An ode to broke Britain

From 1998 onwards, the then UK government adopted a blinkered approach to the economy, with the entire focus placed on expanding the nation's GDP and an almost total neglect of the trade balance and balance of payments. Our trade balance worsened at a rate of 20% per year, primarily due to the relative decline of manufacturing. The trade deficit in goods had reached £60 billion by 2008, with an overall trade deficit of £40bn and an overall current account shortfall of 25bn. Time to wake up and face the facts, perhaps? In essence, we have been living beyond our means and maintaining our apparent prosperity by selling assets and debt. Even before the banking crash, there was a huge miscalculation based upon the myth that the UK was a post-industrial nation and that the future lay with services. The nation has been persuaded that this is all a good thing. The fact that most of our utilities, ports, airports, financial institutions, property, gold and large industry has been sold off is explained as a natural effect of globalisation rather than a consequence of our poor trade performance and declining net wealth. One does not have to be xenophobic or a little Englander and against all foreign ownership to be concerned. Nor need we be unaware of the impact of globalisation. Of course, there are very good examples of foreign investment. Nevertheless we should not be blind to the fact that, in a competitive world, national interests have not disappeared. There are serious consequences arising from our 'Britain for Sale' policies. We should be more concerned not with foreign ownership per se, but the balance of ownership and its impact upon the economy. Our policies are leading us toward virtually total foreign ownership of all our worthwhile assets. The endpoint is not an industrial economy or even a services economy, but perhaps a servant economy – merely providing workers for foreign-controlled companies. It would be naïve to believe that the owners, with their economic muscle, are not going to affect the politics of the UK in pursuing their own interests. Read Sir Alan's comment in full at: http://tinyurl.com/ntn899b