I have just watched this excellent video taken this week in California showing what is happening there to retail and office space.


It looks truly frightening and shows whole areas of housing - retail - office space completely empty or nearly empty.

I was wondering whether anyone else on here has heard about how bad it is in the USA ? because our media is not reporting this to us. I have noticed a big closure of shops - pubs in the last 4 weeks everywhere including West End and Camden and suburbs of London. It seems that a new wave of closures is now happening - and the economy contracted at a RECORD LEVEL in the last quarter - the biggest fall since records began in 1955. ( The media are hardly mentioning this in the UK )

I think we are in deep trouble and BROWN has run out of ideas.

Public bodies are being contacted by Mandelson this week - he is cutting Government spending. This is not being reported very much in the main media. AWM the trade arm of Government in the West Midlands has just had a £48 million CUT announced - and that is in the area of WORST job losses in the UK. Yet MANDY is CUTTING their money rather than increasing it to cope.

I would say to everyone to get some seeds for their gardens in case inflation suddenly takes off - and put savings in Gold or something real than will help you.
The power cuts this week in DARTFORD show that people who rely 100% on electricity cant live without it. It is worth having a back up plan if you power fails - could you survive ? and for how long ?

We have lost the survival instinct in our comfy world and we need to take some minimum precautions. If the UK is quarantined how would we survive ? Swine Flu is not serious but raises questions for us all about the way we live.

So wherever you are - how bad is the recession ?

I think you thinking we're "in trouble" is begining to seem a tad Groundhog. Although many privately run pubs are closing, chain pubs are actually on the increase from last year. Not great news but an improvement all the same. Retail clients of mine have also had significant rises in turnover. It aint all doom and gloom.

Can you give examples of your claims that chain pubs are expanding ? The official figures say 52 a week are closing. There is always churning going on in every industry - each one has a churn of openings and closing.

I think you are confusing normal economic openings with investment.

I dont see any investment taking place in any industry in the UK.

Most companies are either at a stand still - or cutting staff. I dont know of one music company that is actually expanding what it was doing 12 months ago.

In addition in the last 4 weeks on my high street we have lost 50% of the pubs ( 1 of 2 ) and the only flower shop and two restaurants. Now the dominant shop on the road is Charity Shops of which there are 6 in a road of around 50 shops. We have 10% of shops closed and this in an area where the 90s recession saw no shops closed at all. It is one of the richest high streets in the UK.

The pace of slowdown is slowing at the moment - but how are we going to pay back the money loaned to the banks without slashing public spending next year ?

I can see the new government next year cutting 250,000 public sector jobs. Slashing spending on building and capital projects - thus putting out of work the remaining building industry people.

Food will get very expensive next year - and take most of the household budget along with utilities and rising tax. Council tax will need to go up double the rate of inflation to make up for Government funding shortfall just to maintain the current services.

The USA is trillions in debt - yes they can keep printing money but it is going on interest payments to those with money.

We can keep printing money - but the effect of that is to make the POUND in your pocket worth less especially on things that are necessary such as "power" and "food" and "clothes".

Taxes will rise massively next year - we already pay 20% more tax than Spain etc. Most of the money you earn will be taken back before you see it.

VAT will go up by 2.5% instantly fuelling inflation for all VAT goods in January by that amount. The only reason it will not show on statistics is because this is happening during the sales season. That hides it from view. But from February next year expect to see massive rises in food and fuel and tax.

This is not gloom and doom. The real picture is far worse - watch the video.

What I love about the BBC and SKY and some of the media is that they are in denial about this. They say " the rate of slowdown is slowing so it is a recovery" which is totally untrue. A recovering happens when things start going upwards - in fact until that happens each month will see more closures - higher unemployed and no amount of Government spin before next May can change this.

We have an election next May - so the Government will try and push the truth under the carpet. They will find that hard.

In Eastbourne this week they have resorted to putting ART into the loads of empty shops because there are so many and the town is like a ghost town. In Hereford yet another High Street shop went under this week - meaning that the main shopping centre for the West Midlands is now 40% empty - with no sign of any new opening at all. They lost their big Woolworths and the last big Department store this year - the knock on has killed the smaller shops around them.

Some Cities have shelved completely their development plans including SWINDON - totatlly closed their new City plan.

Retail went down 1.3% in May - it went up in June but that only reflected the weather changes. Year on year it was down a massive amount and it is the YEAR ON YEAR figure we need to look at. Cars are down 40% this last month YEAR ON YEAR - despite scrappage. Commercial Vehicles down 50% year on year despite scrappage. How can these businesses survive for much longer with these sorts of figures ?

We have 10 months of the Media trying to talk up NEW LABOUR and the "coming" economic miracle of Gordon Brown. But it getting worse and no one believes it.
Airlines are shutting 40% of their routes ( Ryanair from Stansted ) - why would they do that if they thought business was on the up ? British Airways is losing so much money their staff are working for FREE this month so that they can survive. That is the real picture.

Some people are cashing in - every recession has its winners. However, the long term outlook is very poor. I believe this is the end of the Free Market Capitalist Model. Only war can save it - a big war or a massive pandemic which actually kills people through the virus or the vaccination going wrong. Then if billions die - trade will again resume with the economy reset.

I reckon the USA is in a catastrophic situation economy wise.

Not an expert of course but I've been watching what has been happening in Oz as so many countries who are linked to the US are suffering because of the Wall St meltdown and it's a good barometer to see watch what is happening locally compared to the US.

Australia has fared pretty well compared to the UK and much of Europe-but similar to the countries that haven't aligned themselves economically to the US which have also survived quite well..Norway and so on.

Not one bank in Oz has gone under and the have made extraordinary profits-because regulations were so strong. Unlike the UK which has been gradually allowing itself to be seduced by US economic thinking...or that should b Nu Labour of course who have been becoming Republican like in it's slavish following of all things US style.

Add Oz's reliance on China which has basically saved it with a mineral resources boom..although China has problems it's still such a populous country it's still rattling along.

But like the US..those in the financial section..the parts that produce nothing except the building of fanatasy wealth on the stock market are being battered like crazy.

That's evidenced in the last 15 years of endless office skyscrappers soaring up which I always thought was insane as it resembled cities like Bangkok which did likewise in the late 80's in some insane belief that all those offices would be filled. You can't give away a city office these days.

The other great disaster that will engulf US business over the next few years...the building and consolidation of all those hideous WalMart style complexs outside towns that require people to drive their enormous gas guzzlers SUVs to them to shop as town centres have died off. That's going to get really really bad.