‘Comparisons are as bad as cliches’ or so says the quote at the foot of my daily calendar on this last day of month one 2012. Not withstanding that I am in continued pursuit of good news for the economy and our personal finances. Good News In the Month The total amount of personal debt [...]

The UK has experienced its longest post war recession, and the deepest since the Great Depression. In 2011, the recovery was disappointing, and prospects for the rest of 2012 are poor. However, the UK recovery is likely to be relatively better than the Eurozone, which retains even more serious problems. Therefore, despite the fact UK [...]

Times are tough, very tough in some areas! However they could be a darn sight worse! Economic Pluses The UK can pay it’s way and borrow at cheaper interest rates than many other countries. Pensions and public sector wages are paid in full and on time unlike Greece and Ireland. Recent Irish savings of 1.76bn [...]

Bond yields on UK government securities have continued to fall in 2011 – despite having one of the largest budget deficits in the UK. This is in sharp contrast to peripheral members in the Eurozone. Greece, Ireland, Spain, Portugal and Italy have all seen a rapid rise in government bond yields as markets become worried [...]

The Bank of England face a dilemma in 2011 over interest rates. They are pulled in two different directs, with the ‘double negative whammy‘ of high inflation and low growth/ high unemployment. It is an unenviable situation – made worse by the additional difficulty of having to tighten fiscal policy (tax rises, spending cuts) to [...]

It is hard to find much good news at the moment. In the housing market, thin volumes are pushing down prices. Despite low interest rates, mortgage rationing means that many can’t get a mortgage and so demand remains weak. Falling house prices are often seen as a bad thing because people experience negative equity and [...]

A review of 2009 and a look forward to what we might expect for UK economy in 2010 A look back at the past decade – The Economics of the Naughties – A decade which brought us everything from NINJA mortgages to Quantitative easing and a new meaning of the phrase ‘economic stability’