Is there really going to be a depression?

[BrexitBingoGenerator]

If so, what will it be like?
I was a child in the central belt of Scotland during the early 80s and it was grim- I remember going past the closed-down Leyland plant at bathgate and the huge car parks lying empty. But what would a depression look and feel like in 2020?

[quote Stuckforthefourthtime]@labyrinthloafer actually nope, recession has historically increased life expectancy. Again, this does not mean quality of life. But fewer deaths will lead to overall increased expectancy. Even the Great Depression in the 30s had this effect. We should try to avoid a recession, but we also need to use this moment to reassess whether economic growth actually delivers the improvements we want.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22533416/[/quote]
I doubt we will see increases in life expectancy this time round. Combined with Brexit we are heading for a shift in economic status as a country. Look at second world countries. People don't live longer than us there. 1930s saw major improvements in public hygiene measures and later on, antibiotics, plus of course it was the interwar years. Austerity in the last few years has already led to stagnation in life expectancy

(In the 1930s life expectancy was around 60, for comparison)

FredaFrogspawn
And most were elderly anyway so would have died of something eventually.

I can’t believe you wrote that.
It's a fact?

It’s a fact that every single one of us will die eventually but that doesn’t mean one life has less value than another. Your statement was appalling because you were suggesting that the life of an older person has less value than that of a younger person.

It will hit different groups differently but some will be very badly hit.

Massive contraction of spending will mean lots of low paid jobs will be gone.

Manufacturing jobs will be badly hit.
Government spending will contract too.

I think mental health will be devastated.

I am hoping it will not be as bad as predicted.

I feel very sorry for kids finishing Uni this year. It will be very tough on them as a lot of hiring will be frozen.

Discretionary spending will be hugely hit and this will hit the local economy.

I can still remember 2008 clearly. Huge debt crippling families and small businesses.

I grew up through several recessions and as my father had a professional career with a large company, we were not impacted, however life was a lot simpler then and my friends all had similar experiences. We didn't holiday abroad, neither did my friends, none of us thought this was a deprivation either! Local holidays were just fine.

Teens that are used to being given lots of money may find a reduction in circumstances.

I'm praying that things will not be as bad as the economists are predicting.

Previously young people could travel to stronger economies.....I don't believe that will be an option this time.

One thing I do hope is that it will be the end of the vile ‘influencer’ consumer show off culture.

Perhaps it will leave way for a new type of frugal influencer. Of course that makes no money for big businesses so won’t gain the same sponsorships etc but I could see it happening.

With umpteen local authorities on the brink of bankruptcy I’m worried.

It's a perfect storm. 10 years of austerity has ravaged a lot of places/people and then the repercussions of a hard Brexit. This would have all been bad enough anyway but Covid on top. It's part of why the government knows the economy has to be prioritised over health.

One thing I do hope is that it will be the end of the vile ‘influencer’ consumer show off culture.

I think I read somewhere that a lot of influencers have already lost quite a lot of their income because advertisers and sponsors have stopped spending.

Here, this article was written in April. www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52362462

Essentially it depends how the Tory government deals with it. They took a different route from the rest of Europe and even the US in 2008. American spent and invested but the U.K. went along with the austerity route and cut anything that moved, partly to fulfil their politically ideological desires for a small state.
At the moment I don’t think there’s anything else that they can cut !

And now we've lost Vera Lynn, who is going to sing 'we'll meet again'?