Is the Recession Exaggerated

Are you back then Mick? Or leaving, or thinking about leaving?

The Bank of England are pumping another £50bn into the UK economy by the end of October (bringing the total to £175bn) and say the recession is worse than they first thought.
Surely this must put an end to this thread.
Regards,
Steve.

Or this thread has put an end to Mick?

quote:

Originally posted by Malky:
Or this thread has put an end to Mick?

Well, maybe and it's been shall we say an interesting read! However, what about the reality out there? What effects can you actually see as you walk along the street?

As Richard Dane said earlier

quote:

This recession truly sucks!

Let me just show you the effects local to me. Within 100m of my shop in central Leicester.

Four shops round the corner near the Market - All occupied last year. One business re-located, the other three failed.

Three more empties:

Boards all the way up the street!

St Martins is supposed to be a nice modern shopping experience!

You want a bank? We even have one of those too - Building empty and for rent!

All this within 100m of my shop........ This is the reality in many of the UK's towns and cities. Now with GDP supposedly down only 5%. Are you sure we are being told the full story?

Yes there are exceptions as Mick and a few others have indicated.... For example, with quieter streets near us, traffic is not realy much of a problem anymore But it ain't good out there IMHO in general

Kind regards,

Peter

Traading is not for the faint hearted. I know this from the inside.

What is vitally important to realise is that trading on once one has ceased to be profitable is one thing, but trading on till one can no longer pay those who have supplied goods and services is not scrupulous.

When it is clearly over it is best to pull the plug before adversely affecting those who are owed money by defaulting of good faith, and decently tendered credit.

My father went bankrupt in 1980. I know this from the inside.

I traded during 1980 and 1981 in my own right and closed my company before any debts got out od hand. I ended with nothing at the time, but no one was hurt by it. There is a story in that fail as well - and it involved my father embesling from my tiny little nascent company. Otherwise it stood every chance of going forward with good success.

I hope you are reading this Mike Parry. Luck is who your parents are in over-whelming degree.

ATB from George

The last time I visited London, I was amazed by the number of Bentely's, Lambo's, Ferraris and Aston's I saw driving around.

I was also at Mercedes Brooklands looking at the Silver Arrow (W165) they had, the private showroom for Maybach and the SLRs was closed due to a customer viewing them.

A few are doing well ...

BTW nice to see Leicester again, I went to Uni in Nottingham, so Leicester, Derby and Loughboro were frequent drinking venues :-)

quote:

Originally posted by shoot6x7:
The last time I visited London, I was amazed by the number of Bentely's, Lambo's, Ferraris and Aston's I saw driving around.

I was also at Mercedes Brooklands looking at the Silver Arrow (W165) they had, the private showroom for Maybach and the SLRs was closed due to a customer viewing them.

A few are doing well ...

I have a suspicion that the recession has not affected the people at the top of the money tree that much. If Fred Goodwin lost a couple of million, it probably wouldn't change his lifestyle.
I've been following the Copa del Rey in Mallorca over the last few days, and the number of new 52 and 70 foot boats coming to the line has not been diminished, and these are privately owned, professionally crewed machines. And very much part of the leisure budget

Peter, thanks for posting those pictures of Leicester. I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking them pretty chilling...

I suppose London has the advantage of being a'World' city. Some gaps may be filled by cash from abroad, including the money of those who have raped what was the Soviet Union. Mind, some of them have hit upon harder times.

Retail question - France - is it true there are quotas and rent control re non-chain retailers?

