Monday, 30 July 2012

Revealed: The £612bn debts the Government has hidden

Big government is supposed to be dead – the victim of Ministers’ determination to get ‘more for less’ from a leaner, keener public sector. But an investigation by Financial Mail reveals that taxpayers could face an even bigger bill than expected as the ‘shadow’ public sector balloons. On top of the usual public borrowing and shareholdings in rescued banks, the taxpayer could be at risk for an astonishing £612billion as the Government indulges in an orgy of loan guarantees, incentive schemes, public-private initiatives and outsourcing contracts – all hidden off the balance sheet...Daily Mail

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Building gloom hits economy as more than 1,500 construction firms close this year

More than 1,500 construction firms went bust at the start of 2012 as the crisis in the industry intensified, research showed today. A downturn in the key construction sector was a major factor in the dismal GDP figures last week. They showed a far bigger than expected decline prompting fears this weekend that the UK is heading for an unprecedented ‘triple-dip’ recession. That will put the Bank of England under fresh pressure to lower interest rates from their already rock-bottom level of 0.25 per cent when its rate-setting committee meets later this week...Daily Mail

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Sunday, 22 July 2012

Recession deepens as British economy shrinks for third straight quarter

The Britsh economy has shrunk for the third successive quarter, prolonging Britain’s recession and threatening to derail chances of recovery this year, official figures are likely to show. The Office for National Statistics is expected to say gross domestic product shrank by at least 0.2pc between April and June as the Jubilee holiday, weak domestic demand and the eurozone crisis dragged the economy down. It would mark the third successive quarter of contraction, leaving Britain in its first double dip recession since 1975...Telegraph

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Wednesday, 18 July 2012

Budget fashion retailer Daffy's to close all stores after 51 years as chain goes into liquidation

Closing up shop: Retailer Daffy's Inc. has announced it is going out of business, closing stores in Manhattan and New JerseyBudget fashion chain Daffy's Inc. is going out of business and will close its 19 stores in the coming months.

As a result of the liquidation, approximately 1,300 employees stand to lose their jobs.

Weak consumer spending and slowing sales in uncertain economic times are causing the chain to close. Daily mail

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Wednesday, 11 July 2012

Britain remained trapped in recession over spring as longest downturn for century rumbles on

Britain remained trapped in recession over the spring as the longest downturn for a century rumbled on, a leading think tank said yesterday. The UK economy shrank 0.2 per cent between April and June, according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)...Daily Mail

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Tuesday, 10 July 2012

Family of four needs £36,800 to cope: Income required for 'decent life' rises by £10,000 in just four years

A family needs to earn nearly £37,000 a year to afford a decent lifestyle, a research group said yesterday. Parents with two children need £36,800 to be able to fund what most people consider to be an acceptable standard of living, it said. The figure, which includes rent or mortgage payments, is nearly a third higher than the amount families thought necessary four years ago at the beginning of the recession, said the Joseph Rowntree Foundation...Daily Mail

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Monday, 9 July 2012

UK facing collapse in business confidence

Finance directors believe there is a one-in-two chance of the double-dip recession lasting until the end of the year and four-fifths believe it would be better to delay investment plans due to the current uncertain environment, according to Deloitte’s CFO survey.

Confidence among the group in the second quarter dropped to a five-year low. Deloitte’s findings were matched by BDO, which found that business confidence had plummeted to its lowest level this year. A separate report on activity levels from Lloyds TSB found that growth had slowed to the weakest reading in seven months....Telegraph

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Jobless toll 'could hit 3m by the end of the year'

Months of uncertainty in the eurozone, the Greek elections and a worsening debt position in southern Europe are to blame for the "worrying" recruitment figures, according to the report by KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), out today.

On a scale where anything above 50 represents an increase, the number of permanent job placements in June fell to 46.8, down from 51 the previous month...Telegraph

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Friday, 6 July 2012

Plant closure threat to 1,700 jobs

A meat factory which employs more than 1,700 people could be forced to close, it has been announced. Vion Food UK, which owns Hall's of Broxburn, said the plant was loss-making despite heavy investment in the site over the last four years...AOL

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Paying off debts? Forget it ... Charity warns of 'dramatic' new surge in consumer borrowing

One of Britain's leading debt charities today warned of a 'dramatic' rise in consumer borrowing, driven by lending on mortgages. Credit Action, which promotes financial education, said a post-crisis phase of households paying down debt had ended and that 'aggressive upward trend' for average debt had 'established itself'. Most of the increase appears to be driven by mortgages, suggesting struggling families are increasingly dipping into the equity in their homes...Daily Mail

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Thursday, 5 July 2012

Johnson Service Group to close 100 shops

Johhnson Service Group is to shut 100 loss-making dry cleaning shops in a restructuring which will cost it £24m.

