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Considering the instability in what used to be rock solid financial institutions I would think NOW is the time to be investing your hard earned into something physical like land/houses/commercial property....

 

Those have also taken hits and have been tumbling in value, but the prices have come down (may come down quite a bit more) and are not likely to be showing massive growth any time soon....but at least your block of land isnt going to just close it's doors one day and say "Sorry..."

 

However - if everyone thought like me there would be a run on the bank and we would be right back in the 1930's....so maybe I will just shut up...

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Just come back from a few drinks with some friends 2 of who are solicitors - one has lost his job and the other is worried that the same might be happening with him... and he's a junior partner! Apparently around a third of solicitors in the City are finding themselves jobless. Seems a huge number, but it was a pretty grim run of stories we heard.

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Seriously, the Uk sounds like they are in a little bit of bother. I heard one analyst talking today about how they are almost out of Gas from the North Sea. Leaving them with nothing (nothing spaecial) to bring to the world market, also from what I can gather, the housing boom carried on a lot longer and prices went much higher than here and other places.

 

We will all feel this recession to some degree but more than a few analysts have commented that the UK is in for a real beating.

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Getting the Olympics looks like a mighty balls-up at this stage. Apparently a lot of the money is coming from the lottery and is being reallocated from, guess what, community sports initiatives. Nice new stadiums for the elite and nowhere to play for the kids.

 

This next quote is about the USA, but is pretty scary.

 

Quote:
1) The median household with a person between the ages of 45 to 54 saw its net worth fall by more than 45 percent between 2004 and 2009, from $150,500 in 2004 to just $82,200 in 2009 (all amounts are in 2009 dollars). This figure, which includes home equity, is not even sufficient to cover half of the value of the median house in the United States. In other words, if the median late baby boomer household took all of the wealth they had accumulated during their lifetime, they would still owe more than half of the price of a typical house and have no other assets whatsoever.

 

2) The situation for early baby boomers is somewhat better. The median household with a person between the ages of 55 and 64 saw its wealth fall by almost 38 percent from $229,600 in 2004 to $142,700 in 2009. This net worth would be sufficient to allow these households, who are at the peak ages for wealth accumulation, to cover approximately 80 percent of the cost of the median home, if they had no other assets.

 

3) As a result of the plunge in house prices, many baby boomers now have little or no equity in their home. According to our calculations, nearly 30 percent of households headed by someone between the ages of 45 to 54 will need to bring money to their closing (to cover their mortgage and transactions costs) if they were to sell their home. More than 15 percent of the early baby boomers, people between the ages of 55 and 64, will need to bring money to a closing when they sell their home.

 

Remember that is household not individual wealth and includes home equity. It means that heading into a depression, a lot of the people most likely to be laid off and not get another job have got nothing put away.

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The olympic budget has blown out to over 9 billion pounds!

 

The government's contribution has risen to £6bn, with £2.2bn coming from the National Lottery - including the additional £675m - and the rest from London's council tax payers.

 

A poultry sum compared to the $860 billion the the U.S. has spent on the Iraq war.

 

What kind of idiots are running this world?

 

 

 

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But the British Economy is up the proverbial creek and searching for the proverbial paddle....

 

...not so sure this wanton abondon with Olympic spending is a good thing...

 

...maybe the stimulus is the only thing keeping the place afloat right now...

 

....but it does not seem wise.

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