My comment: Britain tried to become bridge between Europe and USA and now is between two swords, it cannot move onto any direction and it strictly depends on how both, Europe and USA react. Also, it has to add its own housing crisis.
Peace and best wishes. Xi http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-02/14/content_10817033.htm LONDON, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- As the recession bites harder in Britain, concerns are growing amongst the unemployed as to how they are going to pay their bills or find another job. There is rising anger directed towards the government and more recently top bankers. The public has complained that politicians' daily rhetoric is not solving Britain's economic problems. Many see government actions as only bailing out the banks and financial institutions rather than helping the ever increasing number of jobless and falling businesses. WORSENING UNEMPLOYMENT Britain is witnessing the highest ever level of unemployment since 1997. The number of jobless rose to 1.97 million between October and December 2008, according to the latest official figures. Nearly 3,000 people are being made redundant every day in Britain. To better depict this worrying situation, British media have drawn parallels to the 1980's Conservative party election campaign, when a famous poster showed a long queue of unemployed under the banner "Labour isn't Working." The psychological blow brought by the recession has been felt by the public since late last year. This week, the Bank of England warned of a "deep recession" for 2009. The International Monetary Fund has said the British economy will be the hardest-hit among the G7 countries, contracting by 2.8percent this year. While the number of unemployed queuing for their benefits and searching for new jobs is growing, a question has been raised. Is it the system or are the bankers to blame? ARE BANKS THE CULPRITS? The British government's lax supervision of the financial system has been criticized for the banking mess. However, banks have been a particular target as many fail in their duty to pass on interest rate cuts to customers, though some mortgage holders are benefiting from the cuts. The Bank of England has cut the interest rates by 3.5 percent in five months to only one percent, an all-time low in British financial history. This has resulted in a 13 percent depreciation of the pound since November last year. Moreover, most of the financial institutions have become unwilling to lend despite the government bailouts amounting to billions of pounds. The deteriorating global economic outlook has exacerbated strains within financial and credit markets. Banks continue to restructure their balance sheets and remain reluctant to lend, the Bank of England said in a recent overview of the worldwide crisis. In Britain, there has been an outburst of criticism against the main banks. From ordinary individuals to celebrities, there have been complaints that the banks are just plain refusing to increase overdrafts or make loans available. A well-known British celebrity chef, Antony Worrall Thompson, said he had been forced to close four of his restaurants after Lloyds bank considered him a credit risk. The bank had refused to extend his overdraft by 200,000 pounds (300,000 U.S. dollars), which he said was needed to keep the business going. The closures have added a further 60 people to the unemployment lines. ARE BONUSES DURING A RECESSION JUSTIFIABLE? Despite the deepening economic crisis in Britain, many top bankers are still receiving massive bonuses. Even those banks bailed out by the government have continued with this highly controversial policy. Much of the public feel that the bankers were only "motivated by self interest," and many have expressed disgust at the huge salaries and bonuses paid out to bosses while ordinary customers were dealt increasing bank charges and interest rates. The grilling by British members of Parliament this week has damaged the bankers' image further, and made sensational headlines in the British media. Branded "Scumbag Millionaires" by The Sun, the biggest selling newspaper in Britain, four top bankers have apologized for misjudging the economic situation. Subject to a four-hour interrogation on Tuesday by a selection of cross-party members of Parliament were Lord Stevenson, former chairman of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS), Andy Hornby, former chief executive of HBOS, Sir Fred Goodwin, former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), and Sir Tom McKillop, former chairman of RBS. The disclosure of benefits received by bankers has fuelled the growing public fury. It has been revealed that Sir Fred Goodwin had once received an annual salary of 1.29 million pounds (1.94 million dollars) and a bonus in excess of 2.8 million pounds (4.2 million dollars). And the bank he was once in charge of has been bailed out to the tune of 20 billion pounds (30 billion dollars) by the British government. Andy Hornby had received a salary of 1.93 million pounds (2.90 million dollars) and a bonus of nearly half a million pounds. His bank, HBOS has so far received 17 billion pounds (25.5 billion dollars) from the government. Hornby said the bonus culture had been "proven to be wrong in the last 24 months." But the apologies by the bankers will mean little to those struggling to pay their mortgages and worrying about debt and unemployment or worse. INTENSE JOB MARKET Though the anger from the public is still only simmering, the mood was somewhat different at protests outside oil refineries across the country in recent days. An increasing number of foreigners are working in Britain, leading to campaigns demanding "British jobs for Britons." The fight for jobs may become more tense in the coming months in Britain. The latest figures from the Office of National Statistics showed that the number of non-UK born workers increased by 214,000in 2008, while the number of British workers fell by 278,000 over the same period. The government has been urged to cut back the number of non-EU work permits as a record 151,000 work permits were handed out to foreigners in 2008 alone. The statistics will fuel the anger in a difficult job market. With opportunities at home drying up, some may be looking abroad to beat the credit crunch. The Jobcentre Plus website is advertising almost 200,000 posts in Europe, far less than the number offered in the UK. However, many offer very low wages and are no real solution to the millions of job seekers. But there are some opportunities even further a field. The British Antarctic Survey is advertising several posts on its website, paying upwards of 23,000 pounds (34,500 dollars) a year, which is equivalent to the salary of an assistant in London. CHANGE TAKES TIME Britain has reached a biting point as its economic stimulus measures have yet to take effect in thawing a lending freeze and curbing climbing unemployment. The Bank of England has highlighted the two factors which have driven the downturn in Britain and the globe as a whole: a further tightening of credit conditions following failures in the international banking system, and a collapse of confidence that is leading to falls in spending and production. At the same time, Governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King has pointed out that restoring both lending and confidence will not be easy and will take time. "It will take time for banking and credit market conditions to improve and longer still before they begin to have a noticeable impact on activity," he said while addressing a press conference on the latest quarterly inflation report this week. The government is expected to further ease monetary policy aggressively and take more forceful measures, including cutting the interest rates to zero and injecting more money into the economy, in an attempt to prevent a prolonged recession in Britain. It remains to be seen whether Britain's stimulus plan will save Britain from sliding deeper into recession. And the government faces mounting pressure to provide results in the coming months. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "World-thread" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/world-thread?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
