Today's Newsblog Stories..

[Guest KingCharles1st]

Having read the stories posted so far today, I can only sit back and wonder what the hell is about to happen.

High steet sales downturn- nothing new there then- but it seems the "survivors" aren't faring at all well. John Lewis expecting to make little profit ,and citing the poor housing market as a reason. Surely if prices are seriously dropping, logic states, then more FTB's who require furniture etc,would return to the market but (assuming they can still get the same level of loan/debt) now have MORE money to buy goods with..? They must be inferring that FTB's make up a large portion of their customer portfolio maybe?

British Land selling enormous potential for future gains, and using the money to buy investments elsewhere. Isn't the golden rule the fact that over extended periods, houses/land etc are always a good bet- so what gives?

Brownfinger about to reveal to the world that the BRitish economy will now falter because of some bloody hurricane on the US Eastern Seaboard- huh!**

But more worryingly, his comment in one of todays stories;

“The world is coming to terms with an oil shock as bad as that in the Seventies,” Mr Brown said ahead of talks with fellow finance ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) leading economies. "

Didn't I hear this one a few weeks ago- I think this is turning into a "Soundbyte " maybe?

And the final piece- tomorrows Panorama programme- surely the government will not allow such a doommongering programme to go ahead? Unless of course it will help their case to efffect an immediate and subtle manipulation of peoples mindsets, preparing them for the bad medicine needing to be dished out?

So- IF tone and Georgie baby decide to go get some oil, then it will mean a- we have oil, and B- our defense contractors will benefit and refloat the economy.

Or- it finally pushes the publics vomit limit over the edge- bye bye nu*****ers maybe?

Edited September 24, 2005 by KingCharles1st

[OnlyMe]

KingCharles1st,

<i>SSurely if prices are dropping, logic states, then people would have MORE money to buy goods with..? They must be inferring that FTB's make up a large portion of their customer portfolio maybe?</i>

It's a bubble, the borrowing power doesn't exist to maintain transaction volumes at this price level. We are just about to find out how much of the marvellous UK consumer driven economy is utterly reliant on housing transactions. Worse, the drive to attract BTL will only worsen the situation as those purchasers and the renters will only spend a fraction of the money an owner occupier would if they had purchased.

[Waiting Patiently]

......Brownfinger about to reveal to the world that the BRitish economy will now falter because of some bloody hurricane on the US Eastern Seaboard- huh!**......

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Brown is trying to get his excuses in before the sh>t really hits the fan for the UK economy.

We've had the boom and now we're gonna get the bust. Its unavoidable this time.

[Guest]

Hey - I'm doing my best. This week I went out and bought four jumpers, two t-shirts, two pairs of jeans, two pairs of shoes and a belt.

Proud to be supporting the High Street in its time of need.

Does it count that I haven't done any serious shopping for about nine months previously???

[Waiting Patiently]

Hey - I'm doing my best. This week I went out and bought four jumpers, two t-shirts, two pairs of jeans, two pairs of shoes and a belt........

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

and you still got change out of a tenner

[Guest]

and you still got change out of a tenner 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

LOL

A colleague at work has just ordered herself 50 metres of denim material to make a load of jeans herself. She considers anything over £5.00 to be pricey.

[2005]

I'm doing my bit to help the economy too.

I have bought 'nowt', nothing, zero, zilch

Bring on the crash.

[Guest Bart of Darkness]

I'm doing my bit to help the economy too.

I have bought 'nowt', nothing, zero, zilch

Good lad!

[MarkG]

I have bought 'nowt', nothing, zero, zilch

I've cut my planned spending by about 10,000 over the next eighteen months, shifted most of my savings out of Sterling and will be shifting what I save in the future out of Sterling unless interest rates rise. Oh, and pretty much the only things I've bought this month are food, petrol and toilet paper.

Just doing my part .

Edited September 24, 2005 by MarkG

[BuyingBear]

I'm doing my bit to help the economy too.

