Sunday, Jun 14, 2009
Wow! The rest of them must be truly screwed then!
BBC News: UK's economy is 'best in Europe'
The UK is in the best shape out of all the economies in Europe, according to a leading economist.
Paul Krugman, who won the 2008 Nobel prize for economics, said that the UK's economic policies had been "pretty good" and called them "intelligent".
Posted by flintster1994 @ 02:09 PM (1661 views) Add Comment
18 Comments
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1. novice pete said...
Sounds like all the other 'green shoot' court jester / illusionists to me.
2. mr g said...
Nothing but ZanuLiebor propaganda from the Brown Broadcasting Commissariat.
3. novice pete said...
link to the full article in the observer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jun/14/economy-gordon-brown
and the last paragraph not on the bbc report
In his interview, Krugman concedes that the billions of dollars of bad debts weighing down the world's banks, leaving consumers with little cash to spare, could constrain demand for years. Such caution was reflected in chancellor Alistair Darling's warning last week that Europe must do more to shore up the banks
4. britishblue said...
The 'economy' is only one part of the equation in the health of a nation. An economy is basically about production, distribution, exchange,selling goods and buying goods and services. An economy can be measured in GDP (gross domestic product). An increase in this denotes growth, whereas a decrease for two quarters denotes a technical recession.
So if we measure the health of the UK versus other countries in Europe on the basis of the 'economy', then Krugman maybe right. We maybe in better shape than a lot of the other economies in Europe to start showing growth (in GDP terms). The UK economoy is lucky to have had a floating exchange rate and for the rest of the world to downvalue the currency prior to the recession kicking in.
However, there is a difference between the .....UK economy....... the UK debt ........and the standard of living for the man on the street. The UK economy may get better, The UK debt isnt going to get better anytime soon and one way or another the man on the street is going to have to pay for it with lower standard of living for many years to come!
5. c'mon correction said...
That's simply the result of the massive stimulus the government has made, all on the back of debt.
If i went out and maxed out on credit cards and loans, my short term finances would be very rosy!!
6. hpwatcher said...
Clearly rubbish, this is probably part of Gordon Browns fight back.....
7. devo said...
Krugman was a voice of reason until recently, when he was invited to the White House for a 'chat'.
When he emerged he loved Big Brother.
8. Time_and_tide said...
Incredible. A Nobel prize for economics and he can't see farther than his nose.
9. britishblue said...
When Beckham scored the goal against Greece in October 2001 to get the UK to the world cup final he was hailed as one of our best ever footballers. We saw it through the eyes of the English. In Greece they saw it as one of the biggest blunders ever by a Greek National Goal keeper. One sided perception is a wonderful thing!
Many people on this site are steadfastly blinkered. Whoever says anything positive about the UK is derided. The must say something negative to be applauded.
Krugman is a foreigner, who is somewhat biased because he believes in Keynsian policies rather than Austrian, But he is at least making a judgement on the UK from the outside. Plus if it is confined to the economy (as per my point above), rather than the total health of the UK he could be right,
Fact the UK is totally and utterley in the Sh!*t. Fact many countries in Europe are much,much worse and have different sorts of problems to the UK. I have been in five of them in the last couple of weeks.
10. Tomski said...
Agree with devo... after visiting the Obama's Krugman suddenly decides cap n' trade is a good system... err yeah likely.
Best economy in Europe - pwew what about Norway? How can the UK be best, when we don't make enough food to sustainable support our population, are making minimal efforts to tackle CO2, making minimal efforts to kick the fossil fuel habit, we have limited resources left in our own country, both the government and the populous are in debt, the entire economy hinges on several industries like finance... which add questionable tangible value etc. etc.
11. novice pete said...
"The UK is in the best shape out of all the economies in Europe"
This is such a vague and pointless statement, there are no facts to back up this kind of rhetoric.
britishblue@8 said
Fact the UK is totally and utterley in the Sh!*t.
Then what is the point of drawing comparisons with the rest of Europe anyway!
12. Crashvictim said...
?? so a highly respected american nobel price winner is gordon browns lackey?? ?gets some perspective people!
13. enuii said...
In response to the previous comment the logical conclusion is that a lot of other european countries are also in the proverbial mire but have kept it conveniently under wraps as is the normal state of affairs in certain european parts. France for one springs to mind as we already know Greece, Spain, Italy and Ireland and others too small to mention are in deep doo doo thanks to their euro shackle.
As Pete says; it is a vague and pointless statement, the sort of sound bite loved by our glorious self proclaimed leader.
14. flintster1994 said...
"When Beckham scored the goal against Greece in October 2001 to get the UK to the world cup final"
The UK to the world cup final?
15. enuii said...
Have read the Guardians transcript of the interview and this paragraph stands head and shoulders above the rest of the article:-
PK: The thing about Japan, as with all of these cases, is how much people claim to know what happened, without having any evidence. What we do know is that recessions normally end everywhere because the monetary authority cuts interest rates a lot, and that gets things moving. And what we know in Japan was that eventually they cut their interest rates to zero and that wasn't enough. And, so far, although we made the cuts faster than they did and cut them all the way to zero, it isn't enough. We've hit that lower bound the same as they did. Now, everything after that is more or less speculation.
16. paul said...
17. Clockslinger said...
He is completely right about the steep valuation...just look at sterling against the yen over the last 18 months, even after the more recent rise of the pound. If Gordon carries on helping the homeowner with interest rates like this he might create a pound carry trade.
18. Bear Necessities said...
surely the picture on the screen of that printer should be a £20 note not a group of smiling kids?