[KevO]

NOW it's time to sell everything and withdraw all of your money from banks. We are being warned.
(constantly if we heed)

Gordon Brown's willingness to borrow his way out of trouble could lead to the collapse of sterling, shadow chancellor George Osborne has warned.

BBC News

Will Hutton, of the Work Foundation, and Conservative MP Michael Fallon, who is a member of the Commons' Treasury select committee, said it was clear the pound had fallen and there was no point in keeping silent about it.

Mr Fallon said: "It's the shadow chancellor's job to warn, and there's a very serious issue with sterling now."

[dukey]

i put all my money into gold bullion a few months back

They keep telling people the bail out is tax payers money. In reality they just printed half a trillion pounds and dumped it into the economy as loans. Then we are liable for the interest on this money. The government will tax us for this .. This massive expansion of the currency supply together with interest rates cuts is already wrecking the value of the £.

£ vs US dollar ..


£ vs €


There is no easy come back from this nightmare.

[kjmclark]

But what percent of GDP is the UK debt up to? Paul Krugman pointed out a while ago that the US debt isn't too bad compared to GDP and historical ratios of debt to GDP. If the situation is the same for the UK, then it probably is less of a problem right now than letting a budding deflation bear fruit.

Osborne is certainly right to point out the potential problem, but that doesn't mean currency collapse is imminent, or even a serious concern at this point. Heading off deflation looks like a much more difficult problem.

[GeneralGreen]

England has many problems facing it...The Financial crisis is only one..They have a steep decline of revenue they so need from the decline of the British half of the North Sea..They also have a baby boomer population retiring now...Their housing bubble was even bigger and more widespread then the US's , they have a farmer population who are also getting creamed by this credit crunch "thus will cause food shortages int eh UK sooner then most think.
The Brits also need to do more bailouts as their housing bubble pops ever more "this is only the begginging..I expect at this rate of things by 2012 the Pound will be near worthless. This will casue a huge problem for imports "The small Island imports most of its foods'
62 million people...on an Island the size of Oregon..with no money..no jobs,,no oil...little coal...no wood...and soon no food!
If I had a home in the UK I would action it off NOW and get the hell out of there! That place is going to be in total anarchy and chaos within 5 years.

[RdSnt]

Perhaps the GDP rate is not that high, historically, but you have to consider how robust is GDP.
In the past financial crisis manufacturing made up a large portion of GDP, now it is 70% consumer driven. This means GDP is much more frail since when the consumer stops buying GDP crashes.

But what percent of GDP is the UK debt up to? Paul Krugman pointed out a while ago that the US debt isn't too bad compared to GDP and historical ratios of debt to GDP. If the situation is the same for the UK, then it probably is less of a problem right now than letting a budding deflation bear fruit.

Osborne is certainly right to point out the potential problem, but that doesn't mean currency collapse is imminent, or even a serious concern at this point. Heading off deflation looks like a much more difficult problem.

[TheAntiDoomer]

KevO cracks me up. His links embody JD's "doomerism for entertainment" crowd.

[KevO]

KevO cracks me up. His links embody JD's "doomerism for entertainment" crowd.

but it is, isn't it?

[dorlomin]

NOW it's time to sell everything and withdraw all of your money from banks. We are being warned.
(constantly if we heed)

Gordon Brown's willingness to borrow his way out of trouble could lead to the collapse of sterling, shadow chancellor George Osborne has warned.

BBC News

Will Hutton, of the Work Foundation, and Conservative MP Michael Fallon, who is a member of the Commons' Treasury select committee, said it was clear the pound had fallen and there was no point in keeping silent about it.

Mr Fallon said: "It's the shadow chancellor's job to warn, and there's a very serious issue with sterling now."

Osborne is a bloody idiot. He has been failing to land good blows on the labour party during this crisis so far. Now he has made himself a hostage to the currency markets. If it goes down to fast he can get the blame for causing a run and undermining the UK economy for political gain, and if the pound has bottomed against the dollar and euro for a bit, then he is open to being pumeled for pessimism.

Had he been critiquing CDS's, MBS's, CDO's and lax regulation pre August last year he would have had a great deal more credibility. 8 months late in predicting a fall in the pound and Oliver Letwin now shadowing his job incase Cameron needs someone to take over.

The pound has fallen very hard as the UK is seen as being a financial sector heavy, the financials have been first hit, but manufacturing is now following and the Euro is set to be hurt appropriately.

[careinke]

67 million in the UK!! Holy Cr@P!!! If the US were at that density we would have over 2.5 Billion people!! Now I feel better being in the US when TSHTF.

Cliff (Start a rEVOLution, grow a garden)

[graham]

Actually the u.k. population is around 60 million, not that this makes much difference....

[KevO]

67 million in the UK!! Holy Cr@P!!! If the US were at that density we would have over 2.5 Billion people!! Now I feel better being in the US when TSHTF.

Cliff (Start a rEVOLution, grow a garden)

Some of us(in the UK) are fully aware of this fact, none more scary than the BNP nazi party.

[galacticsurfer]

anybody got a link for arable land per capita in UK and food production possible without imports (including fertilizer imports). Is die-off mandatory from an analytical standpoint?

[KevO]

Actually the u.k. population is around 60 million, not that this makes much difference....

It's 61 million plus at present with an gueestimated illegal population of another 4 to 5 million, so more like 65/66.
However if[hr] when TSHTF in the next 10 to 14 months, it is expected that another 6 to 8 million ex pats will return giving us a nice 71 to 73 million.

We're in ter ubble ain't we?

And just for the record, there are approx 2 million British ex pats in Spain alone and half a million of them have just been told that now they are old they wont get free health care.
Back to the UK they come.
That means more codger dodgering

[graham]

Point taken, but do you think those illegals, or recent legal immigrants for that matter, will stay WTSHTF?

[KevO]

Point taken, but do you think those illegals, or recent legal immigrants for that matter, will stay WTSHTF?

yes I do. Where they going to go?
They're from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia, Kenya, DR Congo etc
TSHTF there a while back and never recovered

[Eli]

Kevo more like 2 to 3 weeks before the shtf.

The sterling collapse will cause your food prices to double over night. Luckily the UK does not have a crime problem and people are so polite that the social fall out will not be an issue. It will be all "Pardon me, could spare some cheese, oh you can not, well then cheerio ."

[KevO]

Luckily the UK does not have a crime problem and people are so polite that the social fall out will not be an issue. It will be all "Pardon me, could spare some cheese, oh you can not, well then cheerio ."

I like Planet Eli. Is there room for me?

[graham]

NOW it's time to sell everything and withdraw all of your money from banks. We are being warned.
(constantly if we heed)

Gordon Brown's willingness to borrow his way out of trouble could lead to the collapse of sterling, shadow chancellor George Osborne has warned.

BBC News

Will Hutton, of the Work Foundation, and Conservative MP Michael Fallon, who is a member of the Commons' Treasury select committee, said it was clear the pound had fallen and there was no point in keeping silent about it.

Mr Fallon said: "It's the shadow chancellor's job to warn, and there's a very serious issue with sterling now."

Great, maybe now we'll return to sound money and get rid of our unsustainable banking system...

[graham]

Point taken, but do you think those illegals, or recent legal immigrants for that matter, will stay WTSHTF?

yes I do. Where they going to go?
They're from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia, Kenya, DR Congo etc
TSHTF there a while back and never recovered

Mainland Europe will be better off than us for a start, also Iceland, Scandinavia ect....