by Bryan-James

Created on: June 30, 2007   Last Updated: July 03, 2007

The overall impression appears to be that the British economy is in fairly good shape - but how true is that, and are there some words missing from the end of the sentence, like .... 'for a labour government'.

While I'm not destitute, I'm also not living the high life..annual appraisals see an average increase of around 2%, and my company is always looking at ways to trim that.....so in real term, my salary has been going down for years, based on the fact that inflation is higher than my increases, and the man who has managed the economy for labour created his own official version of the inflation rate, which is nothing like it actually is if you include the full basket of inflation affecting items.

The bottom line for companies is always important, but more and more struggle to reach a working profit - perhaps that is due in part to the excessive de-invigorating legislation that pours out of Brussels, commonly known as red tape...... but also, opportunities for trading, in my humble opinion are a sad reflection of the state of the economy.

I have lived through periods of boom and bust, and this certainly feels like a longer drawn out bust period. Labour have been a little more clever than usual, they have mortgaged our future with debts, so that it doesn't hit us all at once, as in the various schemes to build hospitals that includes excessive tied in maintenance costs, buildings unfit for purpose, and a few that remain empty...but heck, its only taxpayers money. The next generation will be paying heavy mortgages.

This increasingly feels like a bust period because of the way companies behave. Currently my company permits no excess in terms of expenses, and they are by no means unique. Now we get overnight stays in a small inn costing up to 40 - before this, in better times, there were few limits. Travelling is very limited and for any flights, a sign off is required from the chief executive.

The signs are then, that companies are hurting, straining to make a real profit, and trimming expenses in all possible areas, including redundancies. Companies don't take this drastic step in an improving economy, when the skills of employees would be badly needed.

Went on a trip to a once booming seaside resort this week, and to be honest its a dump - it is a dying town, becoming decrepit in places. OK, UK seaside resorts have to fight for custom, but the extent of decay was frightening, and emphasises more and more the fragile health of the economy.
It's not just seaside resorts that are crumbling. If we were doing well, wouldn't our roads and infrastructure be improving to meet the needs of today. Road surfaces would not be in a bad state, and nor would the number of potholes per mile be increasing.
For my trip, I pulled out a map from 1991 to check the route, and was surprised to find that the roads were still the same in 1989 or whenever the map was produced - no enhancements or improvements to the road network in that area had been achieved in around 18 years - that certainly speaks of a stagnant country, and its not that there are not more cars on the road.

The whole country is a sad reflection of how our once great nation is hitting the rails, and the mood of the people is far from jubilant, rather a glum acceptance that things are unlikely to get better, not our economy, and not our quality of life.

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