Posted on 06/30/2009 3:19:14 PM PDT by FromLori
The British recession was much more severe than first thought in the first three months of the year, with the economy suffering its sharpest quarterly contraction in more than 50 years, official figures showed on Tuesday.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the economy actually shrank by 2.4pc in the first quarter compared with the final three months of 2008, much more sharply than its first estimate of 1.9pc.
ONS records show that the last time the British economy contracted by more than 2.4pc was in the second quarter of 1958 when gross domestic product fell by 2.6pc and Harold Macmillan was in Downing Street.
The bleaker picture was partly the result of a steeper fall in construction and services output than first thought. Economists had predicted a downward revision but not on that scale - the consensus estimate was a 2.1pc fall. The news knocked sterling, which had been up more than a cent against the dollar.
Andrew Goodwin, senior economic adviser to the Ernst & Young ITEM Club described the data as shocking. He said: "A downward revision to GDP in the first quarter if 2009 was inevitable given the plunge in construction output, but the severity of today's revision is a real shock and highlights the extreme weakness of the economy in the early months of this year."
GDP was 4.9pc lower compared with the first quarter of 2008, the worst since quarterly records began in 1948. The ONS also revised GDP data going further back and showed the recession actually started in the second quarter of 2008, one quarter earlier than previously thought.
"These figures are much worse than expected, but since we are now on the verge of starting third quarter of 2009 it should only provide a temporary knock to sentiment," said James
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
That country is a wreck. The perfect of example of how far left policies do not work.
“That country is a wreck. “
This one is also.
Thatcher and Reagan gave us a brief respite from the century long march towards Socialism.
I agree, Obama is our Labour Party and Muslims would not be running wild over there if Iron Lady Thatcher was in charge.
Get ready for stimulus part two
When Thatcher took over, the top income tax rates in the UK were 110%. Try to put your head around that one.
Fortunately, we have an election in less than a year, and based on current polls (which are likely to get even worse as the situation deteriorates), Labour are going to be so utterly destroyed people are going to wonder if they’ll ever be a serious force in British politics ever again...
I concur, but I derive much less satisfaction from it.
I see little advantage to the UK if New Labour collapses, if it means that the Liberal Democrats, the Greens, the BNP or even a resurgence of “old” Labour ends up filling the resultant gap.
110%??? I understand that as a high end bracket, meaning someone making $1,000,000 a year would pay $1,100,000 year in taxes. Sounds like the upcoming Obamanomics plan to me.
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