Michael Posted October 30, 2005 Share Posted October 30, 2005 (edited) Are the scare stories in here about the forthcoming economic armageddon justified? or are we just heading back to the days of 1976 when Germany and Japan with their manufacturing competitive advantage ( and now China) were powering ahead of us economically and we had to borrow money from the IMF like Argentina or Brazil and other 2nd division economic powers...............but 20 years later we're outperforming both Germany and Japan....? Can the Western World where an unskilled worker earns 10 times the World median wage continue its privileged existence by reinventing itself or will it end up like the former Soviet Union? Edited October 30, 2005 by Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Culpability Brown Posted October 30, 2005 Share Posted October 30, 2005 If you look at the FTSE 250 you see instantly that we are fortunate to have some of the Worlds biggest and best, BP, HSBC, RBS, Virgin......the list goes on. Personal indebtedness is our problem in the near future. Our big corporates will continue to innovate and grow (IMO). No regression into the third world for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Without_a_Paddle Posted October 30, 2005 Share Posted October 30, 2005 If you look at the FTSE 250 you see instantly that we are fortunate to have some of the Worlds biggest and best, BP, HSBC, RBS, Virgin......the list goes on. Personal indebtedness is our problem in the near future. Our big corporates will continue to innovate and grow (IMO). No regression into the third world for us. CB don't spoil things with such a sensible answer (so soon). I was hoping to read about some real 'meltdown' scenarios from the resident loonies on here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Masked Tulip Posted October 30, 2005 Share Posted October 30, 2005 Yes, but how long will they remain on the FTSE if Far Eastern money decides to buy them up in the next 10 or 20 years? I also think, in the case of China, that the Chinese intend to create their own BP, their own Cisco, Microsoft, etc, etc. There will be, God help them, even their own Richard Branson sometime in the future! (Actually, I think RB is something we should be proud of - like toasted teacakes.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Culpability Brown Posted October 30, 2005 Share Posted October 30, 2005 Yes, but how long will they remain on the FTSE if Far Eastern money decides to buy them up in the next 10 or 20 years? I also think, in the case of China, that the Chinese intend to create their own BP, their own Cisco, Microsoft, etc, etc. There will be, God help them, even their own Richard Branson sometime in the future! (Actually, I think RB is something we should be proud of - like toasted teacakes.) And why shouldn't China have their own big companies? This is not a problem. HSBC, RBS & Standard Life are already big players in China with recent major acquisitions. There are huge opportunities here for our companies. China is quickly becoming the worlds manufacturing base for a lot of consumables. However if you look at Germany (the worlds biggest exporter of manufactured goods with Audi / BMW and the like) you see that Europe can compete. On certain fronts TMT there is room for a positive outlook. On a personal level 'Global warming' is our civilisations greatest challenge! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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