Today's last quarter report on the state of the UK economy has obviously raised eyebrows here and overseas at our disappointing performance. The Chancellor apparently blamed the bad weather 17 times in a lunchtime interview. The same snow and ice doesn't seem to have hurt the German economy though? We should all be worried at this lack of growth because it hurts us all.
I've always said that trading standards is part of wealth creation in its support for business, consumers and therefore the economy. News stories like today's throw up all sorts of mind blowing statistics. For example UK manufacturing grew in the last quarter by 3.3%. I thought 'great' until the commentators deflated that little bit of good news by telling us that manufacturing only accounts for 12% of GDP. Only 12% which means 88% is made up of non manufacturing service industries etc.
I knew the industrial revolution was long behind us but that 12% still surprised me. I wonder what the German or French figures are? Must find out.
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I think you'll find France is pretty much the same as the UK and USA and Germany is north of 20% as is Japan. Germany and Japan also manage to run trade surpluses.
ReplyDeleteOf course neither the French or German economy is based on this ridiculous notion that we can all get richer to infinity by borrowing ever bigger sums of money and flogging the same pieces of land to each other for ever-increasing prices. Hence they have no consumer debt problem.
What Osborne, Balls nor the mainstream media are pointing out is thatlatest US Homes Price Index was also out yesterday showing that the US housing market looks in double dip territory now. Prices in Las Vegas and Atlanta were back down to where they stood in 2000 and Detroit is now down 33% over the decade years.
The UK market has miles to fall yet and all they can do is let it go or drag the inevitable out.