to think the current economic crisis is far from over

[Litchick]

I know that the Bank of England announced we were back in growth, but when I look around me things still seem pretty dire.

Two shops in my local town have shut down in the last month.
A friend recently closed her internet business.
The industires I know most about are in melt down. Publishers are ridding themselves of staff and taking on very few debut authors. DH tells me the city is dead and the start of 2010 has been the worst he can remember.

Do we really think there's going to be a turn around soon? Or are we in for a long hard slog?

I work mostly with manuacturers and the recession is far from over.
My business is doing very well but that is simply because new legislation is now forcing companies to invest in my skills.

I think interest rates will go up by the end of the year and agree that there will be quite a few repossessions as a result of that.

I have been made redundant twice in the last year but have a job which is stable for now, however, many of my friends and family are in serious trouble.

My dad was wealthy before the recession, he is now looking at having to go back to work because most of the huge drop in interest rates on his savings.

I think that the housing market will have a temporary rise because of the spring and people naturally moving more at that time of year but it will bottom out again.

Many people are trapped in houses they can't really afvford now due to negative equity, thus perpetuating the cycle. They, understandably don't want to sell for a low price because of the neg.eq, but buyers, understandably don't want to buy at what is an inflated price.

My husband, luckily, is of the 'frugal' nature anyway so we haven't overstretched ourselves. We sold a house for profit last summer and bought the one we're in at a loss for the sellers. We'll prob move next yr and upsize by moving areas.

I agree with PurpleTurtle, the way we were living was unsustainable and an unrealistic way of life. But the arse of it is that many families will be ruined in order for this to be put right.

Purple: That's why I went for "normal" rather than normal.

I think the state the economy was in before the crash wasn't regular either. It was too prosperous (pessimist emoticon). I remember reading in about late 2006 that the levels of personal debt in the UK had exceeded GDP. That isn't normal at all. There was an industry bubble in terms of financial services and property prices (like the dotcom bubble of the early 2000s) which had to burst at some point. Maybe this recession will lead to a regularisation of economic cycles (as they are too extreme at the moment), but I doubt it.

What I am waiting for is the property bubble in London to burst. Price houses are almost back at pre-crash level, and continue to rise at an alarming rate. this isn't sustainable in the long run, particularly as credit isn't as easy to obtain as before. What I predict is that there will get a point where people just won't be able to afford to buy - only a proportion of your income can go to paying a mortgage, there are limits, so probably regular people on normal incomes will give up hope of buying, and just rent, and most properties will fall into either corporate or overseas ownership.

I work with unemployed graduates and the situation seems quite dire for them. In fact, for the younger generation as a whole really. I think this generation have been sacrificed for the sake of the baby boomers having it all. They will be paying for it for years to come - makes me

Well I'm a baby boomer, born at the very end of 1963, and I don't have it all. We're still living in a very small house. We're still working hard and we're not expecting that the relatively expensive properties both sets of our parents own will benefit us: they'll probably go to keep our parents in some degree of comfort and dignity because the state has made it obvious that the frugal and careful must pay for care.

We'll be working until we drop because we can't afford to send our children to university otherwise and we don't want them to go into debt.

We'll also probably have to put money aside for deposits on houses for them.

I can't think that we could do more for our children. We're also paying two sets of school fees because we don't want them to risk the local state school and its so-so attitude to academic success.

At least you own your house - most of the younger generation will never get out of rental! Most of these graduates are leaving university with over £20,000 of debt too. I have to say it is easy to blame the older generation but look who is in power and holds the vested interest!

If you were born in '63 your not a boomer. Boomers were born in the years right after the second world war - 45 to around 1948 - my dad was 44 so close enough. You are 20 years to young, and missed out on 20 years of the asset boom - you didn't but a house for £3000 in the early '70s.

i think to say its over is misleading - a 0.3% rise is an effective decrease as below inflation.

i work in debt collection (safe job really!) and some big companies have gone under,and its going to take a long time to get the smaller ones to expand to take up the slack, and new businesses to emerge -

There have been some promising signs, more recruitment happening, a little bit of a new-years burst - but we will need a good long summer to really make it stick. Many companies have marshalled their resources carefully, and are now in the time where they have to start taking money in or go bust - this is going to be a bad year for insolvency of all kinds.

mu guesstimate for how long this would last was 5 years - that was two years ago. lets see how it goes.

Actually I'm wrong it was 46-64 - you still got screwed being at the end though.

abride - born in 1963 as well. We are not boomers. My parents are boomers born 1944 - 45. in fact I would extend the definition to anyone over 60 as they are the ones who enjoyed the welfare state but never properly paid for it.

The national debt should be the big issue, if not the only issue in this election - and of course what should be done about it. It will affect every one of us, even the rich, and will jeapordise our future prosperity in this country if we don;t sort it out.

