Austerity for 10 years as no 'quick fix' for Britain, Reform warns

leveller2911

worldtraveller wrote: »

I feel that this one will indeed be a long haul. As the report says, "There is a view that the recovery from the financial crisis should have been largely instantaneous and painless. But this is clearly unrealistic,". I tend to agree. Like many others I remember several UK recessions in the past and I get a feeling that a lot of people today, that have never really seen more than this one, expect that it (the one that really never ended - that was purely an magician's illusion created by QE) will end soon. The cheap credit and, spend now, "I want it now", keep up with the Joneses mentality that we've seen for the past 10-15 years will take a long time to change. It really could never go on that way! Frankly I could never understand the profligate spending I've seen every day in the UK over the past 10-15 years. It's amazed me! For example, how could so many people in their 20's/30's afford to eat out several days a week, buy new furniture, kitchens, cars, i-pods, i-phones, PC's, when also buying a new house? That was unheard of when I was that age! The bloating of the public sector, especially under Gordon Brown, is another major factor, which undoubtedly affected the rise in house prices over the same period. The problem is that this whole issue has not just been limited to the UK, of course. It is a global issue. 10 years? I don't know, but it could be a great deal longer than many people today think.

However, one thing that I see increasing massively over the next few years will be the
socialisation of debt. Unfortunately, those people that have not been profligate at spending what they don't have, will undoubtedly end up bailing out those that have!

Rant over!

Excellant post and 100% accurate. I like many could see this coming 10 years ago and planned my finances around it. I'm debt free ,don't owe anyone a bean and have money in the bank...

The part I didn't see coming was where people like me bail out the f eckless.It kind makes me want to work for cash only and say sod em ,I didn't cause the mess, I didn't join in the orgy of debt so why should I suffer.

The only comfort is that I won't be worrying every time theres a knock at the door wondering if its the bailiffs and I'm confident that house prices will continue to fall (even if is a slow fall)so I'm in no hurry to buy in the near future ,just keep plugging away and saving.;)

@Chuck Norris, totally with you on the pet bit. I had my Fell terrier put down in August cried like a baby in the vets.... Same with people you don't get over it you just learn to live with it......

MacMickster

ILW wrote: »

And you can always eat them if things get very tight.

I always like a couple of Yorkies with my Sunday lunch, and a collie when they are in season.

kabayiri

The economic recovery of UK plc requires maintaining our position in existing export markets, and hopefully finding new ones. Selling expensive property to each other alone will not lift us out of an austerity situation.

There is an issue here. We will have to compete with the ambitions of the developing economies, who are not content to remain widget assemblers and metal bashers.

To highlight this a couple of recently reported news items related to China. 1) They have a five year plan to assemble 400 thousand patents. That's a significant IP grab. 2) They have identified 16 core strategic areas like chip design and space technology, and are ploughing an average of $5 billion dollars into the R&D of EACH area.

ILW

kabayiri wrote: »

The economic recovery of UK plc requires maintaining our position in existing export markets, and hopefully finding new ones. Selling expensive property to each other alone will not lift us out of an austerity situation.

There is an issue here. We will have to compete with the ambitions of the developing economies, who are not content to remain widget assemblers and metal bashers.

To highlight this a couple of recently reported news items related to China. 1) They have a five year plan to assemble 400 thousand patents. That's a significant IP grab. 2) They have identified 16 core strategic areas like chip design and space technology, and are ploughing an average of $5 billion dollars into the R&D of EACH area.

And in the UK, most aspire to be Estate Agents.

geneer

chucknorris wrote: »

I do actually believe that I am a nice person, but I do have extreme difficulty in imaging the same of you.

Do you spend a lot of time imaging posters on the internet?

chucknorris

geneer wrote: »

Do you spend a lot of time imaging posters on the internet?

No, why do you? But I happen to consider that you are a particularly nasty piece of work but that's probably because you are very unhappy with your life (otherwise why be so negative all the time). You are the only person that I have this perception about on this website, although I do respect both generali and neverdespairgirl. I'm sure there are a lot of others worthy of my respect too, but I don't post here enough to identify them.

geneer

chucknorris wrote: »

No, why do you? But I happen to consider that you are a particularly nasty piece of work but that's probably because you are very unhappy with your life (otherwise why be so negative all the time). You are the only person that I have this perception about on this website, although I do respect both generali and neverdespairgirl. I'm sure there are a lot of others worthy of my respect too, but I don't post here enough to identify them.

Right you are Chuck. You're little rant clearly demonstrates what an excellent example of a happy, stable individual you are.

Actions speak louder than words.

chucknorris

geneer wrote: »

Right you are Chuck. You're little rant clearly demonstrates what an excellent example of a happy, stable individual you are.

Actions speak louder than words.

Who is ranting? There you go again asumming incorrectly, you do do that a lot don't you.

As i said to you on the other thread it's time for dinner now and family life, so I'll leave you to your normal evening of petty arguements on the internet.

geneer

chucknorris wrote: »

Who is ranting? There you go again asumming incorrectly, you do do that a lot don't you.

Why you are chuck.
As I said to you elsewhere, actions speak louder than words.

chucknorris wrote: »

As i said to you on the other thread it's time for dinner now and family life, so I'll leave you to your normal evening of petty arguements on the internet.

Yes you did say on another thread that you were about to have dinner with your wife. Yet here you are 10 minutes later still engaged in petty "arguements" (Sic) on the internet.
Go figure.

chucknorris

geneer wrote: »

Why you are chuck.
As I said to you elsewhere, actions speak louder than words.




Yes you did say on another thread that you were about to have dinner with your wife. Yet here you are 10 minutes later still engaged in petty "arguements" (Sic) on the internet.
Go figure.

But I also explained why I'm still here on the other thread, please try and keep up geneer! But its time to dine now.

By the way geneer it's not abnormal to sympathise, empathise and support other people, that is not just the role of agony aunts. This is what NORMAL HUMAN BEINGS do, I will leave you with that thought, try and connect this to why you are so negative all the time here and then consider if your unhapiness with life in general might have something to do with it.

Don't mention it I'm hapy to help, goodnight.