Economics and Headlights

So, according to the headlines at the BBC the UK is now in an economic recession. What a surprise! It makes my blood boil when the media, for the last few weeks have been saying it's all doom and gloom, and it's downhill all the way. Perhaps if they had been a bit more upbeat about the whole thing it may have had a different outcome. If the media say there's a great shortage of washing up liquid then panic sets in and before you know it there is. Now I am not comparing shortages of domestic items with a world recession, but the similarities with media reporting are the same. Would Northern Rock have gone under if its problems hadn't been reported in such a sensational way?

How come, that all the so called experts, who are now telling us that it's going to be a short term economic problem and we will be back to normal by 2010, are so clever why didn't they see it coming in the first place?

A few banks, mainly in the USA lent money to people who had no chance of paying it back, this looked good on their books and indicated that the economy was booming. They then sold those debits wrapped up in packages to other banks worldwide. Once the "you know what" hit the fan all the banks got scared and stopped trading with each other, and lending money to business, hence the slide in available capital, hence the current so called recession. So who's to blame? Answer: The Banks, they got greedy and caught a cold, now the governments of most of the western world are bailing them out with public money.

So what if the stock markets are low and the legalised gambling of the traders is under threat, it doesn't mean that the companies whose share value is now low are any less efficient or viable companies, it simply means that stockbrokers cant make huge amounts trading the shares.

Now this may be a bit naive but to me the people who should be paying for all this are the bankers who were unable to make sound judgements in their lending criteria, are they going to pay I ask myself? I think not.

If Mr Average messed up at work I sort of doubt he would be keeping his job and certainly not sacked with a nice golden handshake.I am almost certain the government wouldn't step in and bail him out. Its a simplistic argument I know, but economics isn't rocket science. Spend what you can afford and lend only to those who can and will pay it back.

My other gripe is idiots who drive at dawn and dusk with headlight blazing, annoying other drivers both in front and behind. Do you not realise that's what you have sidelights for. The worse culprits are the 4x4 drivers, their headlights are just at the right level to shine directly into the rear view mirror of the driver in front. Use your side lights, please.

Now, I feel better for getting that of my chest...