Losing the moral high ground....

BlondeHeadOn

Interesting article from the BBC:

"UK anxiety over influence in Europe after crisis
"The zeitgeist has changed."
Indeed it has. Before late 2008, the UK's economy - the second-largest in the European Union (EU) - was the envy of most of its neighbours.
The financial sector was booming, fuelling a decade of growth. Proud British officials in Brussels would push other countries to open their economies and curb protectionism. Make your economy more like ours, they argued.
Now, the collapse of the UK economy has been averted with an unprecedented level of taxpayer intervention. Which has in turn fuelled unprecedented levels of government debt. Unemployment is at the highest since 1995.
Suddenly, the neighbours are not so envious anymore.
"The crisis has made people question whether there is something wrong with the Anglo-Saxon model," said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform.
....
.. the UK cannot tell its neighbours what is best with its economy in tatters.
It has lost the moral high ground. "

Full article here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8459301.stm

Interesting stuff.

doire_2

BlondeHeadOn wrote: »

"The crisis has made people question whether there is something wrong with the Anglo-Saxon model," said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform.
....
.. the UK cannot tell its neighbours what is best with its economy in tatters.
It has lost the moral high ground. "

Full article here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8459301.stm

Interesting stuff.

Made people question whether there is something wrong? :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Of course there is something wrong!

nearlynew

An economy based on selling increasingly expensive houses to each other and borrowing to spend on consumer trinkets hits the buffers.

Whoever would have thought it?

BlondeHeadOn

nearlynew wrote: »

An economy based on selling increasingly expensive houses to each other and borrowing to spend on consumer trinkets hits the buffers.

Whoever would have thought it?

My thoughts entirely!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Davesnave

Ah, but we can still take some moral high ground, because we are right up there, at the bleeding edge, winning the 'War Against Terror.';)

michaels

Better to have the ongoing high unemployment and slow growth of our European partners then?

markharding557

did not some of them come out of recession sooner than us ???

Degenerate

What sort of idiot thinks that success or failure of economic policies gives anyone "moral high ground"? Morality has nothing to do with it, it's about what works. (something certain bearish posters need to understand when they try to justify their schadenfreude on supposed moral grounds.)

Anyone that thinks that the Euro-zone nations have come out of this mess so much better than us, just because they enjoyed an earlier quarter of GDP growth, needs to take a look at the wider picture. Try looking at their unemployment for one, or their inflation rate, or their national debt, which even in the supposed shining star Germany is still currently higher than the allegedly bankrupt UK.

I wouldn't bet against the "Anglo-Saxon model" just yet. Certain Euro nations have failed to do anything with their dodgy banks yet, and their total inability to apply appropriate monetary policy on a national basis within the Euro system is likely to hamper them further going forwards.

nollag2006

markharding557 wrote: »

did not some of them come out of recession sooner than us ???

Good to see the bears admitting that we are definitely out of recession

stueyhants

nollag2006 wrote: »

Good to see the bears admitting that we are definitely out of recession

The problem is you need 2% or 3% growth year on year just to stand still due to productivity/efficiency increases. So a minor growth of 0.3-0.5% per quarter will still feel like a recession.

nollag2006

stueyhants wrote: »

The problem is you need 2% or 3% growth year on year just to stand still due to productivity/efficiency increases. So a minor growth of 0.3-0.5% per quarter will still feel like a recession.

Again - great to see the bears finally waking up and realising that we are slowly but surely coming out of recession.

I'd happily take any form of economic (and house price) growth, than a slow slide into recession.