U.K. Economy to Shrink 3.3% in Worst Slump Since 1980

[Joanne98]

Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- The U.K. economy will shrink at almost twice the pace previously forecast this year as the credit famine plunges the nation deeper into the worst recession in almost 30 years, the Confederation of British Industry said.

Gross domestic product will contract 3.3 percent, instead of the 1.7 percent predicted in November, the biggest U.K. business lobby said today. By the end of 2009, the economy will have contracted for six consecutive quarters, it said.

“The world has changed dramatically,” Richard Lambert, the CBI’s director general, told reporters in London. “Faced with a global confidence crisis, a rapid fall in demand and credit constraints, U.K. firms have been forced to scale back investments and cut jobs.”

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has pledged billions of pounds to revive lending as a housing slump deepens and job losses mount. The CBI expects the economy to shrink 4.5 percent from the start of the recession in the third quarter of last year, only slightly less than in the early 1980s slump during Margaret Thatcher’s first term. Output will stagnate in 2010, it said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aSyW70WSh4NU&refer=home

[BeyondGeography]

1. 1980...Music was much better during the last slump

[Deja Q]

2. Quite. And it was real music too. Not audio-by-numbers crap from a tin can.

Two track repeated beats with some uber-pretty person's computer-modified voice to accompany.

[Joanne98]

4. With young Disney clones mouthing the words.

[Joanne98]

3. Yes. And the economy wasn't as centralized. We also had welfare..

It's going to be like Hooverville this time. Except without the tents.