Posted on 03/26/2010 11:37:23 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Is the United Kingdom in danger of being exiled to the island of misfit debtors?
For most of the past year, anxiety about overextended governments has focused on the southern European countries derisively known as the PIGS -- for Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. But the PIGS may soon have company.
U.K. officials this week released a budget that was short on cost-cutting details. Silence on that unpopular subject was hardly surprising, given the U.K. economy's slow recovery and the political jockeying ahead of a national election that is expected to take place in early May. The move wasn't the biggest stunner in a week that saw a downgrade in Portugal, squabbles over a Greek bailout and a selloff in long-dated U.S. government bonds.
Even so, observers warn of a squandered opportunity to quell fears over the cost of financing a recovery in the hard-hit U.K. economy. Government spending is on track to account for more than half of U.K. gross domestic product in 2010, while government debt is heading toward 64% of GDP next year, up from 44% in fiscal 2009.
"All in all, the budget has failed to upgrade the market's perceptions of the U.K. credit," Tullett Prebon economist Lena Komileva wrote in a note to clients this week. With the government yet to make unpopular spending cuts, "it is too early to suggest that an official downgrade of the U.K.'s AAA rating is unlikely."
Of course, it's also too early to suggest an official downgrade is likely. Moody's noted this month that while the highly leveraged U.K. and the U.S. governments face the biggest challenges in holding down their debt costs, they also have substantial flexibility.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
I wonder if any country has actually NOT LOST MONEY after holding the Olympics....
Think about it this way -- would we be economically better off had we gotten the Chicago Olympics ?
PIGSUK — say it fast.
They have been there for quite a while.
U PIGS.
UK, Portugual, Ireland, Greece, Spain.
Yah, isn’t Ireland in the mix : (
Does the “I” stand for Italy or Ireland or both ?
We were just in the UK and the papers are filled with complaints about the NHS, immigration and the UK financial situation(broke). They can no longer afford to fund their military...they are spending it all on welfare payments to immigrants and their health care. The VAT is 17.5% after you pay outrageous income taxes..going to 50% for the rich.
In spite of all that taxation they still are going broke.
It’s murky but I think the 1984 LA Olympics made some money.
http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2010/02/05/piigs-not-kosher-at-barclays-capital/tab/article/
Yup. PIIGS. Both, at least by some that use the acronym. I mean, there’s no official acronym or phrase approving body, as we discovered with the gotcha game the morons in the MSM tried to play with Palin over the “Bush Doctrine.”
Since 9 11 I think security costs have gone through the roof so there is no way Olympic games can come close to breaking even or showing a modest profit.
Suspect you might agree that they're going broke BECAUSE of all that taxation!
UK papers always complain about the NHS and immigration. And the BBC.
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