Is NI economy going broke?

Mistral001

wanchai wrote: »

Everyone I know is tightening their belts.

People are agreeing to do secret Santa at Christmas among adults in the family instead of buying gifts for each person, and limits of £30 are being imposed!

Nobody I know (from early 20s to late 30s) is buying a house right now, they are all sitting waiting for the market to bottom out - which is some way off yet.

Big ticket items are right off the agenda.

Even my previously spendthrift friends are cutting back, and shopping for clothes/shoes etc a LOT less.

Staying in (and having friends round) has become the new going out, including at the weekend.

That's my own experience, I'm sure that most of you will recognise it.

I think you have a point. Basically people in NI see the clouds ahead and are quietly battening down the hatches.

It is the silent majority who know by talking to their friends and relatives who might have jobs in various sectors of business and public sector who then realise the truth rather than what they see on TV and read in the papers or told by politicans or economists.

smokiewater

Thanks for all the replies about shopping local!

You are absoloutely right - I should have said Sainsburys, Asda, Tesco might always be more convenient, but agree they are not always cheaper! Warrens next door to us in Orby Drive sells the best FR eggs for 90p a half dozen and their milk is under £1 too - and they are not a well stocked/promoted shop but are still able to offer good value on these items

Anyone interested in buying at local fetes and fairs, the NI Craft Fairs page on here has a good list of dates

suki1964

smokiewater wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies about shopping local!

You are absoloutely right - I should have said Sainsburys, Asda, Tesco might always be more convenient, but agree they are not always cheaper! Warrens next door to us in Orby Drive sells the best FR eggs for 90p a half dozen and their milk is under £1 too - and they are not a well stocked/promoted shop but are still able to offer good value on these items

Anyone interested in buying at local fetes and fairs, the NI Craft Fairs page on here has a good list of dates

Thats cheap indeed for the eggs - I thought I had a bargain from the lass up the road £1 for 6.

I also buy my pots and veg from the roadside - so much cheaper then the big names and you know they are local and money is staying local

And the local petrol station has the cheapest milk and freshest bread and stocks the most loveliest sodas ever from the local bakery and often has local made jams/chutneys/honey for sale

The other thing about shopping local is the saving on transport cost, For me to drive into "town" would be a 38 mile round trip - nearly a gallon of diesel

The only shopping I do in the main supermarkets now is for the special offers or reduced bits

Mistral001

When talking about local businesses. I would like to give some of my business to the NI's excelent local newspapers. Does anybody buy the local papers which have a business section in it? I mean Belfast Telegragh, Irish News, News letter, etc. I sometimes buy them and ocassionally pick up some good information on local business/economy from them. However, I cannot really afford to buy them all every day to find out who are the best correspondents and on which days do they concentrate on business/economy. Any ideas would be welcome.

At the minute I watch UTV LiveTonight in the late evening and they make a fair attempt at covering local business/economy most nights. Jamie Delargy is quite good. He was nick-named the prophet of doom about two years, because he did not think house prices had bottomed out, so he must know his subject.

I would perhaps invest in buying couple of local paers a week if I knew on what dys are best for business/economy. Any help would be gratefully recieved.

Local newspapers are one of the few jewels in NI's crown as far as I can see (I lived in in GB for a while and know that we are really well served by are local newspapers).

A.L.D.A

After today I am convinced that the biggest problem facing the UK economy is not Banks and liquidity but direct and indirect costs associated with the public sector and much of the Byzantine layers of legislation. The overhead must be utterly staggering. Some interesting graphs;

http://www.ukpublicspending.co.uk/spending_brief.php

In addition there is the cost of complying with much of the legislation devised. Compared to the 70s I reckon the paper chasing end of what I do has more than doubled.

smokiewater

Mistral001 wrote: »

When talking about local businesses. I would like to give some of my business to the NI's excelent local newspapers. Does anybody buy the local papers which have a business section in it? I mean Belfast Telegragh, Irish News, News letter, etc. I sometimes buy them and ocassionally pick up some good information on local business/economy from them. However, I cannot really afford to buy them all every day to find out who are the best correspondents and on which days do they concentrate on business/economy. Any ideas would be welcome.

At the minute I watch UTV LiveTonight in the late evening and they make a fair attempt at covering local business/economy most nights. Jamie Delargy is quite good. He was nick-named the prophet of doom about two years, because he did not think house prices had bottomed out, so he must know his subject.

I would perhaps invest in buying couple of local paers a week if I knew on what dys are best for business/economy. Any help would be gratefully recieved.

Local newspapers are one of the few jewels in NI's crown as far as I can see (I lived in in GB for a while and know that we are really well served by are local newspapers).

The Telegraphs business section is on a Tuesday, plus there is a supplement once a month - but you can pick the telegraph up online - they have a very good website, so no need to buy the paper!

wanchai_2

Mistral001 wrote: »

I think you have a point. Basically people in NI see the clouds ahead and are quietly battening down the hatches.

It is the silent majority who know by talking to their friends and relatives who might have jobs in various sectors of business and public sector who then realise the truth rather than what they see on TV and read in the papers or told by politicans or economists.

Exactly. People do not trust the media or the politicians, we can work out for ourselves what is going on. We are smarter than our 'leaders' give us credit for.

Mistral001

smokiewater wrote: »

The Telegraphs business section is on a Tuesday, plus there is a supplement once a month - but you can pick the telegraph up online - they have a very good website, so no need to buy the paper!

Thanks, I just looked at it and it's very good. Lots business news and very good information on business.

Just read on it that inflation in the South is only 1.3% compared with 5.2% in UK. I know the cost of living there has dizzy heights to fall from and maybe good news for us who want to have a holiday break there, but maybe not good news for border businesses in NI.

x12yhp

wanchai wrote: »

Exactly. People do not trust the media or the politicians, we can work out for ourselves what is going on. We are smarter than our 'leaders' give us credit for.

Search for threads on house prices which were started on here 5 odd years ago. Anyone suggesting a crash was considered a total crackpot. The vast majority of people (even on this educated board) could not work out what was going on.

That said, I think people are much more wary now. 5 years ago, everyone was a bull. Nowdays, only VIs express that view in public (and I tend to agree with you to the effect that they likely express something different in private).

Mistral001

x12yhp wrote: »

Search for threads on house prices which were started on here 5 odd years ago. Anyone suggesting a crash was considered a total crackpot. The vast majority of people (even on this educated board) could not work out what was going on.

That said, I think people are much more wary now. 5 years ago, everyone was a bull. Nowdays, only VIs express that view in public (and I tend to agree with you to the effect that they likely express something different in private).

Good points. But what are VIs ?