Xmas UK economy quizz ....

[Mpprh]

Read this - www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/3078296/the-true-extent-of-britains-debt.thtml -  and then this :

Tensions appear to be simmering between Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel and UK prime minister Gordon Brown. Earlier this week, Brown held an economic summit with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission (EU) president Jpse Manuel Barroso. Merkel was conspicuously absent, and her office said she hadn't been invited.

 

Now the German foreign minister has publicly criticised Gordon Brown's plan to rescue the global economic crisis through government bailouts and shore-ups. However Merkel has not been very active during the economic crisis, and has yet to come up with any kind of alternative plan.     The German finance minister has "launched a stinging attack" on Gordon Brown's economic rescue strategy, on the eve of European crisis talks in Brussels, said the Financial Times.

Peer Steinbruck said in a magazine interview that the Prime Minister has been "tossing around billions" and heaping debt on a generation of taxpayers. The minister has already accused other European leaders of acting like "lemmings" and the comments come as Europe’s leaders meet in Brussels to discussthe proposed €200bn stimulus package.

then answer this question :

Now rearrange these words issued by both sides of the German parliament today" when comes it to the economy complete tosser brown is a"

Peter

[The Riff-Raff Element]

The article does make interesting reading. I suppose the UK and French figures are directly comparable since the GDPs and populations are broadly si:miliar, but saying that the US is "just" 100% is possibly a little understating the situation: normalising for population and the US's much higher GDP gives a comparison figure of around 150% and I have a feeling that doing the same for Germany would pop her into second place. Can't be sure - I've done the figures in me head.

Either way, it is very worrying and slightly confusing: if all these big economies are so heavily indebted, to whom exactly do they owe the money?  [8-)] OK, the article suggests the Arab nations and China, but rich though they might be, they do not have reserves of $25 trillion (roughly what we're talking about for US, UK, France & Germany) so who has?

Sounds like someone's shifting credit card debt around to me.

Isn't global capitalism a wonderful thing?

[Will]

Of course, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy are not exactly the best of mates either - see http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5327705.ece

Germany is fast alienating the rest of Europe in its attitude to the economic crisis.

[Martin963]

......   but could the Germans actually be right....?

They have a bit of a thing about inflation don't they,    and many commentators seem to think that's something we're going to see in big quantities a few years down the line.    Not something to look forward to.

Certainly round here people think Brown is mad (and/or wicked) and Merkel prudent. 

[velcorin]

Here's someone with some gravitas who thinks Steinbruek and Merkel may not be correct. It should also be borne in mind there are elections in Germany in autumn 2009. They also lead an economy based almost solely on exports. The question maybe to them is, who going to buy those exports? A colleague in the UK has just bought a Merc, requested, and received a 40% discount, so less than manufacturing cost price.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,596520,00.html#ref=rss

[Théière]

And lest we forget what happend last time Germany got into a bad depression. 

[cooperlola]

And more

http://blogs.ft.com/maverecon/2008/12/confessions-of-a-crass-keynesian/