I have bought 'nowt', nothing, zero, zilch   

Bring on the crash.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And you haven't sold anything? Sheesh, damn slacker.

[StainlessSteelCat]

Hey - I'm doing my best. This week I went out and bought four jumpers, two t-shirts, two pairs of jeans, two pairs of shoes and a belt.

Proud to be supporting the High Street in its time of need.

Does it count that I haven't done any serious shopping for about nine months previously??? 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was so hoping the punchline would be:

Does it count that I bought everything from a charity shop?

[Smurf1976]

Oh, and pretty much the only things I've bought this month are food, petrol and toilet paper.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So you're still buying luxuries then.

[theChuz]

LOL 

A colleague at work has just ordered herself 50 metres of denim material to make a load of jeans herself. She considers anything over £5.00 to be pricey. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

bah i wish i knew people like that my collegues read the sun and spout its mantra, i'd love to come across someone with abit of 'differnt' thinking.

[libitina]

I just bought a load of socks in the Next sale and a fleece and waterproof from TkMaxx. Everything half RRP. Oh, and 6 pints of milk!

Shops weren't as busy as I thought for a Saturday afternoon.

[theChuz]

I just bought a load of socks in the Next sale and a fleece and waterproof from TkMaxx. Everything half RRP. Oh, and 6 pints of milk!

Shops weren't as busy as I thought for a Saturday afternoon.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I can beat that , a fe weeks ago i bought 25 T shirts and 100 pairs of socks and 30 pairs of boxers from ebay wholesales! tbh thats the only clothes ive bought in well over a year.

[Guest]

bah i wish i knew people like that    my collegues read the sun and spout its mantra, i'd love to come across someone with abit of 'differnt' thinking.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Did I miss something? I didn't think HPC was a dating agency???

I  can beat that , a fe weeks ago i bought 25 T shirts and 100 pairs of socks and 30 pairs of boxers  from ebay wholesales!  tbh thats the only clothes ive bought in well over a year.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Strewth! I wouldn't like to be your boss if that's what you're turnin' up to work in!

[the end is a bit nigher]

let's not forget that last month overall high street sales rose by 2.9% - i.e. we (the nation) spent more than the (quoted) rate of inflation - unfortunately the retailers didnt see their profits increase therefore it must be a downturn - bit of figure fiddling i think - add in the largest growth in floor space for quite a while (all these retailers expecting massive growth to continue forever) and Bob's your uncle's best friend's neighbour's dog

there is quite a strong comparison beteen retail sales and house prices - in the housing market developers saw properties going at full whack very quickly and so started building more and more - retailers saw people buying at good margins so opened more stores - all of a sudden the increase in spending reverts to the norm - we are not spending less in the shops than before but the cost of sale has increased considerably for some

my heart bleeds, yet again

[BuyingBear]

let's not forget that last month overall high street sales rose by 2.9% - i.e. we (the nation) spent more than the (quoted) rate of inflation - unfortunately the retailers didnt see their profits increase therefore it must be a downturn - bit of figure fiddling i think - add in the largest growth in floor space for quite a while (all these retailers expecting massive growth to continue forever) and Bob's your uncle's best friend's neighbour's dog

Indeed, the like-for-like figure of 0% (or whatever) can be a bit misleading, however they do have a point, extra floorspace and no growth in sales means you're maintaining more property and shops for no extra gain, also they're having to offer greater incentives to actually get people to spend, both of these factors really sqeeze margins. You may sacrifice >5% in margins on extra floor space with energy/tax/staff/running costs and give greater product away at lower prices yet sales only rise 2% over all, whilst this is still growth it comes at a price and isn't sustainable.

[Flick]

I can beat that , a fe weeks ago i bought 25 T shirts and 100 pairs of socks and 30 pairs of boxers from ebay wholesales! tbh thats the only clothes ive bought in well over a year.

Almost snap. A dozen pairs of socks & pants from ebay, and a couple of pairs of £4 jeans from matalan.

I dont want to get too over-excited.. seen a lot of false-dawns, but wonder what crashes remarks tonight might start....