Best Economy In Europe

[Laura]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8099408.stm

Please tell me I'm dreaming this?

Edited June 14, 2009 by Laura

[Laura]

Ah I see, it's another ramping professor...........NuLabour rewarded/funded no doubt.

Nothing to see, don't bother with this thread.

Sorry i posted it.

Please ignore it

[NotAGuru]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8099408.stm

Please tell me I'm dreaming this?

A guru said it, so it must be true.

[dandare500]

We are the best economy in Europe, for the rest of Europe; we always get ripped off and pay more than anyone else!

[Tonkers]

So Krugman will now get quoted throughout the news services without question, or any explanation of his background. Pah.

[Guest redwine]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8099408.stm

Please tell me I'm dreaming this?

well france is sinking like the "titanic"

spain has already sank

what about Portugal a country of high emmigration that reilies on french and spainish investors??

how is "fatima" getting on !!

[self]

NEVER QUESTION THE GREEN SHOOTS!!

YOU ARE NOW RICHER THAN YOU EVER THOUGHT YOU COULD BE

REMEMBER - DEBT IS WEALTH!!

Anywho, who actually is Krugman anyway?

[nohpc]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8099408.stm

Please tell me I'm dreaming this?

You are not dreaming.

A nobel prize winning economis has said that britain has the best economy in europe.

You really thought the rest of europe was so much better than us did you? Gordon Brown gets a hard time but all of the stuff he has done to "save" the economy which others ridiculed have now been copied world wide by just about every economy.

Britain was the first to take drastic measures so should do better than the rest of europe.

Only time will tell but I think britain will do better than most other european economies over the next 5 - 10 years.

Call me an idiot but then you are also calling a nobel prize winning economist an idiot in which case you must be a super economic genious.

[Grime- skint wouldbe ftb]

The UK has achieved a lot of monetary traction in the way that no one else has through the depreciation of the pound.

So imports are 30% more expensive cos the pound is devalued and foreign travel is out of many people's budgets as a result. But we can still point and laugh at Germmany who still actually produce stuff and therefore will be hit harder by the drop in exports. As we provide nothing of any use to the rest of the world we're much better off

[boredwithforum]

1, The construction industry is shagged

2, Wages are dropping

3, Untold People are losing their jobs (therefore unemployment is rising)

4, The price of food is creeping up

5, Petrol and Desiel is creeping up

6, The price of Electric & Gas is NOT dropping

7, Council Tax is through the fooking roof

The list is endless, so who gives TWO FOOKS how we compare with the rest of EUROPE. Comparing us with any other countries might make the Government feel good, but it don't help the majority of people in this country imo.

[LiveAndLetBuy]

The reason the UK economy is the best placed in Europe is because it is the least socialist economy in Europe. That is in spite of Brown, not thanks to him.

[HAMISH_MCTAVISH]

So imports are 30% more expensive cos the pound is devalued and foreign travel is out of many people's budgets as a result.

Pound is up dramatically from it's lows, and still strengthening.....

Perhaps you didn't notice?

[DeepLurker]

Call me an idiot but then you are also calling a nobel prize winning economist an idiot in which case you must be a super economic genious.

Who cares if he's got a big shiny medal? *

Of more relevance is "did he foresee the crash?" - because if he didn't, then he's in no position to tell us how to get out of it.

And the evidence on this is decidedly mixed - he warned about problems ahead in 2005, credit to him. However, others had spotted the problem way earlier (eg. Vince Cable 2 years earlier).

I'm far from convinced that he is the best man to tell us how to get out of this mess.

* incidentally, and to be pedantic, there is no such thing as a nobel prize for economics. But don't tell the economists or they'll get all upset at you.

[nohpc]

So imports are 30% more expensive cos the pound is devalued and foreign travel is out of many people's budgets as a result. But we can still point and laugh at Germmany who still actually produce stuff and therefore will be hit harder by the drop in exports. As we provide nothing of any use to the rest of the world we're much better off

Why do people on here feel that countries that produce stuff deserve to be hit less hard than the UK. The point is you have to have a blalanced economy. The reason why the UK produces less stuff is because it is more diversified and this will stand us in good stead in the future - especially our large knowledge and service economy.

Pound is up dramatically from it's lows, and still strengthening.....

Perhaps you didn't notice?

Yep. Just booked a cheap holiday to an up market resort in europe Of course that shouldn't be possible because according to the HPCers nobody can afford to travel and holidays should be 30% more expensive.. doesn't seem that way to me.

Edited June 14, 2009 by nohpc

[lowrentyieldmakessense(honest!)]

You are not dreaming.

A nobel prize winning economis has said that britain has the best economy in europe.

You really thought the rest of europe was so much better than us did you? Gordon Brown gets a hard time but all of the stuff he has done to "save" the economy which others ridiculed have now been copied world wide by just about every economy.

Britain was the first to take drastic measures so should do better than the rest of europe.

Only time will tell but I think britain will do better than most other european economies over the next 5 - 10 years.

Call me an idiot but then you are also calling a nobel prize winning economist an idiot in which case you must be a super economic genious.

Krugman is an idiot

and gordon brown has set britain on the road to bankruptcy and possibly hyperinflation

neither-krugman-nor-bernanke

Neither Krugman Nor Bernanke Can Distinguish Excessive Printing From Excessive Savings

Earlier today Calculated Risk posted a video and links to Krugman's Talk In Spain on March 17. Here is the video. A partial transcript by me follows.

Krugman: "I am rather a supporter of Mr. Bernanke at the Federal Reserve which is partly because I think he is the right man for the job, partly because before he was demoted to his current position he was a professor at Princeton University which is where I also teach.

How does this end? What can make this better? One answer is a stronger European economy. This problem would be much easier if Europe was a vigorously growing economy with a positive rate of inflation.

