Jeff Randall says it is way too late to blame the Tories for the latest, terrible unemployment figures. If there's one thing that really infuriates the City, it is Mervyn King's attitude when it transpires that the Bank of England has wrongfooted the markets. The primary concern about the outbreak of swine flu is, overwhelmingly, the possible loss of life. Europe has only delayed the pain, says Jeremy Warner. The "advanced" industrialised economies are in dire straits. Britain, printing money and issuing sovereign debt like there's no tomorrow, could see its economy shrink by 6pc in 2009. The US, meanwhile, will this year register a budget deficit equal to an eye-watering 14pc of GDP, a level unmatched since the Second World War. It would have been naïve to expect City bankers to give up their hard-won – well, actually, rather easily won – right to award themselves massive pay-outs, just because they had to run to the taxpayer for help a few months ago. When the stock market has rebounded as strongly as it has since March, an obvious question arises: have shares moved too far, too fast? It has been a week of mixed messages from bankers, companies and economists about the state of UK plc – and the prospects, or not, of a swift recovery in fortunes. Anyone who is still in work and can remember the economic slump at the start of the 1990s may be forgiven for feeling the credit crisis has been something of a non-event so far. The banking crisis will soon be a distant memory and will have little impact on Joe Public in years to come. The same cannot be said of pensions.Comment
The sharpest comment and analysis from the top columnists on UK and world finance news.
Labour's jobs miracle has been a disaster
Mervyn King tells a puzzled City: 'It's the levels stupid'
How real is the danger that swine flu will derail economic recovery?
Germany's rapid recovery might be a mirage
Forget the term 'emerging markets' - they're in the driving seat now
If banking reform falters, there's always the repay-your-bonus scheme
More green lights than red on the rocky road to a sustained recovery
State-owned banks need their prophecies of recovery to be self-fulfilling
Is this the phoney recession?
We're fussing over the credit crunch, but pensions are the real crisis
Sunday, 16 August 2009
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