|
Tough trading times… You don’t need me to tell you how tough things are and if many pundits are to be believed, we still have some way to go before seeing an improvement in the worldwide economy, which in turn will have an effect on us. Figures recently released show we have over 2.2million people unemployed in the UK - the largest number for over 12 years. That is a big problem, especially as it is forecast to reach in excess of 3million by the end of the year. That, combined with a lack of confidence and uncertainty, is our biggest problem. Together they make the public nervous that they might be the ones to lose their job in the future; consequently, they are reluctant to spend any money just in case they do lose it and that makes a precarious situation even worse. After all, a recession is when your neighbour loses his job - a depression is when you lose yours. Of course we can understand the anxiety, but assuming people are still working, then they have never been so affluent. Their mortgages (assuming they are not on a fixed rate) have never been so inexpensive, probably half of what they were paying this time last year. There are sales everywhere and inflation is falling - although that could pose a problem if it were to become deflation, because then the public would again avoid spending for the fear that the goods and services they buy could and probably would soon become even cheaper. So instead of spending their newfound wealth, they are saving it or endeavouring to settle outstanding finance / credit card bills in case they too become one of the unemployed! Where is the
money going? |
 advised by their parent organisation, the Association of British Credit Unions Limited (ABCUL) and in turn is responsible to the FSA – and I know all about them! If anything were wrong, they would not allow the Dial-a-Cab Credit Union permission to continue the regulated activity of accepting deposits. Getting better? |
all we need is to start installing a bit
of confidence. Although writing of confidence, I still cannot comprehend the
trillions and trillions that have been poured by governments into financial
institutions to bale them out due to greed and negligence. It is said they
made some bad loans and invested in the sub prime market, well they must
have been doing it for years and years and every bad debt they have ever had
has come out of the woodwork. How can they lose these vast amounts of money
without anyone realising – unless, perhaps, they did but then did nothing
about it in case it were to affect their bonuses? The money that has been
poured into financial institutions would probably be enough to re-mortgage
every property in the world – they certainly have something to answer for! Anyway, there is a moral in the above! You are now armed with a few snippets of positive information that you can pass on to your passengers when the subject of the economy is raised and they sound ultra-gloomy. Can you imagine the follow up? "Hey, I was talking to a cab driver the other day and he tells me we have moved from third to twenty seventh least expensive city in the world, the number of tourists are up on previous years, more money is being spent on the High Street and some Banks are starting to make money! Primark profits are up 18% and poor old M&S only made a profit of £298m in the first half of their financial year. And if a taxi driver told me, then it must be right!" So perhaps it isn’t all doom and gloom and if we have a good summer with lots of sunshine, then we could be on our way. Selling your cab? Brian Rice |
