To think that the credit crunch is a smokescreen...

[thespindoctor]

..And that we will be experiencing a declining quality of life in the UK regardless of the bankers or of GB's overspend of pubic funds. The UK is losing its competitive edge in the world. We aren't a source of cheap labour, but neither are we at the forefront of creative and technical innovation any longer. Its competitive tax rates are one of the few factors that keep big business in the UK.

Anyone agree, or AIB completely U?

oh drat, I mean "public"!

hahahaha pubic funds

I disagree with you. I think there is still a huge amount going for the UK. We haven't been a source of cheap labour for decades but we are extremely creative and innovative in many fields. We have an excellent education system for which many are willing to pay to enjoy and, as a result, we have a much better educated workforce than in the past. UK has always been a trading nation... a 'middle man' brokering deals for goods and services.. and that still applies. Life expectancy, thanks to the NHS system, is still increasing.

Finally... I don't think it's true that we have a 'declining quality of life'. Someone starting out today taking advantage of everything there is on offer and who is willing to work hard for themselves and others has everything to play for. If we have one achilles heel it's our tendency to do ourselves down with misplaced pessimism

to the pubic funds - on a serious note, it does seem to be as if the credit crunch is being waved in our faces, like car keys to a baby - a distraction from other even more frightening things that are happening in the country and the world.

There are some sparks of brilliance in the UK, sure, but over the past few years and before the credit crunch, large and small companies were moving their operations and jobs overseas to cut costs.

The UK has enjoyed a good quality of life over the last few years, but it will surely go downhill. Nations that had typically supplied cheap labour are now raising their game in the education stakes and competing to pick up work in the high tech industries, and the quality of life is improving for their citizens.

Politicians of all colours don't want to admit that the UK is in decline because they all must bear some of the responsibility for it, and most of them probably believe in global free trade. They would rather blame 'the credit crunch'. I'm fed up with hearing about it.

It's not the credit crunch that's being referred to these days, so much as the 'structural deficit'. And I don't think it's a distraction technique so much as an exercise in expectation setting combined with an (overdue) 180 degree policy shift.

YANBU.

Whatever phrase is used, my point is the same Chil. I still maintain that it is to distract us from the fact that politicians of all colours made us accept this globalization horse shit nonsense that wasn't in the interests of the average UK dweller at all.

I think you will also find that the only reason the quality of life has been maintained here over the past few years is due to the high levels of benefits that are propping up the finances of a majority of us.