Around the world people want to save more than business is willing to invest. We have a global paradox of excessive savings. The best thing that could happen to the economy would be to find a lot more investment opportunities, anything that provides quantum leaps into what we can do that would be worth doing even in a depressed economy."

Note that Krugman is repeating the mindless chatter of Bernanke about excessive savings. The "Savings Glut" theory is easily refuted.

1. Global Savings Glut Revisited December 2006

2. Global Savings Glut Exposed September 2007

3. Bernanke Blames Saving Glut For Housing Bubble June 2008

Any 8th grader would quickly come to the conclusion that it would be impossible to have too much savings. However, Krugman is trapped in academic wonderland and puts his faith on equations such as the following one from Competition, Coordination,and the Crisis

Problems With Academic Wonderland

The problems with such equations are many. For starters it assumes that one can correctly determine the ideal GDP when GDP figures themselves are ridiculously distorted. For example consider the following two cases.

1. The Government sends everyone in the country between 18 and 62 a check for $40,000. This does not add to GDP.

2. The Government hires everyone in the country to sponsor a road and collect trash. The salary is $40,000 a year. The results of the above would be a nearly identical waste of money, yet in case number two, every dime spent would add to GDP.

Clearly this is nonsense and one can see that by this formulation potential GDP is limited only by the capacity to print which is in theory infinite.

What Portion of Government Spending Is Productive?

Inquiring minds are asking "What portion of government spending is productive?"

* In the case of dropping bombs in Iraq, government spending was and remains negative.

* In the case of pork barrel projects in Congressional slush funds, the answer is very little.

* In the case of pothole filling and bridge repair, the answer might be a great deal. However, excessive wages paid vs. what would be paid in a true competitive bidding process will need to be factored in.

* In the case of government sponsorship and takeover of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and AIG, the answer is close to zero.

Government spending simply cannot be as productive as private sector spending. Yet Krugman thinks government spending can lead us out of this mess. It cannot.

There is no such concept as an ideal growth rate in GDP other than the growth that would be achieved if government simply got out of the way and stopped wasting taxpayer money.

Printing vs. Savings

Both Bernanke and Krugman mistake printed dollars accumulating in China and Japan as excessive savings. The reality is that spending without prior saving (i.e. printing money) results in bubbles that eventually pop.

The global credit bubble has now popped and Bernanke and Krugman both want banks to lend when there is every reason for banks to not lend.

The reason banks are reluctant to lend is prior excessive spending led to malinvestments and overcapacity in autos, homes, durable goods, strip malls, and damn near everything else. There is simply no reason for banks to lend or for credit worthy borrowers to borrow.

[ralphmalph]

Professor Krugman said that the UK had stabilised its banking system.

That took a lot of doing didn,t it,just pump billions of more debt to prop them up.The clever part is when is it going to be paid back.

Lloyds banking group paid back 4billion last week.

[Grime- skint wouldbe ftb]

Pound is up dramatically from it's lows, and still strengthening.....

Perhaps you didn't notice?

I dont expect it to last.

[givemethegun]

Why do people on here feel that countries that produce stuff deserve to be hit less hard than the UK. The point is you have to have a blalanced economy. The reason why the UK produces less stuff is because it is more diversified and this will stand us in good stead in the future - especially our large knowledge and service economy.

[huw]

So imports are 30% more expensive cos the pound is devalued and foreign travel is out of many people's budgets as a result. But we can still point and laugh at Germmany who still actually produce stuff and therefore will be hit harder by the drop in exports. As we provide nothing of any use to the rest of the world we're much better off

Imports and holidays were arguably 30% too cheap over the past several years (the evidence is in the trade deficit and debt-bloat). What we've seen is a necessary correction.

There's a lot to be said for being able to devalue. Ask the Spanish or Irish, or anybody here who lost their job/house during the ERM experiment.

[matroskin]

He's American, his geographic knowledge may be limited.

Exactly. Belarusian real GDP grew by 1.2% y-o-y in January-April, according to preliminary data from the Ministry of Statistics, making the country the only emerging European economy (outside Central Asia) to have so far reported positive growth in Q109.

[matroskin]

Britain was the first to take drastic measures so should do better than the rest of europe.

Britain was 1st in Europe to start QE, hardly a drastic measure since Japan widely practiced it since mid-1990s.

The problem is , as Japan experience shows, once started, it has to go on and on, in order to be barely noticeable.

And there is finite capacity in the world to absorb trillions on newly-minted bonds and guilts - swap rates are rising, in case you haven't noticed.

[eightiesgirly]

When the rest of Europe is on it's ar*e, is begging on our knees an improvement ? More cobB*ers from the 'educated beyond common sense' bods.

[ralphmalph]

So how many more billions do the banks still owe

Considerably more, but you were still wrong in your initial post.

[ralphmalph]

Balanced economy you have to be joking,we havent one, one of the reasons we are in this mess is because of the loss of manufacturing. The only growth in this country in debt.

Oh by the way were have we diversified.

We are still the sixth largest manufacturing economy in the world.

[Wires 74]

Balanced economy you have to be joking,we havent one, one of the reasons we are in this mess is because of the loss of manufacturing. The only growth in this country in debt.

Oh by the way were have we diversified.

Sorry for swearing but some people on here have absolutely no bloody idea whatsoever ...

We are the worlds 5th largest manufacturing economy - on the service side we punch so far above our weight compared to the likes of France and Germany that they are not even in the same league - why do HPC`ers appear to take a vicarious pleasure in running the country down - the fact that the leader of HPC`s BNP cabal is posting on this thread should be enough - poses behind the Union Jack whilst spending all his time slagging the country off ...

Edited June 14, 2009 by Wires 74