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Sad news from the ailing body that is the UK economy. GDP fell by 0.1% in May, which means growth has been flat for the last quarter.
The economy is “listlessâ€, says Samuel Tombs at Pantheon Macroeconomics. Every sector of the economy is either flat or shrinking, while inflation of nearly 9% is more than four times what it is supposed to be.
The reason this is sad, according to policymakers, is that these numbers are nothing like bad enough. Like doctors in the Middle Ages, they think the leeches they have been applying are not working sufficiently and are ordering up an extra dose.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt thinks inflation is the main problem — you and I just have way too much money.
The leech-meister general said today: “The best way to get growth going again and ease the pressure on families is to bring inflation down as quickly as possible. Our plan will work, but we must stick to it.â€
Inflation isn’t good, but since it is plainly outside the control of Hunt and the Bank of England one wonders what the point is of continuing to apply the same old medicine. In America and other major countries, central banks have either already moved to stop putting rates up or are moving in that direction. The fools.
If you think your life is hard enough already, you’re wrong. The doctors say it needs to get worse still, for the good of the rest of us.
If you’re inclined to think they have made an almighty hash of the whole business that just shows you don’t realise how good for you a recession will be in the long run.
The good news is, there’s one in the post.
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