What is economic recovery? The economists, politicians and journalists would have us all believe that it's to do with complex figures to do with the growth or otherwise of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is because it's possible to measure things like factory output, inflation and the like but do these really give us a realistic indication of the state of the economy. Big figures such as bank profits, yes, banks are back reporting huge profits again (and no doubt bonuses to match), don't really represent the country as a whole as they make money by trading on, well, money! There are very few people who actually benefit from banks doing well. And don't get me going on the supposed trickle down effect, it simply doesn't happen.
Surely economic recovery ought to be gauged on a national basis and not allow itself to be skewed by large figures that represent such a minuscule, population wise, part of the economy. The health of the financial sector, and by this we are talking about The City, might be improving but that has no tangible positive impact on the rest of the country and merely hoodwinks those economists, politicians and journalists into thinking that the country is on the mend.
No comments:
Post a Comment