Many don't feel Britain's booming economy

[lovuian]

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=e56829581801a0d7

Incomes are rising, inflation is low and on paper the British economy is booming, but many people say their record debt and high bills tell another story.

British economists say major increases in the price of gas, electricity and taxes in the past few years have been accompanied by drops in the cost of food, clothing, vacations, cars and electronics.

The economists explain that it's human nature to notice the bills that go up, but not the ones that go down, the Daily Telegraph reported Saturday.

People's judgment may also be skewed by when they pay bills, said Paul Webley, an economic psychologist at Exeter University

more...

Perhaps the figures on the paper might be skewed... Perhaps feelings are a blessing so that they can gauge when economists are full of BS!!!

[Ecumenist]

1. Wow, I wonder if this is the same type of booming economy....

that the king George Crackhead the 1st keeps trying to get us to believe that we are experiencing here?:banghead: Isn't being able to pay your bills and finding yourself with a surplus the very epitome of being in a great economy?

[UrbScotty]

2. Reaganomics goes to the UK (nt)

[tenshi816]

3. Britain, like America,

has a growing number of people with a mountain of credit card debt because they've succumbed to the constant exhortation to buy, buy, buy. There's always a new gadget that will, if you would only buy it, make your life complete! That £1,000 handbag that's all over the style pages - hey, why not get one in every colour?

I tend to get on my soapbox about this a bit because I'm aghast at the rampant consumerism in the UK. It wasn't like this when I moved here 20 years ago. Back then, people chided me about how shallow Americans were, always wanting the newest this or that. Now it's exactly the same here.

There's a interesting column in the Sunday Times today about this very thing: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2766-2058485,00.html

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. I think you arrived at the beginning of it

(I'm not trying to tie the two events together :-)). It was when Thatcherism really got going - quick profits to be made with privatisation shares, rising house prices and people borrowing aginst them (ignoring that they would need the higher value of their present house if they ever wanted to move to another house, since that would be more expensive too), and the acceptance of retail activity as a substitute for real production in the country's economy. These days, Britain almost makes its living taking in each others' washing (thanks to Lewis Carroll for that - it's amazing that what was a 19th century nonsense poem is now government economic practice).

[tenshi816]

5. That's very true -

me arriving at the beginning of it all, that is.

I remember well the property boom of the 80s and how people kept trading up and up with their homes. I remember friends of mine being in a frenzy to sell their flats at inflated prices to move into places that weren't that much nicer, but were worth (for a wee while anyway) much more in the market. It was completely illogical. I know some otherwise intelligent people who made some really stupid decisions thinking they were going to get rich quickly.