The group, based at Preston Brook, Cheshire, said there would be corresponding job losses in its back office and field teams, and reduced warehousing and distribution operations....Menmedia

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Double-dip here to stay after giant service sector slumps to lowest level for eight months

The UK faces a battle to climb out of recession in the second quarter after data from the crucial services sector showed business activity barely grew in June.

Activity in the service sector - taking in everything from hairdressers to banks and accounting for three quarters of the entire UK economy - shrank to its lowest level in eight months in June, according to the Markit/CIPS purchasing managers' index (PMI). The weak growth led Markit/CIPS to predict a 0.1 per cent fall in GDP for the second three months of the year - which would confirm the UK remains in recession....Daily Mail

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Wednesday, 4 July 2012

Julian Graves collapses into administration

Julian Graves, the chain of health food stores, has collapsed into administration, putting 363 full-time equivalent jobs at risk....Retail Bulletin

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73 graduates chase each job

Leading companies are being flooded by 73 applications for each graduate vacancy, a major report reveals today.

That figure is an average and the number is even higher in some sectors, with 154 chasing each post in retail and 142 vying for a single job in investment banking.

The report says that it is even harder to find work this year as openings are down on 2011 amid the economic uncertainty worsened by the eurozone crisis....Daily Mail

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Monday, 2 July 2012

Bank of England, FSA and Politicians Try to Insulate themselves from Bankster Fraud Fallout

The Bank of England, FSA and politicians of all parties have been busy all week putting up multiple screens of smoke and mirrors to try and separate themselves from their bankster brethren despite the facts of close relationships between all parties that amounts to negligence to regulate and hold bankster's to account where the fundamental fact remains that despite all of the continuing crimes amounting to an ongoing risk of actual bankruptcy of Britain i.e. continuing to inflict far more financial damage than the likes of Al-Qeeda could ever have hoped to have imagined to achieve, NO bankster criminal has gone to prison! The only consequence so far has been to lose a bonus for a year or two, let alone face the sack....Market Oracle

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Sunday, 1 July 2012

Bank of England prepares £200bn economic stimulus

Details in the Bank’s Financial Stability Report (FSR), released last week, showed that the decision to let banks tap reserves of cash and liquid assets could provide as much as £150bn for new lending – a sum equivalent to the entire stock of loans to UK small and medium-sized businesses.

Rate-setters on the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee are also expected this week to unveil a further £50bn of quantitative easing (QE). Last month, the Governor Sir Mervyn King voted to increase the £325bn of completed QE by £50bn. He was narrowly outvoted, with the committee split 5-4 in favour of leaving policy unchanged...Telegraph

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Saturday, 30 June 2012

No recession respite as UK services stagnate

Britain's dominant service sector stagnated in April and an extra holiday and festivities for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee failed to lift consumers' spirits, data showed on Friday, giving little hope of an escape from recession in the second quarter. The gloomy news strengthens expectations the Bank of England will restart its printing presses when it meets next week and provide further stimulus to an economy that sank back into recession around the turn of the year..Reuters

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Friday, 29 June 2012

UK financial services firms may cut an estimated 11,000 jobs in Q2

UK financial services firms may cut an estimated 11,000 jobs in Q2, with almost all the cuts occuring at banks, according to a survey from the CBI. The companies expect to hire around 6,000 employees in Q3...Proactive Investors

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Thursday, 28 June 2012

UK recession deeper than thought

The UK has fallen deeper into recession than previously thought, confirming that the country has officially entered a double-dip. Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that the economy shrank faster than previously estimated between October and December last year, with a decline of 0.4%.

