With several respected economist's now forcasting 10 years of misery for the British public

Question

How will the economic slump affect you

Answer 1

Maybe it might make us a kinder and less selfish nation.  

Answer 2

Last year I had my oil filled it cast £320.00 this year it cost me £557.00 and that was in Feb.

My car used to cost £50 to fill up now it is £62.00

A chicken last year was about £2.50 now £4.00

It will affect me in heating my home, driving and eating and I'm sure it will be the same for most people with some even having to chose between eating and keeping themselves warm this winter as prices are being allowed to rise weekly.

Answer 3

all pointing towards the end.

Answer 4

I wouldn't believe everything slavishly.  There are so many forecasts out there at the moment,and each one saying something different.  One will tell you that this will be a deep slump akin to the 1930 Depression, and another will tell you that it will be relatively mild and will probably end around 2010.  

A lot of things which are published in newspapers/magazines or reported on television news are to do with increasing sales rather than actual reality.  Bad news sells copies and forces people to tune into bulletins, so we only have ourselves to blame if these kinds of forecasts abound at the moment.  News corporations are only 'giving us what we want.'

I think that this 'recession' (and remember, we are not technically there yet) will be quite shallow compared to others, mainly because the economy is a lot stronger than it was in the 1981 and 1991 recessions.  We have had 16 years of boomtime and havewithstood a number of economic crisies (tiger economies crashing, burst of the dotcom bubble etc) which affected other nations much harder than us.  

It is also very hard to predict market forces because there are so many things, right the way across the world, which affect and influence them.  

The WORST THING we as the British population can do though is to be FRUGAL.  In the Daily Mail a couple of weeks ago, there was a letter with the masthead of FRUGALITY LEADS TO DOLE, detailing the self-feeding nature of both booms and busts.  in the simplest sense, a bust or slump is when the economy doesn't produce as much money as possible, so what we need to do is to keep on spending and 'spend ourselves' out of any trouble.

People will say that is all well and good when there is a so-called credit crunch on, but think in simple statistics.  If this month, everybody in the country went out and spent just £10 in small shops, think how much that would boost the economy, and how much help that would give struggling small businesses.

Then the following month, we could do the same (spend £10) in corporate shops on the High Street, and enrich that part of the economy by a good nine-figure sum.  The influx of money would then create a chain of benefit through that sector in that shops would need to buy more supplies, and those would create more jobs through things such as haulage firms and so on.  One thing would follow another which is the self-feeding nature of a boom or bust.

Then the month after that we could spend our ten pound notes in pubs and bars, and help out the night-life sector of the economy.  Four months down the line, we could spend £10 on fruit and veg and deliver a massive boost to agri-business in the UK.

You get the idea.  We need to keep on spending because benefits will be felt further down the line.  Stop the supply of money to businesses, and firms lay off people because they cannot afford to keep them.  Then the jobless total goes up, and so on and so on.

We are still in a pretty good position economically, better than other G8 Nations, so let's nip it in the bud now.  ÃƒÂ‚£10 isn't all that much in the context of life, but it could make all the difference if we all contribute as a whole to our own prosperity.

We as a nation need to take responsibility for our own abundance.  It is no good moaning and blaming the Government for what may be happening; we as a population of people are the ones who spend or withold our money,so it will be us who make the economy grow or shrink.  The Government provides us with directions and actions to take, but we as a population need to step up to the plate and carry things out.

Answer 5

It will affect most of us.  In the next ten years many of us will need/want to move - so there will be an effect there you can be sure.

If you live out in the country like we do where it is 8 miles to get a pint of milk - then the fuel costs are biting hard.

My daughter competes and wants to do it as her career - the fuel costs for going all over the place are really biting hard.

Food shopping will gradually keep increasing - so thats going to hit the poorer incomes isnt it more heavily than say the middle to high earners.

There will be slump in the building trade as the credit crunch has already bitten hard on the backside of the new housing market - so there will be many small firms going to the wall over this.

Gas prices have rocketed for no reason other than they didnt make enough wanted profit rather than actual profit.  The government will stand by helpless shaking its collective head and showing collective palms to the skies in a 'what can we do?' gesture.  So many people will go colder this winter.

On the upside - people will look to start growing their own food again.

They will eat in season which is much better for you healthwise.

Many people will walk more - so again, a health benefit.

Supermarkets will one day get their very deserved come-uppance sometime in the next decade and we will return to the small local shop .  Sorry - slipped off into a dreamworld there.

Housing will stabilise because even that has to stop somewhere.  There just wont be the massive movement of sales that there has historically been.

Governments will have excuses for why everything is the way it is but as they are on fatcat salaries, with expenses paid for moving to the next street, fuel costs paid, and junkets abroad that double up as holidays - everything in their house will be alright Jack.

There will be a revolution and Mick Jagger will be made chancellor of the exchequer, Jeremy Clarkson will be Prime Minister and Jordan, aka Katie Price will be first Lady.  With her busines acumen and Jeremy's no nonsense appraoch to life (sod off you lazy b*****d, no you cannot have unemplyment benefit) the country should get back on its feet once more.  Mick Jagger will market us as a european theme park and sell merchandise worldwide. (We went to London and survived - t.shirts and the like) and all will b ehunky dory.

And I will wake up.

Answer 6

I am lucky because like your first answerer my wife and I are retired, so have money in the bank and the interest rates are going up....I drive very little now, and sold our house at the top of the market and have no mortgage on our present home.

I have some holiday letting properties in Scotland which are well booked as people are staying more in UK at the moment. and the house prices in the west of scotland are still going up,   But that is just force of circumstance...for the general population it will be a miserable time.

Answer 7

Can you actually name any of the prominent economists that have made this prediction or supply a link maybe.

Answer 8

Luckily not a lot directly - as long as I do not drive a lot and incur lots of petrol costs and have the heating on in winter excessively. I am retired and have a good pension my mortgage is nearly paid off. The down side is though that I am generous to my two `grown-up' kids and grandkids  and keep helping them out. They are now feeling the pinch, which means I am going to be called upon to help them even more!  

Answer 9

The Civil War edges ever closer my friend