The exchange rate

[rog_london]

In case some of you haven't noticed, it's not all bad news - the pound seems to be recovering very well against the dollar. Not back to almost two dollars to the pound as it was about a year ago, but back up to around $1.65 from a low of $1.35 a few weeks ago....

You might find some of the more exotic imports (like Ping batteries) become a little more cost effective over the next few months if this keeps up.

Rog.

 

[flecc]

Yes it's moving the right way and I hope the trend continues. This is a difficult recession to judge though with various false dawns like premature house price rises. There are many who think the worst is yet to come, and there's plenty of evidence to support that, so anything could happen to exchange rates.

The sheer scale of this country's debt now has put us back to a 1945 situation when we were faced with paying off the postwar Marshall Plan debt, and it took around 15 years to climb out of that hole. Those were very mean and impoverished years.
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[rog_london]

Yes it's moving the right way and I hope the trend continues. This is a difficult recession to judge though with various false dawns like premature house price rises. There are many who think the worst is yet to come, and there's plenty of evidence to support that, so anything could happen to exchange rates.

The sheer scale of this country's debt now has put us back to a 1945 situation when we were faced with paying off the postwar Marshall Plan debt, and it took around 15 years to climb out of that hole. Those were very mean and impoverished years.
.

Indeed. Also, of course, the Americans are not doing wonderfully either - I know they started this thing (err - allegedly) but they're still having a rough ride too, and the exchange rate must reflect that.

The second world war killed consumerism stone dead, but I can't see us going through that again. In those days there just wasn't anything to buy that anyone could afford - it's a different story these days. Then there was full employment but little money, whereas now we carry a huge weight of unemployed and unemployable but people who are disadvantaged are not necessarily poor - strange, isn't it?

Rog.

 

[flecc]

It is strange Rog, but that could change. With the government having to pay back all that money Marshall Plan Style, they may be forced to freeze all benefits long term. With the inevitable return of inflation over time, those people could gradually become as poor as the post war population were.

Not being able to afford fast food snacking and keeping fit on protest marches would help solve the obesity epidemic though! The WW2 population were one of the healthiest in the last century.
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[musicbooks]

The WW2 population were one of the healthiest in the last century.
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Apart from when they were shot, gassed, blown up, and fire bombed of course

BW
musicbooks

 

[flecc]

Apart from when they were shot, gassed, blown up, and fire bombed of course

BW
musicbooks

I was speaking of the UK resident population of course, and very few of us were, even in the London area where I lived at the time. The WW2 weapons used on us were not terribly effective at causing widespread damage, destruction of part of one house at a time being the most common.

Photos of extensive damage in areas like East London and Liverpool give a horrific impression, but most of Britain saw very little to nothing. Gas wasn't used in WW2 bombs.
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