COMMENT
BY the autumn of 2008 the UK economy had gone into free fall.
Real wages in May 2017 were still 2% below their level in May 2007.
Austerity has obviously failed; the deficit hasn’t disappeared and people are hurting again and consumer confidence is falling.
The Brexit vote resulted in the Monetary Policy Committee cutting rates to 0.25% and more quantitative easing because of fears of another collapse.
But the surprise was that people kept on borrowing and spending. Clearly that is not sustainable, so spending is set to fall.
The economy is already slowing. Banks still look vulnerable.
Nothing much has changed in a decade and policymakers are like a deer in the headlights.
Same old same old...