Ekkie Thump
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Bolded doesn't seem to be the case; at least not as a share of the overall economy, which is the most important metric for comparison.The US dwarfs the UK for lending and insurance, it was both hit less and recovered faster. I was working in the industry at the time and everybody knew problems were being stored up with some of the products we were layering on top of each other but every year the regulations would be loosened a bit to help the gravy train carry on. Some properly exotic products were being traded in London because nowhere else would allow them.
My thoughts are simple. Blair did a decent job, Gordon Brown was a disaster. He loaded us up with too much bloat and debt for the size of the economy. Austerity was necessary for a period of time but we should have dropped it in the mid 2010s.
On "dwarfing":
- Financial services and associated industries represented a maximum of 7.6% of the US economy in 2007 (Q1). In the UK it represented 8.8% (pg 9)
- OECD suggests that in 2007 household debt was 175% of income in the UK compared to 144% across the pond.
On "too much bloat and debt":
- UK General Government debt went from 42% - 74% of gdp between 2007-2010
- US General Government debt went from 65% - 95% over the same period
- UK General Government debt peaked at 87% of GDP in 2015
- US General Government debt was at 105% in that year.
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