UK has fastest growing economy of the developed world

CLAPTON

Thrugelmir wrote: »

I never said that they weren't.

What timeline are you looking at into the future?

the next 1000 years

if and I say if, the rest of the world see UK balance of trade as a problem they will sell pounds whcih will 'devalue' the pound

that will make imports more expensive and so will encourage UK people to buy UK products and buy less from abroad
it will also make our exports cheaper (or allow higher profits)

why do you see that as a problem?

kabayiri

Is it not possible to consume less, but in so doing buy more locally?

If I run my car for longer, spending more on service and repair, am I not contributing more in the long run to the local economy?

I'm sure a consumerist would tell me that my actions are anti-economy or something.

Thrugelmir

CLAPTON wrote: »

that will make imports more expensive and so will encourage UK people to buy UK products and buy less from abroad
it will also make our exports cheaper (or allow higher profits)

why do you see that as a problem?

Because over the past 50 years there's many items that the UK has ceased to produce totally. ( In the process the skills , plant, equipment , buildings and knowledge have been lost).

The UK economy has a long way to go to rebalance.

With Europe potentially heading for deflation then won't help the value of UK exports. As markets will become even more competitive. In many respects the world is becoming global. Which is changing many things. Adapt or die as the saying goes.

CLAPTON

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Because over the past 50 years there's many items that the UK has ceased to produce totally. ( In the process the skills , plant, equipment , buildings and knowledge have been lost).

The UK economy has a long way to go to rebalance.

With Europe potentially heading for deflation then won't help the value of UK exports. As markets will become even more competitive. In many respects the world is becoming global. Which is changing many things. Adapt or die as the saying goes.

why aren't we a third world country instead of the 7th largest manufacturer in the world and with the fastest growing economy in the G7?

kabayiri

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Because over the past 50 years there's many items that the UK has ceased to produce totally. ( In the process the skills , plant, equipment , buildings and knowledge have been lost).

The UK economy has a long way to go to rebalance.
...

I was talking with an old colleague the other week. Basically, a major company moved some hundreds of IT development jobs out to India, starting about a decade and a half ago.

There is no doubt unit labour cost is cheaper there still, but the results are disappointing, to put it mildly. Overall costs are no better than if the work were done here. The initiative has not delivered and there is now a driver to bring the work back closer to home.

However, that's easier said than done. There are some areas of IT where UK is light in terms of resource; nobody really saw a future in it locally and moved onto other things. It will take time to build up the skills and experience needed as you say.

The key thing to note though is that the desire to build up these skills is returning.

Maybe we are still trying to find this ideal balance between work done in the cheaper countries and work done here.