Well, readers of this blog will hardly be surprised to hear that the UK is now officially in recession. The only real point of interest is the rate at which the economy is declining. GDP shrank by 0.6% in the third quarter of 2008. The predictions are coming in of a shrinkage of around 1.2% or 1.3% for the final quarter which is an indication that the decline is gathering pace at a somewhat alarming rate. [UPDATE: the figure announced was actually 1.5%]
One of the problems that will face the government is that now a lot of economic bolts have been 'shot', how much more intervention can be introduced in the face of the fact that the economic measures so far employed are having little effect in arresting the decline?
We knew from the start that this period was going to be deep and dark in economic terms, and so far there has been nothing to suggest that this is not the case. For those that are not currently experiencing any negative effects (and there will be plenty that are not directly affected as yet), spare a thought for the growing line of jobless folks who stand little chance of finding decent alternative employment any time soon.
No we are not starving, but if we don't learn quickly how to cope with the hard times, and learn the lessons of habitually over-extending our budgets, the economy will be in for a severe bashing.
Related posts:
Is there really a credit crunch?
Is this a recession?
Is this the new Great Depression?
Will we all end up broke?
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