If you think you are poor in the UK, have a look at the poverty that most people in the world endure. If the UK doesn't get off its backside and start paying its way, then we are just going to slide towards much lower standards of living. We can tax the rich 100% (or until they all leave) but it will not provide enough to give everyone the wealth they want.

The basic equation is that we have too many people on the public payroll and too few people producing useful goods and services. What disappoints me most about this election is that the Conservatives are not shouting about all the waste that goes in Government which is stacked full of jobs that don't need to be done. For exmaple how much would we save at HMRC if the tax system were simpler. It is now the most complicated tax code in the world.....I could go on.

Finnchic - I'd be surprised if we have the most complicated tax system in the world. One of the issues Greece has is the amount of tax evasion, partly enabled by the number of different taxes.

The key thing is the demographics.

The post war baby boomers are retiring. That means a huge increase in pensions to be paid. Traditionally when people retire they downsize their spending (selling the 2nd car, etc)

The next big generation, clustered around 1963 are approaching the age of 47, the age at which traditionally people start to save more than they spend.

The bad news is that there is no big generational bulge coming through to pay the taxes to support all this.

Demographically, the US is looking healthy. I think the model for what will happen to us is Japan, which also has an ageing population.

Btw, I heard yesterday that Lithuanian teachers have taken a 34% pay cut.

I think the public sector have to take cuts, and soon. But cutting frontline service(nurses, teachers) numbers or salaries would be like cutting off our noses to spite our faces. If we are going to get out of this recession we need a well educated, healthy population and workforce...cutting numbers or the already fairly paltry salary of these professions seems very short-sighted.

There are far too many layers of administration within the public sector, and let's take a look at the quangos...money pits anyone?

Yesterday evening I was up at my DCs school watching a performance and as the parents got chatting over coffee it was clear how bad things are getting.

-one family setting up a business just cannot get investors. They have set themselves a deadline after which they will fold. for all their employees.

-the head of LEA, told me the numbers applying for a state place have rocketed as DCs leave private school at 11. She has no idea where the extra funding will come from.

• everyone working in the city says it's dead,dead,dead.

That's a very good point, Litchick, about children from private schools needing a state places. Schools will be cutting back to the bone at the very time they have an unexpected influx.

I think that if the Tories win they will help ailing private schools by making them academies or something. I don't know what to think about it because it does seem odd to have private schools lying closed and their ex-pupils crammed into overflowing state.

(The above is not my opinion, just my speculation. DC is very keen on parent-led schools.)

Technically we are boomers, Beta. The baby boom lasted until the mid-sixties.

Admittedly those of us who are, cough, VERY YOUNG boomers may have some different financial experiences from those born just after the war, but there are many similarities, viz: free healthcare, free dentistry well into adulthood, good state education, university grants, affordable housing, etc.

The real recession has been delayed by ridiculous interest rates and QE.The end of this year will bring the real deal

'If you think you are poor in the UK, have a look at the poverty that most people in the world endure. '

A nonsensical comparison, because we live in the UK, not Africa or India.

Yes, poverty is more open and dire there.

But we're not there. We're here.

That's like telling people to put up with rubbish care from the NHS because, well, in other countries you're just left to die.

The UK birthrate is actually booming at the moment.

I don't think this is a good thing at all. Ponzi demographics never work because you always need more and more people to pay the pensions of the generations 'above' them. You could never, ever have a high enough population. Over-population in some parts of England is now a real issue. We are talking about fields needed for growing food being dug up to build houses. We are talking about houses being built on flood plains. We are talking about the fragmentation of old and beautiful bits of countryside: our children's birthright, to build new roads. None of this makes long-term sense.

The answer to the pensions problem is for people to work longer.

Hmm, I don't know, I work in recruitment and we are ridiculously busy. More jobs, specialist of course, than we can fill and most of my clients feel they have come out of the other side of recession.

A good friend works in the insurance industry and she has just received a 120% of salary bonus based on 2009, so fair to say they are doing pretty well!

Abride, yes, uk birthrate is booming atm. I think there was a small boom at the end of the eighties. I completely agree with you about the Ponzi nature of the system.

I completely agree with you that people will have to work longer, 70+?

We must all keep healthy to pay taxes. We need to be educated to pay taxes.

We need to talk about the gold-plated pensions paid to public servants. Could anyone comment on the efforts of the Irish government to save money? I think that they are convincing the money markets that they are reigning in their spending.

ha, the recession is still going strong in some parts of the UK. there's no doubt about that. I know several people who are out of work or who have low paid jobs because they cannot get anything better - no one is taking on anymore staff. It's a sad situation in Scotland. Very grim, and there doesn't seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel so far.

My business did very well last year but it seems a bit slower already this year.There must be a considerable amount of nervousness out there.

Being self employed I have no security but I suppose I can't get made redundant.