The economy also contracted for a second quarter between January and March this year, with the unchanged -0.3% estimate confirming that we are in recession for the second time in four years...Guardian

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Families will be £7,000 out of pocket by 2015 as economic crisis creates 'ferocious squeeze' on incomes

Families in the UK will have an average of £7,000 less to spend by 2015, as lower wages and high unemployment hits incomes, according to new figures. The economic crisis will continue to create a 'ferocious squeeze' on families, with rising energy, food and fuel costs also crippling families, the House of Commons analysis reveals. Daily Mail

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Wednesday, 27 June 2012

Shock public finance figures threaten Chancellor's fiscal mandate

The run of decent economic news came to an abrupt end this morning with the announcement of an exceptionally poor set of numbers on the public finances. So much for austerity. Central government spending and the deficit are continuing to rise, both year on year and year to date.
If this carries on, then there is a real danger of the Office for Budget Responsibility finding the Government in breach of its fiscal mandate when it does its next update at the time of the autumn statement...Telegraph

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Tuesday, 26 June 2012

One in five UK families admit they are 'living on the edge'


UK families are facing an uncertain financial future with one in five admitting they are living on edge.

Frightening research published today shows that 20 per cent of families are struggling to cope financially while another two-fifths are “just getting by”.

The survey by think tank Centre for the Modern Family shows people are being battered by increased living costs and falling wages....Telegraph

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Ferocious squeeze on Middle Britain as higher taxes and stagnant earnings eat into living standards

A ferocious squeeze on Middle Britain is likely to be highlighted this week with figures showing that higher taxes and stagnant earnings are corroding living standards.

And unlike those further down the earnings scale, those in the middle do not have their total spending power boosted by benefits.

The annual report by the Office for National Statistics on Tuesday on the effects of taxes and benefits on household income is expected to highlight the situation..... Daily Mail

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Monday, 25 June 2012

UK economy: double dip recession squeezes consumers

Glimmers of optimism among Britain’s cash-strapped consumers are likely to be overshadowed this week by confirmation of a double-dip recession and deteriorating public finances....Telegraph

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More high-street shops poised to go bankrupt, insolvency body warns

The figurehead of the UK's insolvency industry has warned that a new batch of retailers could be forced into administration as the high street attempts to trade through one of the most financially stressful weeks of the year.

The forecast by Lee Manning, the president of the insolvency industry's trade body, R3, comes as shopkeepers attempt to pay their landlords three months' advance rent on their stores, a bill that became due on Sunday in a deadline known as "rent quarter day"....Guardian

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Saturday, 23 June 2012

320 jobs axed at Cobham: 'A devastating blow'

The news was greeted with dismay by business leaders and politicians throughout Dorset.
Peter Watson-Lee, president of Christchurch Chamber of Trade said: “The loss of so many jobs is a devastating blow...Daily Echo

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Friday, 22 June 2012

Top doctor's chilling claim: The NHS kills off 130,000 elderly patients every year

NHS doctors are prematurely ending the lives of thousands of elderly hospital patients because they are difficult to manage or to free up beds, a senior consultant claimed yesterday. Professor Patrick Pullicino said doctors had turned the use of a controversial ‘death pathway’ into the equivalent of euthanasia of the elderly....Daily Mail

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Wednesday, 20 June 2012

BBC Reports Falling UK CPI Inflation as Good News, Misses the Inflationary Depression In Progress

The BBC with much fanfare has been leading its news bulletins all day with the apparent good news that the UK CPI Inflation rate had fallen in mAY to 2.8%, its lowest level for 2.5 years, with it's economics experts and members of the general public presented as painting the news as a highly positive development.

The BBC's reporting illustrates the inherent flaw in the mainstream press that it is populated by Journalists who primarily regurgitate the views of vested interests including ivory tower academic economists.

The facts are that the UK inflation rate that the BBC and the mainstream press and academics wholly focus on, is in actual fact just a measure of 12 month momentum, what it does not do is give the real picture of the ever present consequences of the Inflation trend..Market Oracle

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Number of over-60s who can't afford their mortgage jumps nearly 50% in just two years

The number of homeowners over the age of 60 who are struggling with their mortgage has jumped by nearly half in two years,

Britain’s biggest debt charity said yesterday. Record numbers of older homeowners are telling the Consumer Credit Counselling Service they fear eviction. Between 2009 and 2011, the service has witnessed a 44 per cent increase in calls from this age group...Daily Mail

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Tuesday, 19 June 2012

7m working adults 'face money woes'

Almost seven million adults of working age are struggling financially, finding it difficult to feed themselves and their families despite working full-time, it has been reported.
Around 3.6 million households say they are unable to cope on their income and have no assets or savings to fall back on, leaving them vulnerable if they face a sudden large expenditure, according to an Experian study for the Guardian...Press Association

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