The financial crisis taught us some stunning lessons about the value of forecasts. It reminded us of our intrinsic vulnerability and that the future can be full of surprises. Moreover, some of those future shocks can be beyond our limited imagination.
Who in 2006 could have imagined where the UK economy would be four years later. The UK economy was chugging along nicely, growing at three percent a year, with inflation rate of 2 percent and the fiscal deficit of 3 percent. Government debt had stabilised at 40 percent. Overall, these were fairly relaxed numbers. There was nothing to suggest that the UK was about to fall into the dark pit.
Then suddenly in the summer of 2007 Northern Rock collapsed, and things simply ran out of control. Tax revenues declined, the government's deficit exploded, and the economy stopped growing.
One by one UK banks came under pressure, and before you could say Lloyds bank, half the UK financial sector was in government ownership. Who could have foreseen such a thing? Not me, that is for sure.
(the data for this chart is from the OECD)
4 comments:
Even more disturbing is that the Gdp part of the equation will be an inflated figment of the ONS's (leant-on by HMT) imagination.
It is wild. To go from 40 to almost 100 percent in five years. It must be obvious to the most clueless labour voter that this can not go on.
I do worry about the PIGSUKUS.
You are right to worry dearieme. Something has gone badly wrong. Where is the optimism of yesteryear?
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