Cheers,
OW

Gentlemen,
I for one would be sorry to see Mick leave here for airing his views (however misguided) on this forum.
The truth is that he has contributed to some of the most interesting debate on the forum with this posting and I for one thank him (but don't agree with him) for his post.
As to whether the subject has ran it's course, unfortunately it has not and will not do so, I'm afraid for some years yet and with dire consequenses for many, including some who post here.
If this subject has created some to get hot under the collar then good. Perhaps that will in turn help to remind us of all who have and are complicit in the state of this country (bankers and politicians) and of the bail out we are all suffering for. Let it be a reminder that when the politicians come after all our pension pots that WE decide and their not getting it!
Any politician arriving on your doorstep looking for election to office should be made to state publicly that they will not tolerate a vote to harm pension pots accumulated by the general public. If that means stopping the yearly £5bn rape of company pension schemes by successive governments, this should be a priority.
The renewal of a nuclear 'deterrent' is also a 'luxury' we can no longer afford. Besides being a distraction that as a country we have no use for.
So, change gentlemen is what we require. Not to a government of a differing colour (with similar views) but of the type of governance we deserve. It is time that 58 million were treated to the same rights and freedoms that have so spectacularly been highlighted to be available to a very select group.
Barclays post £3 Bn profits for six months whilst holding guarantees from our government (£8.35 BN). Meanwhile it has over 300 tax haven companies under it's banner, presumably set up with the specific aims of denying the British public some of our hard earned cash back by means of the exchequer.
22,000 investment bankers are in line for av. pay of £200,000 and their high street 'collegues' have had their pensions cut!
ENOUGH I SAY!

quote:

Originally posted by Cymbiosis:
St Martins is supposed to be a nice modern shopping experience!

I concur with Peter. We have retail premises in the St Martin's Square which at one time was a small thrithing retail area. Now, of the 28 shops in the square, 7 are now unoccupied. With at least another closing when the lease expires.
Parts of Leicester are slowly dying.

Originally posted by QTT - 'It seems to me that you live in the 19th century. Wake up man or take a course in business or economics.'

I take it that was directed at me - QTT, it may interest you to know that I have 'A' grade A Level in Economics and a 2/1 Commerce Degree with honours so my knowledge and understanding of economics is probably somewhat deeper than yours...

However, I stand by my point that salaries and bonuses earned in commercial banking are wildly out of step with the rest of commercial enterprise. If you look at the average salaries of a GP/Lawyer/Pilot/middle manager/IT geek you find it probably takes 10-20 years to hit salaries in excess of £75k - and that's if you're lucky. There are plenty of professional careers where you are lucky to top £50k ever. I personally know bankers making £100k PER MONTH aged 32 with only 10 years experience and doing what is essentially glorified bookmaking.

Now you can argue that my bile directed at such people is founded on jealousy but it isn't. It's founded on a belief that vastly overpaying large numbers of people for short term thinking and very poor decision making is bad news. I've spoken to bankers who admit they did not understand the instruments they were selling. It's the city effect that has priced normal people out of houses in the South East which is in part the reason they are mortgaging themselves to the hilt.

I'm a pilot, what do you think my passengers would think if I said, 'I'm sorry but I flew into that mountain because I fundamentally didn't understand the aeroplane I was operating'.

You see, some of us live in the real world, we're expected to know our job and be accurate, efficient and effective without needing to be paid £100k a month to achieve it.

Jonathan

Absolutely 100% agree! One of the best posts i've read in ages. The way these people work makes me angry, certainly not jealousy!

quote:

I have 'A' grade A Level in Economics and a 2/1 Commerce Degree with honours so my knowledge and understanding of economics is probably somewhat deeper than yours...

Dead-cert.

Quick look at QTT's profile reveals that he is an investment banker. Hence impossible to have a rational discussion about rewards for providing banking services.

Unfortunately, other than Government intervention (which won't happen and I don't normally subscribe to) I can't see a way to bring common sense and decency to the world of banking.

Anybody got any ideas?

Cheers

Don

Standard reply no1 "we have to pay these kinds of salaries to get the kind of people we need"
It's a shame they don't pay the salaries to get the people that can do the job. Or of course they could stop paying these stupid salaries full stop.

quote:

.....of course they could stop paying these stupid salaries....

Who are "they" ?

Cheers

Don

Them, there.