Wednesday 18 February 2009

Britain 'Best Placed' To Exit Recession?


I've had an ISA with Legal & General since 2003 for my youngsters when they reach 18 or thereabouts. Needless to say it's doing pretty damn poorly at the moment. In fact, I'd have been better off stashing the folding matter in the airing cupboard, so far. Fortunately, I'm buying units up at alarmingly cheap rates, and considering there is no chance of cashing in for over a decade, I'm quite relaxed about it.

There were a few interesting snippets in the 'Market Overview' though, that fly in the face of Brown's bullshit about Britain being best placed to cope with the 'global' recession.

On the US:

Once US house prices stabilise, banks will find more comfort in lending and the drag on the economy from a lack of ... investment should begin to lessen. Importantly, US firms have been actively cutting costs and increasing productivity during this turbulent period, putting them in a far better position.


On Japan:

While the Japanese economy is not immune to the global economic downturn, the banking crisis has not had as severe an impact as seen in other developed economies. This is because Japan already experienced adjustment during the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. The high profile bankruptcies in 1997 triggered high savings levels that remain today. As a result, many Japanese banks are awash with cash rather than highly indebted like their peers in the West.


On Asia:

China looks best placed in the region to stabilise economic growth, but its challenge is to generate enough additional growth from domestic demand to make up for a shortfall in exports.


On the UK:

Nothing positive whatsoever.




1 comment:

Mark Wadsworth said...

In a funny way I think that the UK might not be hurt as badly as other countries - in the 1930s we did badly but not as badly as a lot of other countries.

I covered why here. Of course what I wrote may be complete bollocks, but OTOH there may be something in it...