former prime minister, and Gordon Brown, his successor. The findings about the state of the economy were uncovered during a study of data held by the Office for National Statistics.



Manufacturing accounted for more than 20 per cent of the economy in 1997, when Labour came to power critical of the country having too narrow an industrial base. But by 2007, that share had declined to 12.4 per cent.
...
...The near halving of the importance of manufacturing to the economy over 12 years is in stark contrast to the reduction from 25.8 per cent to 22.5 per cent of output that occurred under the Conservative governments of the now Lady Thatcher.

Revenge_of_the_Red_Devil

As someone said, getting overtaken by some nations is inevitable. Some have huge and rising populations (Russia, India, Brazil) and some have resources we don;t (Canada).

But France and Italy is just embarrassing and avoidable TBH.

lostinrates

Revenge_of_the_Red_Devil wrote: »

As someone said, getting overtaken by some nations is inevitable. Some have huge and rising populations (Russia, India, Brazil) and some have resources we don;t (Canada).

But France and Italy is just embarrassing.

Italy is bigger than UK, has stong exports in different industries (eg. food and clothing) plus a strong patriotic spend...people are proud to buy italian made goods, eat Italian food and holiday in Italy. It has a good state education system and higher education is often supported through employment. France is much bigger than UK and much more able to provide for itself than us.

France is a much larger country, and while the politics aren't to my taste they have served some industries well, agriculture in particular and those exports are strong. They are the recipient of a significant amount of foreign investment and through use of nuclear power are less relient than some on oil rich nations. The sorbonne is at least as aspirational as Oxbridge.

both countries are culturally rich, and have strong enduring tourism.

We are a good country, to suggest the situation ''laughable'' is to underestimate our neighbours and over estimate us.